Origins Raja Todar Mal, finance minister under Emperor Akbar According to the Hindu scriptures known as the Puranas, Kayasthas are descended from Chitragupta Maharaj, the deity responsible for recording the deeds of humanity, upholding the rule of law, and judging whether human beings go to heaven or hell upon death.[3][4][5] Among various theories, Brahmanical religious texts refer to them as a caste of scribes, recruited in the beginning from the Brahmin, Kshatriya, and Vaishya castes, but eventually formed distinct subcastes in northern and western India. In parallel, in eastern India, Bengali Kayasthas are believed to have similarly evolved from a class of officials into a caste between the 5th/6th century AD and 11th/12th century AD, thought to be originally composed of putative Kshatriyas and mostly Brahmins, the missing trait being well-developed subcaste communities. Kayasthas have therefore also been mentioned as a mixed caste, combining Brahman-Sudra (lower caste) and sometimes Kshatriya as well.[2][6] According to Tej Ram Sharma, an Indian historian, the Kayasthas of Bengal had not yet developed into a distinct caste during the reign of the Gupta Empire, although the office of the Kayasthas (scribes) had been instituted before the beginning of the period, as evidenced from the contemporary Smritis. Mr. Sharma further states: Noticing brahmanic names with a large number of modern Bengali Kayastha cognomens in several early epigraphs discovered in Bengal, some scholars have suggested that there is a considerable brahmana element in the present day Kayastha community of Bengal. Originally the professions of Kayastha (scribe) and Vaidya (physician) were not restricted and could be followed by people of different varnas including the brahmanas. So there is every probability that a number of brahmana families were mixed up with members of other varnas in forming the present Kayastha and Vaidya communities of Bengal.[7]
Posted on: Sun, 10 Nov 2013 15:25:33 +0000
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