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HISTORY OF SAMASWAR KURMIS

BACKGROUND

1.	Indian economy is based on agriculture wherein approx. 70% of the people are engaged in this profession directly or indirectly. This is the reason why most of its inhabitants reside in rural areas in the villages. The people engaged in agricultural fields are called farmers or “krishaks” in Hindi which is predominantly represented by the Kurmis community. The synonym of Kurmis is Krishak. Hence, the meaning of Kurmis is often given as Krishak or farmer. The occupation of agriculture is mainly concerned with Land and Water. The Kurmis have a good knowledge of soil and its fertility. Hence, one finds the Kurmis settled down in the fertile belts of river valleys in rural areas and engaged in production of grain and allied agricultural produces. 2.	Kurmis are found settled in the rural areas of almost all the important states of the country. There are very many branches found amongst the Kurmis community which is primarily due to the reasons of shifting locations in search of fertile lands for cultivation. Due to passage of time coupled with new language/dialect and new ways of living amongst its new neighbours gave birth to a new branch of the community. The busy schedule of the community in cultivation and absence of education ensured severing of all its old linkages with its old place and neighbours. This is the reason one does not find the history of this community. 3.	 There are approx1400 branches of Kurmi community in the country presently. The main branches of the community are:-Kurmis in Bihar, Jharkhand, UP, Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana, HP, Delhi, Assam & WB; Kurmi/Kudubmi in Orissa; Kurmi/Kunbi in MP, Chhattisgarh ,&Maharashtra;Kunbi in Gujarat, Goa, Daman&Diu;Kamma, Kapu &Reddy in AP; Kudumbi &Kunbi in Kerala,Vokkaliga in Karnataka and Vellalas in TN & Kerala.The population of Kurmis alone constitutes more than 15% of the country and along with other cultivating castes (Lodhs & Malis) it is more than 20%. Each branch is blowing its own trumpet and trying to downplay the other branches. However, today due to the fast means of communication, awareness has come amongst the literate and learned people of the community who have seen the ill effects of this tendency are trying to educate the community and eradicate the same. The All India Kurmi Mahasabha is doing a great job towards this end and has been able to unite the various sects of Kurmis under one name of Kurmi. However, this awareness is still restricted to the intelligentsia of the community and needs a mass movement to ensure its reach to the grass root levels. The same is urgently required for the social, economic, educational and political development of the community. This development can be done through the vertical & the horizontal modes by the process of differentiation and integration respectively.

THE ARTICLE

4.	The present article is an effort in finding out and  developing the history of Samaswars, one of the 1400 clans of Kurmi present in the country towards its ultimate integration with the mighty Kurmis. ORIGIN

5.	Samaswars or Saamrajya, Sansthawars and Sainthwars are synonymous names of the same clan of the great Kurmi tribe whose history is closely connected with the history of Buddhism. On the birth of Buddhism their forefathers left their old Vedic Religion en mass and joined the new equalitarian, humane and scientific religion of Buddhism which was devoid of religious dogmas, devoid of differentiation based on castes, creeds, sex and divine descents. They helped zealously in the growth and spread of this great religion. 6.	 The clan went into oblivion with the decay and death of Buddhism and suffered unlimited agonies at the hands of the New Satraps (Satraps) which were a conglomeration of various raiding foreign tribes viz, Shakas, Huns, Scythians and Tartars etc from 4th century AD onwards. These new satraps were amalgamated into the dying Vedic Religion and placed at the second position as New Kshatriyas(not traditional kshatriyas) after the Brahmans in the four Varna order social system to contain the ever growing Buddhism which had posed a great challenge to their hegemony and livelihood. These new converts to prove their loyalty to the Vedic Religion let loose a chain of atrocities with great zeal against the Buddhist adherents at the behest of Brahmins.

7.	The followers of the Buddhist Religion (a Sangha order) fled to far off safe and peaceful places leaving their homes, hearths and some family members behind. In due course of time these Buddhist Sangha followers came to be known as Sanghwars, Sansthwars, Sainthwars and Samaswars due to change of location, dialects, language and sometimes even writingscripts.These frequent movements broke their contacts with their old family members left behind and forebode them in piecing together their history due to engagements in daily chores. The writing of history was further complicated and made impossible  due to their total illiteracy because of Brahmins ‘ban to education to non-Brahmins.However,the history of the Buddha’s time and dates of historical chronology  of India could be ascertained  with the writings/happenings of contemporary foreign kings and travelers  who visited India like Alexander the Great,Megastheneses and Huen Tsang etc.

