Biharis

Bihari(listen) is ademonymgiven to the inhabitants of the Indian state ofBihar. Bihari people can be separated into three mainIndo-Aryanethnolinguistic groups,Bhojpuris,MaithilsandMagadhis.They are also further divided into a variety of hereditarycastegroups.In Bihar today, the Bihari identity is seen as secondary to caste/clan, linguistic and religious identity but nonetheless is a subset of the larger Indian identity.Biharis can be found throughout India, and in the neighbouring countries ofNepal,PakistanandBangladesh. During thePartition of Indiain 1947, manyBihari Muslimsmigrated toEast Bengal(renamed toEast Pakistan; laterbecameBangladesh).Bihari people are also well represented in theMuhajir peopleofPakistan(formerlyWest Pakistan) because ofPartition.
Bihar is one of the longest inhabited places in the world with a history going back to theNeolithicage.Since that time, Biharis have long been involved in some of the most important events inSouth Asian history. Biharis were the founders of many great empires based out ofMagadhincluding theNanda Empire,Maurya Empireand theGupta Empire.All of these empires had their capitals inPataliputra(modern-dayPatna).
Two of India's major religions also have their origins in Bihar.Gautama Buddhawho was the founder ofBuddhism, achieved enlightenment inBodh Gaya,Bihar.Mahavira, the founder ofJainism, was born inVaishaliin North Bihar.
Bihar is home to twoUNESCOWorld Heritage Sites, theMahabodhi Templeat Bodh Gaya where the Buddha attainednirvanaand the Buddhist monastic university ofNalanda. Until at least the 13th century, there was still a significant number of Buddhists in Bihar who mainly followed theMahayanaandVajrayanaschools until they were assimilated into Hinduism. However many village temples still retain idols of the Buddha andBodhisattvas.Many famousBuddhistandHinduphilosophers and scholars have originated or studied in Bihar during the period from the 5th to 13th century at institutions likeNalandaandVikramashilaincludingKamalaśīla,Ratnākaraśānti,Śāntarakṣita,Abhayakaragupta,UdayanaandGaṅgeśa.
Various native kingdoms also flourished in Bihar during the medieval period including theLater Gupta dynasty,Karnats of Mithila,Pithipatis of Bodh Gayaand theKhayaravala dynasty.
The founder ofSur Empire,Sher Shah Suriwas born inSasaram, a city in the state ofBiharin present-day India into aPashtunfamily.During the period of Islamic rule, much of Bihar was under the sway of localZamindarsor chieftains who maintained their own armies and territories. These chieftains retained much of their power until the arrival of theBritish East India Company.
Many academics includingDirk KolffandWalter Hauserhave noted that Bihar has a history of armed activism among its peasantry.For centuries,Purbiyasoldiers from WesternBiharhave long served as soldiers in the armies of Kings in Western regions of India.Mughalsources also record that many peasant soldiers were recruited from Northern parts of Bihar (Tirhut).
In late nineteenth and early twentieth century, the middle peasant castes likeKoeri,KurmiandYadavalso got recruitm ent in theBritish Indian Armyas soldiers. According to William Pinch, after 1898, the social resurgence and claim for higher status in the social hierarchy attracted the peasant communities towards the military service.
The Bihari Soldiers of British army played a major role in theIndian Rebellion of 1857against the British following the suppression of the uprising, British authorities decided not to recruit troops from Bihar. Then they decided to recruit troops fromSikhandMuslimCommunities of thePunjab.This martial heritage continued into the late 20th century with the formation of private armies orsenasthat were formed to maintain the interests of specific castes.
