Namasudra
Sign in to saveNamasudra (), earlier known as Chandal, is an Avarna Bengali Hindu community originating from eastern and central Bengal. The term Chandal or Chandala is usually considered to be a slur. They were traditionally engaged in fishing and as boatmen, and later in cultivation. They lived outside the four-tier ritual varna system and thus were outcastes.
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- community
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- described by source
- Encyclopædia Britannica 11th edition
via Wikidata · CC0
~29 min read
Encyclopedic overview
16 sectionsContents
- Etymology
- Origins
- Colonial ethnography
- Other views
- Identity movement
- Transition to Namasudras
- Freedom movement
- Post-independence
- Migration to India
- Condition in India
- Thakurnagar
- Marichjhapi massacre
- Modern day politics and status
- See also
- References
- Further reading
Namasudra (), earlier known as Chandal, is an Avarna Bengali Hindu community originating from eastern and central Bengal. The term Chandal or Chandala is usually considered to be a slur. They were traditionally engaged in fishing and as boatmen, and later in cultivation. They lived outside the four-tier ritual varna system and thus were outcastes.
== Etymology == There is a dearth of discussion as to the etymology of the word namasudra in pre-nineteenth-century Bengali literature and the period of origin of the word is also undetermined. Several theories have been suggested but there is no broad consensus supporting any of them.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Namasudra” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.