Sainthwar

The Sainthwar, or Mall, is an Indian caste native to the Uttar Pradesh state. An offshoot of the Kurmi caste, they claim Kshatriya status. Under the Indian government's reservation system of positive discrimination, the Sainthwars are classified as a "Backward" or Other Backward Class (OBC) under the term "Kurmi-Sainthwar/ Kurmi-Mall".

History
Sainthwars originated as a well-off section of the Kurmi caste that broke away to form a new caste and claimed higher ritual status in the caste hierarchy. A dominant landholding caste in some districts of Uttar Pradesh, and reputed to be "industrious" peasants, they came to be known as "Mall" ("prosperous") as opposed to the poorer Kurmis.

The early censuses of British India listed the Sainthwars or Saithwars as a sub-division of the Kurmis in Gorakhpur and Benaras regions. The 1911 Census listed the Sainthwars as a separate caste, mainly because of the political rise of the Sainthwar princely family of Padrauna. The Sainthwars adopted higher-caste customs, and despised the neighbouring Kurmis who practised the customs (such as widow remarriage) associated with the lower castes. Nevertheless, many people continued to consider them a sub-division of the Kurmis. Sachchidanand Sinha (1982) writes that while a section of Sainthwars did not like being associated with Kurmis, many of them were not ashamed of being called Kurmis.

The oral tradition of the Sainthwars traces their ancestry to Chandraketu, a son of the legendary hero Lakshmana. One claim traces their ancestry and derives their name from the ancient Santhāgāra Kshatriyas, associating them with the Malla tribe.

Politics
The rulers of the Padrauna estate in British India were Sainthwar by caste. In 1980, Chandra Pratap Narain Singh of this family became a Member of Parliament from the Padrauna Lok Sabha constituency, as a candidate of the Indian National Congress. His son Ratanjit Pratap Narayan Singh also joined the Congress, and became a three-time Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) from the Padrauna Assembly constituency. In 2009, he was elected as a Member of Parliament from the Padrauna Lok Sabha constituency, and served as a state-rank minister in the Second Manmohan Singh ministry. In 2014 and 2019, he lost the Lok Sabha elections from the newly-created Kushinagar Lok Sabha constituency to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidates. In 2022, he joined the BJP and the candidate backed by him won the State Assembly elections from Padrauna.

Janmejay Singh, a Sainthwar and a BJP politician, was a BJP MLA from the Deoria Assembly constituency.

Affirmative action
In 2001, the Rajnath Singh-led BJP state government of Uttar Pradesh constituted a social justice committee led by Hukum Singh for distribution of reservation among various castes. This committee recommended that the "Kurmi-Mall/Kurmi-Sainthwar" be included in the "More Backward Castes" category, which would be allotted 9% reservation. However, its recommendations were not implemented as BJP lost the next assembly elections.

In 2006, the Central Government included the "Kurmi-Sainthwar/Kurmi-Mall" in the Central list of OBCs for Uttar Pradesh.