Servan-Schreiber described this martial tradition as follows:
The traditional dress of Bihari people includesDhotiand Chapkan (Angarkha)orKurta(replacing the olderchapkanwhich is a robe fastened on the right or on the left)for men andSareefor women. In ruralBihar, men also wear a sort of plaid calledGamchha, which is often tied around the head as turban or headscarf and sometimes thrown round the body or over the shoulders.In everyday life women wearsareeorSalwar kameez. The saree is worn in "Seedha Aanchal" style traditionally.Nevertheless, Western shirts and trousers are becoming popular among both the rural and urban male population.AndSalwar-Kameezfor women in urban Bihar. Jewellery such as rings for men and bangles for women are popular. However, there are some traditional Bihari jewelries like "Chhara", "Hansuli", "Kamarbandh","Tika", "Nathiya" , "Bichhiya" , "Dholna" , "Patwasi" , "Panjeb" , "Matarmala" ," etc.
Hindiis the official language of the State.Maithili (61 million speakers includingBajjika dialectwhich has 11 million speakers in India),and Urduare other recognised languages of the state. Unrecognised languages of the state are Bhojpuri (60 million), Angika (30 million) and Magahi (20 million).BhojpuriandMagahiare sociolinguistically a part of theHindi Beltlanguages fold, thus they were not granted official status in the state.The number of speakers of theBihari languagesis difficult to count because of unreliable sources. In the urban region, most educated speakers of the language name Hindi as their language because this is what they use in formal contexts and believe it to be the appropriate response because of unawareness. The uneducated and the rural population of the region regards Hindi as the generic name for their language.
Despite the large number of speakers ofBihari languages, they have not been constitutionally recognized inIndia, exceptMaithiliwhich is recognised under theEighth Schedule of the Constitution of India. Hindi is the language used for educational and official matters in Bihar.These languages was legally absorbed under the subordinate label of Hindi in the 1961 Census. Such state and national politics are creating conditions for language endangerment.The first success for spreading Hindi occurred in Bihar in 1881, when Hindi displaced Urdu as the sole official language of the province. In this struggle between competing Hindi and Urdu, the potential claims of the three large mother tongues in the region –Bhojpuri,MaithiliandMagahiwere ignored. After independence Hindi was again given the sole official status through the Bihar Official Language Act, 1950.Urdu became the second official language in the undivided State of Bihar on 16 August 1989. Bihar also produced several eminent Urdu writers includingSulaiman Nadvi,Manazir Ahsan Gilani,Abdul Qavi Desnavi, Paigham Afaqui,Jabir Husain,Sohail Azimabadi,Hussain Ul Haque, Dr. Shamim Hashimi,Wahab Ashrafietc.
Bihar has produced a number of writers of Hindi, including Raja Radhika Raman Singh, Shiva Pujan Sahay, Divakar Prasad Vidyarthy,Ramdhari Singh 'Dinkar',Ram Briksh Benipuri,Phanishwar Nath 'Renu',Gopal Singh "Nepali"and BabaNagarjun.Mahapandit Rahul Sankrityayan, the great writer andBuddhistscholar, was born inU.P.but spent his life in the land ofBuddha, i.e., Bihar.Hrishikesh Sulabhand Neeraj Singh (from Ara) are the prominent writer of the new generation. They are short story writer, playwright and theatre critic. Arun Kamal and Aalok Dhanwa are the well-known poets. Different regional languages also have produced some prominent poets and authors.Sharat Chandra Chattopadhyay, who is among the greatest writers inBengali, resided for some time in Bihar.Upamanyu Chatterjeealso hails from Patna in Bihar.Devaki Nandan Khatri, who rose to fame at the beginning of the 20th century on account of his novels such asChandrakantaandChandrakanta Santati, was born inMuzaffarpur, Bihar.Vidyapati Thakuris the most renowned poet of Maithili (c. 14–15th century).Satyapal Chandrahas written many English bestseller novels and he is one of India's emerging young writer.
According to the 2011 census, 82.7% of Bihar's population practiced Hinduism, while 16.9% followed Islam.