8.	 The origin of the Sanghwars, Sansthwars, Sainthwars and Samaswars could be found in the history of Buddha period of 6th century BC. As per historians, there were 16 Mahajanpads (Republics) during Buddha period. Out of these 16 Mahajanpads, two Mahajanpads of Vajjis and Malls are connected to the Samaswars of Bihar and Sainthwars & Malls of Up respectively. The capital of Vajji Republic was at Vaishali and that of Mall Republic was at Kushinara.These two republics were confederacies of princely clans whose kings (Rulers) were directly elected by the people of the republics. The Vajji Republic was a union of 8 clans viz, Lichhavis of Vaishali, Videhas of Mithila, Gyatriks of Kundagram, Naths of Vaishali and Maukhalis of Pawapuri etc.The Vajji Republic was spread over the North central part of present day Bihar. The Mall Republic on the other hand was a union of 9 clans viz, Malls of Pawa and Kushinara, Koliyas of Ram gram, Shakyas of Kapilvastu and Mauriyas of Piplivan.The Mall Republic was spread over the stern portion of present day UP covering the districts of Deoria, Basti, Gorakhpur and Azamgarh etc.

9.	 Samaswar Kurmis are found only in Bihar. There is no separate written historical record found of this branch. According to a legend, a group of Kurmis left from Samsa village of UP (location not known) in search of cultivable land and settled down in the different rural areas of Bihar on finding good cultivable land. In due course of time, they spread to different districts of Bihar and called themselves Samaswars.This legend neither seems to be based on logic nor on facts as a small group of people can neither occupy such a vast area of land nor multiply to such a large numbers as presently available of Samaswars. Most probably the vast majority of the Samaswars must be the original descendants of the eight ruling clans of the Vajji Republic and only a minuscule number of either Malls or Sainthwars must have come from UP and settled down in Bihar. Today Samaswar is numerically the most predominant and prosperous branch of Kurmis in Bihar. The Samaswars are primarily settled in the districts of Muzaffarpur, Vaishali, Madhubani,Darbhanga , Samastipur , Saharsa ,  Begusarai , Khagaria ,Purnea , Sahebganj, Bhagalpur ,Banka, Munger , LakhiSarai , Sheikhpura ,Nalanda & Patna etc.

THE SAMASWAR POCKETS IN BIHAR

10.	 There are nine pockets in Bihar where Samaswars are living in great numbers. These dense populated pockets of Samaswars are called by the names of their regions. These nine regions are as under;-

Surajgarhia Kharagpuria Sheikhpuria Pargangia & Masjidpuria Farkiyan Dharampuria Tirhutia Muzaffarpuria Patania

SURAJGARHIA

11.	 The Geographical Location: - This dense pocket of Samaswar of Surajgarhia extends from Munger Town in the east to Surajgarh Town in the west and comprises of approx. 80 villages. The important villages of this area are Hemzapur, BahaChowki, Kiranpur, Manikpur and Gadi Maheshpur etc. The list of these villages of this area is attached at Appx. ‘A’

12.	The Social Organization:- The culture and dialect of the area is same throughout its extent. The language is Hindi but the dialect is Maithili mixed Magahi. The social & caste organization of the area was based on sardari system. There used to be three Sardari community leaders. These were firstly Sardar from villages situated on both sides of Munger – Patna road now called NH 80, secondly, from villages located along Jamalpur – Kiul Railway line and thirdly from villages located along river Garkhe. Based on the population of the area, each sardar had its own council and chharidars (message bearers called sandesh vahaks). The social organization was sound and disciplined. It is because of this strong social organization that Shri Chandradeo Mandal won as an independent candidate against the congress nominee in 1939 Munger District Board election and was Vice – Chairman of Munger Sadar Local Board from 1942 to March 1948. He appointed many eligible candidates as teachers from the Community. The people of this area bear the surname of Mahto .However, those who have come & settled down here from Tirhut and Kharagpur bear the title of Mandal.

