User:Yogesh Khandke/sandbox Kurmi

The Kurmi (कुर्मी) are a Hindu agricultural Indian community. The group is often associated with the Kunbi though not unanimously. Risley classified Kurmi as XXXXX In the late 19th and the 20th century Kurmis asserted a claim to a lost erstwhile Kshatriya status with success. Contemporarily Kurmi's are classified as Other Backward Class.

Etymology
There are several theories regarding the etymology of the term Kurmi. It may be derived from an Indian tribal language, or may be a Sanskrit compound term krishi karmi, "agriculturalist." Other theories include its being a derivative of kṛṣmi, "ploughman", or Kurma a tortise avatar of the god Vishnu.

Occupation
Kurmis have historically been mostly landowners and cultivators.

Varna status debate
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the Kurmis, along with other castes such as the Yadav, began to assert the claim that they had previously been Kshatriya and had been "reduced" to peasant status by circumstance. The Kurmi embarked on a program of publications, public mobilisation, and temple-building to establish their Vaishnava credentials and buttress their claims to Kshatriya status. These claims have not been proven, though some scholars allow that such an argument can be made. The Kurmis obtained some support for their claims from Brahmin scholars, who were eager to accommodate a caste group which had become politically powerful. Satadal Dasgupta has noted that it is common for Indian lower castes to claim a higher varna, citing the Kurmi Kshatriya as an example. A specific instance of this was the Ramanandi sect, which created such a history in the early part of the 20th century.

The Sardar Kurmi Kshatryia Sabha was organised in 1894 in Lucknow, the capital of Uttar Pradesh (some sources say 1884 ) to protest a government decision barring Kurmi recruitment into the police force. However, the influence of this organisation diminished at the end of the 19th century. A similar Sabha was formed in Awadh, which sought to unite as "Kurmi" other castes such at the Patidar, Kapu, Vokkaliga, Reddy, Naidu, and Maratha.

In its fifth conference in 1909, the Sabha changed its name to All India Kurmi Kshatriya Association, and the All India Kurmi Kshatriya Mahasabha (Association) was first registered at Patna in 1910. This organisation promoted both secular and religious interests, supporting Sanskritisation and canvassing for the right to wear the sacred thread, but also pushing for preferential quotas as a backward class.

In the early 1930s, the Kurmis joined with the Yadav and Koeri agriculturalists to enter elections, and in 1934 formed the Triveni Sangh political party, which had a million dues-paying members by 1936. However, the organisation was hobbled by competition from the Congress-backed Backward Class Federation and cooption of its leaders by the Congress party. The organisation also suffered due to the Yadav's "superiority complex" which limited their cooperation with the Kurmi. Similarly, a planned caste union with the Koeris, to be called Raghav Samaj, failed due to caste rivalries.

Again in the 1970s, the India Kurmi Kshatriya Sabha attempted to bring the Koeris under their wing, but again a disunity troubled this alliance. Kurmi politician Nitish Kumar fomed the Samata Party in 1994, forming a backward-upper caste alliance with the conservative Bharatiya Janata Party, which achieved only initial success. In 1998, politician Laloo Prasad Yadav took advantage of this lack of unity in the IKKS, portraying Koeri Shakuni Chaudhry as an incarnation of Kush. Under Yadav, the IKSS became less and less advantageous to the Kurmi, favouring instead the priorities of the Yadav caste, and this combined with the competition of the Kurmi-based Samata led to a divide between these intermittently allied castes.

Language
The Kurmi of Jharkhand, Orissa, West Bengal and Assam use to speak Kurmali language. Kurmi of other state speak their native and regional languages. In Bihar, Kurmi people speak the Magahi and Angika, while in Uttar Pradesh the Kurmi speak Hindi.