Bihari society follows a rigid caste system. The castes of Bihar are divided intoForward Castes,Other Backward Class, Extremely Backward Caste, Schedule Caste and Schedule Tribes. There exists a category among the Schedule Castes called Mahadalit, which was created by theNitish Kumargovernment to identify more socio-economic backward groups among the Schedule Castes. In October 2023, Government of Bihar released the report ofBihar caste-based survey 2022, it conducted in the same year. This was first caste census to be conducted after Indian independence. The data published provided an insight into demographic detail of various caste groups of the state. It was found in this report that Other Backward Class and Extremely Backward Castes together account for approximately 63% of the population of the state of Bihar.The detailed data of the census report titledBihar me jati adharit janganana(caste based census in Bihar) reveals that the Other Backward Class (OBC) population in the State is 27.1286% while, the Extremely Backward Class (EBC) comprises 36.0148%. The Scheduled Caste population in Bihar is at 19.6518% while the Scheduled Tribe population is 1.6824%. The General Caste also called Forward Castes are 15.5224% of the total population of the state.
The total population of the state was approximately 130 million.The largest social category of Extremely Backward Castes in Bihar comprise nearly 130 castes, which historically worked as service providers for other caste groups. In the local political context, they are termed asPachpania. The prominent castes of this category are Nai (barbers),Mallaah, the fishermen (bearing surnames of Sahani,NishadandKewat),Lohar(blacksmiths),Teli(traditionally worked as oil pressers) andNonia(traditionally they made salt).
Among the other prominent caste groups of the state, theYadavscomprised 14.26% of the surveyed population, whileKushwahaandKurmiformed 4.27% and 2.87% of the population respectively. These three caste were part of Other Backward Class category in the state, which is different from the Extremely Backward Castes, who are considered more socio-economic backward group.Among the General Castes,Brahminswere recorded to be 3.66 per cent, while theKayasthaswere recorded to be 0.60 per cent of the total population.TheBhumiharsconstituted 2.86 per cent of the total population.TheRajputswere 3.45% of the surveyed population in this census report.
Notable local foods of Bihar includeDal Pitha,Litti Chokha,Chana Ghugni, Mutton Kabab andReshmi Kabab,Kadhi Bari, Puri Sabzi,Malpua,Satru Paratha,Doodh Pittha,Bajka,Kopal/Arikanch ka sabzi,many kinds of saags, etc. The famous sweets include Imarti, Launglata, Parwal ka mithai, Khowa Lai, Tilkut, Anarsa, Khaja, Lattho, Jhilli ka laddu,Gulgula,e.t.c.
The politics of Bihar is influenced bycasteand religion based consciousness to a large extent. The upper castes dominated the politics and political parties till 1967. But after 1967, the resurgence of middle castes took place and the castes likeKoeri,YadavandKurmireplaced the upper castes, becoming the new political elites of the state . SomeDalitcaste likePaswanandChamaralso performed well in politics,Bhola Paswan ShastriandRam Sundar Daswere former Chief Ministers from respective caste andJagjivan Rambecame Deputy Prime Minister and first Labour Minister of India. Since 1990, the Politics of Bihar  is dominated by regional political parties likeJanata Dal (United)andRashtriya Janata Dal, while a number of small parties likeRashtriya Jan Jan Party,Plural party,Rashtriya Lok Janata DalandJan Adhikar Partyare also active.
In 1923, a special session of theCongresstook place inDelhi. During this session, an issue of sitting arrangement came up whereby the delegates from Bihar were not given seats in the front row.Maghfoor Ahmad Ajaziregistered his objection to this discriminatory arrangement after which Bihari delegates were also given appropriate seats. His protest was admittedly on the issue ofself-respectof the Biharis.
According to social scientist Dr.Shaibal Gupta, the beating of students from Bihar in Mumbai in October 2008 has consolidated Bihari sub-nationalism.
During thePartition of Indiain 1947, manyBihari Muslimsmigrated toEast Bengal(renamed toEast Pakistan; laterbecameBangladesh).Bihari people are also well represented in theMuhajir peopleofPakistan(formerlyWest Pakistan) because ofPartition.