13.	The Economic Activity: - The main economic activity of the people of the area is cultivation. The main crops of the area are Rabbi (Wheat) paddy and maize etc. There were two Zamindars from this area. They were Sri Narsingh Mahto from Bahachowki & Sri Jamuna Mahto from Amarpur. Sri Jamuna Mahto had more bandobasti under him than Sri Narsingh Mahto. There was a great occupational rivalry between them. Each fixed higher land revenue on other’s land falling under its jurisdiction .The same has not been revised even till date which indicates the rivalry between them. In fact Sri Jamuna Mahto himself was from Baha chowki who had settled down at Amarpur and consolidated the Zamindari system. Besides cultivation, the people have taken to Govt. Service in a big way. The three important Govt. services to which people have taken fancy to are Teachers, Engineers and Doctors. The important names amongst engineers are Shri Umesh Mandal of Baha Chowki who retired from Nawada district .Among doctors are Dr. Jawahar Mahto who retired as CMO Munger. In the last two decades youths have also taken to soldiering. Many brethren from the area are presently serving the Indian Army. 14.Political Activity:- Shri Govind Singh of Hemzapur was the First freedom fighter of the area of Independence Movement of 1947. He was hanged by the British. A memorial has been made at Hemzapur in his honour which was inaugurated by then MLA Sri Upendra Prasad Verma .Politically the area falls under Munger Lok Sabha seat and has two Assembly constituencies namely No. 168 Jamalpur and No.169 Surajgarh.

14.1. No. 29 Munger Parliament Constituency :- Due to whole hearted support of the Samaswars, own community candidate Sri Bramhanand Mandal won the parliament seat thrice – in 1991 as CPI candidate, in 1996 as ASP candidate and in 1999 as JDU candidate. However, he lost the 2004 parliament election as he fell out with Sri Nitish Kumar, the present CM of Bihar.

14. 2. No. 168 Jamalpur Assembly Constituency:- Sri Upendra Prasad Verma a Samaswar Kurmi from Hemzapur has been winning this seat since 1980. He won it in 1980 & 1985 as Lokdal candidate, in 1990 & 1995 as Janta Dal candidate  and in 2000 as RJD candidate. He has lost the Feb 2005 & Oct 2005 assembly seat to Sri Shailesh Kumar a JDU candidate of own community. The Delimitation Commission of India 2006 has renumbered it as No166.

14.3. No. 169 Surajgarh Assembly Constituency:- Sri Bhagwat Prasad Mehta was the first Kurmi(Samaswar) to win this seat with 50.45% votes in 1977 as PSP candidate. .Sri Ramji Prasad Mehta, a Samaswar has won this seat thrice in 1972, 1977 and 1980. Sri Satish Kumar of own community won this seat in 1990 as CPI candidate and in Oct 2005 Sri Prem Ranjan Patel of own community won this seat as BJP candidate. The Delimitation Commission 2006 has renumbered the constituency as AC No167.

KHARAGPURIA

15.	Geographical Location: - Kharagpuria belt extends from cost of Munger Town to Ghogha Rly Station under Bhagalpur distt. In the west to the north of the belt in the river Ganges and in the south lies Shabhuganj Police Station. This belt comprises of approx 40 villages. The important villages of the area are Khaira, Kulthu, Kapsauna, Karharia Udadih etc. The list of villages of this area is attached of Annex. ‘B’

16.	Social Organisation: - The caste men of this area are called Kharagpuria and speak the Hindi dialect of ‘Angika’. The social & caste organization of Samaswar Kurmis was also based on the Sardari System. There used to be three Sardars from this area like the Surajgarhia viz. 1st from vill- Khaira of Kharagpur Thaana of Munger, second from vill Kulthu of Bhagalpur and 3rd from village Kapsauna from Shahkund Thaana of Bhagalpur Distt. . However, the system is no more in vogue presently .The people of this area bear title of Mandal and those who have come out side mite the title of Mahto. However, new Samaswars have started writing Patel, Singh besides Mandal & Mahto.

17.	Economic Activity: - The main economic activity of the people of this area is cultivation. The main crop gram is paddy besides some sugar cane, rabbi and kharif crops are also grown. The most progressive villages of this area are Karharia, Khaira, Kapsauna ,Kulthu and Udadih. Besides the job of teaching, the people have taken to medical & engineering lines. Many brethren from the area are presently serving the Indian Army.

18.	Political Activity-Sri Devi Prasad Mahto of Karharia became the first chairman of Bhagalpur District Board in 1939 and served the people till 1948 and provided people jobs and also carried out many social reforms.Sri Jageshwar Mandal was elected from No171 Assembly Sultanganj as Janta Party candidate in1977 and was given the portfolio of cooperatives. The constituency was reserved for SC wef1980 .It has been made a general seat by The Delimitation Commission 2006 wef 2007 and renumbered as AC No157.

SHEIKHPURIA

19.	Geographical Location-This belt falls under the Police station Sheikhpura of Sheikhpura District. Sheikhpura was once a part of Munger .The Samaswars of this area are called Sheikhpuria. The main dialect of the area is Magahi of Hindi. There are approximately 13 villages of samaswars in this area. The list of villages is attached at Appx C.]

