Yadav

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Castes of India
Yadav
Classification Kshatriya
Subdivisions 57 sub-castes/clans
Significant populations in several regions in India, Nepal
Languages Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam and dialects of these languages
Religions Hinduism

Yadav or Yadava (Sanskrit: यादव) is an Indian caste that claims descent from Yadu. Yadavas have been mentioned as one of the ancient Vedic panchjanya tribes in ancient Dharmic texts.

Yadavs mostly follow Vaishnav traditions and Dharmic religion, and are located in different parts of India, Nepal, and Bangladesh. Traditionally, the Yadavs are classified under the Kshatriya varna in Hinduism. The Yadavs have been included in the Other Backward Classes (OBC) category by several state governments in India in Year 1990 based on Mandal Commission Report.[1]

Contents

In Hindu mythology, Yadvas are described as the descendants of Yadu, the eldest son of King Yayati, whose father removed him from the succession because he rebelled against Yayati's wishes. Yadu and his descendants started ruling in places that are assumed to be referred to in the Hindu scriptures as Jambudvipa. Later on, the Yadus overthrew many Puru rulers. According to the Bhagvad Gita, Yadavas were possessors of great mystical knowledge, as far back as Manu, and much knowledge was also given to Surya and Ikshavaku in far ancient times. According to Dharmic mythology, Jarasandh, Kamsa's father-in-law, and king of Magadha attacked Yadavas to avenge the killing of Kansa. Yadavas had to shift their capital from Mathura (central Aryavart) to Dwaraka (on the western coast of Aryavart) on the Sindhu.

Abhira, which is considered to be a subgroup of Yadava caste today, is assumed to be different from ancient Yadavas. Linkage is obscure and views vary from scholar to scholar. The term was used for cowherds initially but has been extended to include Yaduvanshi and Nandavanshis too by its corrupt version Ahir. Abhira means "fearless" and appear in most ancient historical references dating back to the Abhira kingdom of the Saraswati Valley, who spoke Abhiri until the Buddhist period.[2] Analysis of Hindu scriptural references of the Abhira kingdoms has led some scholars to conclude that it was merely a term used for Holy Yadava Kingdoms. In Bhagavatam, the Gupta dynasty has been alled Abhir.[3]

Stephen Knapp seeks a connection between Yadavas and Jews. According to him, the Greeks referred to the Jews as Judeos, or Jah deos or Yadavas, meaning people of Ya.[4]

According to M.S.A. Rao (an eminent sociologist) Yadava is a category consisting of several allied castes which together constitute about one-tenth of the total population of India. The castes coming under this category are to be found in different parts of India, Burma, Nepal and Sri Lanka and are known as the Ahir in the Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Gujarat and Rajasthan; the Goalas and Sadgopa in Bengal and Orissa; Gavli and Gopala in Maharashtra; Golla in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka and Idayan and Konar in Tamil Nadu. There are also several sub-regional names such as Thetwar and Rawat in Madhya Pradesh, and Mahakul (Great Family) in Bihar.

Two things are common to these cognate castes. First, they claim to be the descendants of the Yadu Dynasty(Yadava) to which Lord Krishna belonged. Secondly, many castes in this category have a set of occupations centering round cattle. The Krishna mythology lends a kind of legitimacy to the pastoral occupations relating to cattle, and as the castes following these occupations are to be found in almost all parts of India, the Yadava category encompasses a whole range of related castes.

Besides this mythical origin of the Yadavas, semi-historical and historical evidence exists for equating the Ahirs with the Yadavas. It is argued that the term Ahir comes from Abhira (Behandarkar, 1911;16), who where once found in different parts of India, and who in several places wielded political power. The Abhiras are equated with Ahirs, Gopas and Gollas, and all of them are considered Yadavas.

