Bedia (caste)
The Bedia is a caste in India.[1] They believe that they originally lived at Mohdipahar in Hazaribagh district and have descended from the union of a Vedbansi prince with a Munda girl. A legend has heard that they had their own 'Vedas' and hence it is called Bediya. Their Veda was different from the Vedas of Aryans.
Present circumstances
The Bedia who have settled down in West Bengal are also known as the Bede or Bedia. They speak in Nagpuri, an Indo-Aryan language, at home, and Bengali for inter-group communication. The Bengali and Devanagari scripts are used.[2]
The 2011 Census of India for Uttar Pradesh, where they were classified as a Scheduled Caste under the name Beriya, showed their population as 46,775.[3] In Jharkhand, they are listed as a Scheduled Tribe.[4]
Clans
They have numbers of exogamous clans such as Pecha (owl), Mahua (Madhuca India), Suia (parrot), Kachhua (tortoise), Chidra (squirrel) etc.[4] Their deities are Bad Pahari and Palcharu. They celebrate festivals such as Jitiya, Sohrai, Fagun, and Sarhul.[4]
References
- ^ Gupta, Dipankar (8 December 2004). Caste in Question: Identity Or Hierarchy?. SAGE Publications. pp. 221–46. ISBN 978-0-7619-3324-3.
- ^ "Bedia". Government of Jharkhand - Directorate of Arts and Culture.
- ^ "A-10 Individual Scheduled Caste Primary Census Abstract Data and its Appendix - Uttar Pradesh". Registrar General & Census Commissioner, India. Retrieved 4 February 2017.
- ^ a b c Saswatik Tripathy, Aditi Khan (2018). "A Study on the Bedia Community of the Village Nagrabera, Jharkhand": 1. Retrieved 29 October 2022.
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Further reading
- Agrawal, Anuja (2004). "'The Bedias are Rajputs': Caste consciousness of a marginal community". In Gupta, Dipankar (ed.). Caste in Question: Identity Or Hierarchy?. Contributions to Indian Sociology. Vol. 12. SAGE. ISBN 9780761933243.