20.	Social Organisation-This area is backward socially. Sri Narayan Mahto was the richest man of this area and was a respected farmer. He himself was educated but had established his reputation in educational, social and political fields through his sheer ground works. He was an Arya Samaji and a Firka Parast(Branch Breaker)He helped established marital relation of samaswars of the area with that of Surajgarhia,Farkiya and Patania.The samaswars of this area bear the title of Mahto. However, now they have started writing Patel and Singh etc.

21.	Economical Activity-The main source of sustenance of people is cultivation and the main crop is paddy. Other crops are also grown in small quantities.

22.	Political Activity-There is very little political awareness of the community in this area. The area comes under No169 Sheikhpura Assembly Constituency and No 39 Parliamentary Constituency of Nawada as placed recently by the DCI 2006.

PARGANGIA/MASJIDPURIA

23.	Geographical Location-This area covers the diyara lands located north of southern bank of River Ganges under Munger district and the areas north of the Ganges falling under Begusarai district. The samaswars of this area are called as Pargangia or Masjidpuria. The area falls under two police stations of Ballia & Sahebpur Kamal.There are 10 villages in this belt. The important villages of the area are Chauki, Shadpur, Pachbir and Sanha.The list of the villages is attached at Appx D.

24.	Social Organisation-The dialect of the area is Maithili mixed. The social organization is strong. The Samaswars of this area marry mostly in Surajgarhia and Farkiya belts.Sri Sitaram Mahto of Sahebpur Kamal was an advocate and a social worker and had great reputation in the area. It was because of this reason that he was elected as an independent member in Munger district board elections in 1941 and served the people till March 1948.

25.	Economic Activity-The main source of income is cultivation. The main crops are rabbi and bhadai maize .Now paddy is also grown.

26.	Political Activity- Political awareness is there in the community. However, they have not been able to make a dent in politics due to their poor numbers. The area falls under No145 Sahebpur Kamal Assembly and No20 Begusarai Parliamentary Constituencies.

FARKIYA

27.	Geographical Location-This area falls under police stations of Chautham, Beldaur, Gogri and Parbatta of Khagaria district. Ganges and Koshi rivers have caused great havocs in this area. As a result many people have migrated to other areas. There are about 15 villages in this area. The important villages are Pansalba, Pachaut and Sonbarsa ghat etc.The list of villages is attached at Appx E.

28.	Social Organisation-The dialect of this area is Maithili mixed of Hindi. The people are good hosts and are quite jovial. The community is quite educationally and socially advanced. The important personalities of the area have been Sri Ramakrishna Mahto of Chautham, Sri Mahavir Mandal and Sri Tarini Singh of Sonbarsa and Shri Ghanshyam Singh of Kewta.Sri Ramakrishna Singh was popularly called as Ramkishun Guruji.He was a teacher by profession 29.	and a great preacher of education and also dogmas breaker. He educated his two daughters Manorama Devi and Sanjana Devi against all odds and made them teachers. These two sisters became the first two educated girls of the community’s. Mahavir Mandal was elected as an independent candidate to Munger District Board Elections in 1939 and became its chairman and served till March 1948 .Shri Tarni Singh was an elected congress member of Munger District Board from 1939 to 1948.

30.	Economic Activity-The main source of income of the area is cultivation. The main crop is rabbi. Paddy is also grown. 31.	Political Activity-The community is politically quite aware and active. Chautham assembly Constituency has been represented by Samaswars of the area. During second Bihar assembly Elections in 1957 (then No152) it was represented by Sri Ghanshyam Singh of Congress, in 1967 & 1969(No182) by Sri Jagdambi Mandal as SSP member, in1972 by Ghanshyam Singh of Congress, in 1977 by Jagdambi Mandal as independent, in 1980 by Ghanshyam Singh of Congress, in 2000 by Pannalal Singh Patel on SAP and in Oct 2005 by Pannalal S Patel on JDU.

DHARAMPURIA

32.	Geographical Location-The area falls under Police Stations Bhawanipur and Damdaha of Purnea District. There are 10 villages in this area. The important villages are Brahmgyani, Balutol and Barhari etc.The list is attached at Appx F.

33.	Social Organisation-The dialect of the area is Maithili mixed of Hindi. The title of the area is Mandal but now they have started writing Singh as well. The important personalities of the area are Sri Madan Mandal of Brahmgyani, Sri Biranchi Mandal of Barhari and Sri Janardan Mandal of Balutol. Sri Madan Mandal of the owner of Brahmgyani Estate, Sri Biranchi Mandal of Barhari Estate and Sri Janardan Mandal of Balutol Estate. All the three were good community organizers and keepers.

