Pod (caste)
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Poundra, earlier known as Pod, is a
Bengali Hindu Bengali Hindus () are adherents of Hinduism who ethnically, linguistically and genealogically identify as Bengalis. They make up the majority in the Indian states of West Bengal, Tripura, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, and Assam's Barak Valley ...
community originating from the region of
Bengal Bengal ( ) is a Historical geography, historical geographical, ethnolinguistic and cultural term referring to a region in the Eastern South Asia, eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal. The region of Benga ...
. Traditionally located outside the four-tier ritual ''
varna Varna may refer to: Places Europe *Varna, Bulgaria, a city ** Varna Province ** Varna Municipality ** Gulf of Varna ** Lake Varna **Varna Necropolis * Vahrn, or Varna, a municipality in Italy * Varna (Šabac), a village in Serbia Asia * Var ...
'' system, the Poundras have been historically subject to acute discrimination — including
untouchability Untouchability is a form of social institution that legitimises and enforces practices that are discriminatory, humiliating, exclusionary and exploitative against people belonging to certain social groups. Although comparable forms of discrimin ...
— and remain a marginal group in modern Bengal. As of 2011, their population was around two and a half million; they are classed as a Scheduled Caste in West Bengal.


History


Medieval Bengal

No mention of the Pods is found in the Bṛhaddharma Upapuraṇa (c. 13th century), which is the earliest known document to chronicle a hierarchy of castes in Bengal. The
Brahma Vaivarta Purana The ''Brahmavaivarta Purana'' (; ) is a voluminous Sanskrit text and one of the major Puranas (''Maha-purana'') of Hinduism. It is an important Vaishnava text. This Purana majorly centers around the Hindu deities Radha and Krishna. Although ...
, notable for a very late Bengali recension c. 14/15th century, records "Paundrakas" to be the son of a Vaisya father and Sundini mother but it is unknown if the groups are connected. Mentions are scarce in medieval vernacular literature.


Colonial Bengal

In his 1891 survey of castes,
Herbert Hope Risley Sir Herbert Hope Risley (4 January 1851 – 30 September 1911) was a British ethnographer and colonial administrator, a member of the Indian Civil Service who conducted extensive studies on the tribes and castes of the Bengal Presidency. He ...
documented the Pods to be a branch of the
Chandala Chandala () is a Sanskrit word for someone who deals with the disposal of corpses, and is a Hindu lower caste, traditionally considered to be untouchable. History Varṇa was a hierarchical social order in ancient India, based primarily o ...
; they were subject to untouchability by the Brahmins as well as the Navasakhas. A majority were peasants though some had become traders, and even
zamindar A zamindar in the Indian subcontinent was an autonomous or semi-autonomous feudal lord of a ''zamindari'' (feudal estate). The term itself came into use during the Mughal Empire, when Persian was the official language; ''zamindar'' is the ...
s. In the late nineteenth century, two influential members of the Pod community — Benimadhab Halder and Srimanta Naskar — produced numerous tracts of caste history, as was a common feature of that time. Arguing a descent from the "Poundras" — mentioned across a spectrum of Brahminical literature — they sought to establish the Pods as
Kshatriya Kshatriya () (from Sanskrit ''kṣatra'', "rule, authority"; also called Rajanya) is one of the four varnas (social orders) of Hindu society and is associated with the warrior aristocracy. The Sanskrit term ''kṣatriyaḥ'' is used in the con ...
s, thereby removing the stigma of untouchability. In what might be construed as a self-respect movement, it was also demanded of all Pods to follow Kshatriya rituals. In 1901, Halder organized a pan-Bengal conference of the Pods, wherein it was resolved to have the government rename the caste as "Poundra". Further mobilisation happened under the leadership of Raicharan Sardar, a lawyer and the first university graduate from the community.


Contemporary Bengal

The Poundras remain vulnerable to casteist discrimination in 21st century Bengal.


Notes


References

{{reflist, group=lower-alpha Scheduled Castes Social groups of Odisha Scheduled Castes of West Bengal