34.	Economic Activity-The main source of income is cultivation. The main crops are paddy, maize, mung and jute.

35.	 Political Activity-Sri Jay Krishna Mandal was elected a member of parliament of 12th  Lok Sabha from Purnea as a BJP candidate in 1998.

TIRHUTIA

36.	Geographical Location-The area is spread over Darbhanga & Samastipur districts. Like Surajgarh area, the Samaswars are settled here in great numbers. The important villages of the area are Bandiha, Fatehpur and Motipur, The list of the villages are attached at Appx G.

37.	Social Organisation- The dialect spoken here is Maithili.The title of the area is Mandal but now people have started writing Singh. The community has a good social organization. They used to organize community Chataiya and Dehati Bhoj wherein 100 maunds of rice used to be eaten. The important personalities of the area are Sri Bhola Singh who retired as DM, Sri Prayag Mandal and Sri Gajendra Prasad Singh.

38.	Economic Activity – The main source of income is cultivation. Prior to independence the economic condition was not very good due frequent destruction of properties and animals by floods. The community members used to come to Surajgarh to work on the fields of community brethren. 39.	Political Activity – Sri Prayag Mandal has won No100 Rosera Assembly seat in 1977 as an independent candidate, Sri Gajendra Pd Singh won this seat in 1990 and 2000 as JD candidate and inFeb2005 &Oct 2005 as RJD candidate.

MUZAFFARPURIA

40.	Geographical Location –The area is spread over Muzaffarpur and Vaishali districts. The important villages of the area are Deshari, Goraul and Laxmanpur.The list of villages is attached at Appx H. 41. Social Organisation –The dialects of area are Chhaparia & Maithili of Hindi. The important personalities of the area have been Sri Newalal Mahto of Deshari.He was the richest man of the area besides being a social and community worker. 42.	Economic activity –The main crops are paddy, maize, tobacco besides rabbi. Among fruits mango, banana and litchis are grown in plenty. The Samaswars of this area have proved themselves good tradesmen besides being good farmers. They have established brick kilns in Assam. 43.	Political Activity –The community predominant assembly constituencies are Lalganj, Goraul and Vaishali. Sri Birchand Patel of Congress won Lalganj seat (No47) in 1957 &1962; Sri S Patel won Goraul (No52) in1962 0n Congress ticket; Sri Brishen Patel won Vaishali seat (No52) as JNP candidate in 1980, as LKD in 1985 ,as JD in 1990& 1995, as JDU in Feb2005 and in Oct2005.

PATANIA

44.	Geographical Location –The area is located under Police station Fatuha of Patna district and is spread south of Fatuha Railway Station along both sides of Fatuha –Islampur Railway line. There are 15 villages in the area. The important ones are Machharwa, Bakinpur, KharBhaiya, Top and Sarthua etc.The list is attached at Appx J.

45.	Social Organization –The title of people is Mahto but now Singh is being written. The most important person of this area is Saudagar Mahto (now Saudagar Singh).He was an ordinary farmer .He left farming and went to Calcutta in search of job and started his own business of supplying Bidi Patta.His business proved a great success and he bought 2300 bighas of land at Chandrakona near Calcutta. He planted Sawai grass a raw material for paper industry. He also constructed 7-8 big buildings in Calcutta. He always helped Kurmis in finding jobs and was a good host.However, soon due to family feuds business got divided and reduced.

46.	Economic Activity –The main source of income is cultivation and main crop of the area is paddy. The people have taken to education in a big way. 47.	Political Activity –Er Sunil Kumar has won the Harnaut seat (No182) in Feb2005 &Oct2005 elections as JDU candidate.

CONCLUSION

48. Kurmi is one of the ancient castes of the country. It has a pan India presence but is divided in various subcastes, languages, customs and traditions which act as barriers in its amalgamation into one entity. The problem of unification gets further complicated due lack of education and awareness. This unification has to be done through a conscious process of differentiation (finding the history of each sub caste) and integration towards making a mighty community and a mighty country.

References:- 1. Imperial Gazetteers of India 1908 Edition. 2. Akhil Bhartiya Kurmi Krishak Ka Itihas Vol I & Vol II. 3. Monthly Magazine”Kurmi Kshatriya Jagran” of Nov1993 & Mar/Apr 1995. 4. The web site of the Election Commission of India.