M.S.A Rao further states that the Allahabad iron pillar inscription of Samudragupta (fourth century A.D) mentions the Abhiras as one of the tribal states of west and south west India, who paid homage to the emperor(churn, 1943:81). A fourth century (A.D) inscription found in Nashik speaks of an Abhira king, and there is proof that in the middle of the fourth century the Abhiras were settled in eastern Rajputana and Malwa. Similarly, when the Kathis arrived in Gujarat in the eighth century, they found the greater part of the country in the possession of the Ahirs. The Mirzapur district of the United Provinces has a tract known as Ahraura, named after the Ahir, and near Jhansi, another piece of country was called Ahirwar. The Ahirs were also kings of Nepal at the beginning of the Christian era. Khandesh and the Tapti valley were other regions where they were kings.

This indicates that the Abhiras, who rose to political prominence in the second century B.C., had a chequered political career until the fourtheenth century A.D when their importance was over-shadowed by the Mughals, but even during the Mughal period the Ahir and Golla rajahs were a power to be reckoned with. The Gavlis rose to political power in Deogarh, on the Chhindwara Plateau in the central provinces. The Saugar traditions traced down the Gavli supremacy to a much later date, as the tracts of Etawa and Khurai are held to have been governed by the chieftains till the close of the seventeenth century (Russell, 1916:II, 20).

Although the Abhiras constituted a distinct ethnic group, they spoke diverse regional dialects. The language of the Ahirs was known as Ahirani in Khandesh, resembling Marathi. While the Ahirs of Kathiawad and Kachh have a dialect which resembles Gujarathi (Bhandarkar, 1911:17). Abhira bhasha is in fact considered to be Apabhransha. In the ninth century B.C., it had become the language of the people, and was spoken from Saurashtra to Magadh, and Shastri (1967) proves that poetry was composed in the language around the sixth century B.C. Suryavamsi (1962:14-15) mentions the following two dialects in addition to the ones above--Gaddi, which is currently the dialect spoken in Gadderan, on the outskirts of the Chamba and Kangra hills, and Gandi, spoken in some parts of Madhya Pradesh. Abhiri as a dialect has been recorded by Sanskrit poets such as Bharata and Dandin. Yadav (1916:15), notes that the dialect the people of Ahirwal in Haryana speak, has a resemblance to Rajasthani, and Grierson,(1916:9) considers Ahirwati a branch of eastern Rajasthani and western Hindi.

Legends of the cowherd Krishna and his dances with cowherdesses are mentioned in the Sangam classics. The term Ayarpati (cowherd settlement) is found in Cilappatikaram (Iyer, 1950). It is argued that the term Ayar has been used for the Abhiras in ancient Tamil literature, and V. Kanakasabha Pillai (1904) derives Abhira from the Tamil word Ayir which also means cow. He equates the Ayars with Abhiras, and Suryavamsi (1962:17-18) treats this as evidence of migration of the Abhiras to the south in the first century A.D.

Thus, linguistic evidence is used to support the argument that the Abhiras spread to different parts of India, and that they retained different but related cultural traditions. The most common denominator, as was pointed out earlier, was a descent from the Yadu dynasty and their association with cattle.[5]

Through numerous political parties such as the Samajwadi Party, Rashtriya Janata Dal, Janata Dal (Republic), Janata Dal (Communal) and Makkal Tamil Desam (Tamil Nadu), the Yadavs have considerable political influence, especially in the North Indian states of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.[6] Laloo Yadav became the chief minister of Bihar and Mulayam Singh in UP.

Many groups and clans claiming descent from the ancient Yadu clan call themselves Yadavs. The major clans among these are:

  • Ahirs (variously called Ahira and Abhira) are divided into clans called Khanap:
    • Nandavanshi (descendants of Nanda}
    • Gwalvanshi (descendants of Holy Gwals)
    • Dadhor
  • Behera, Pradhans in Orissa
  • Bharwad in Gujarath
  • Bhatrajus (Andhra Pradesh)
  • Dhangars (in Maharashtra and Karnataka), having 108 clans
  • Edayar (Tamil Nadu)
  • Gaurs (also called Goriya, and mentioned in the Mahabharata)
  • Gawlis
  • Gadri / Gadariya
  • Gaddi
  • Golla
  • Gouda (Orissa)
  • Jadam
  • Jambavas
  • Jadon
  • Kalchuri
  • Kone [The Yadava king name] Tamil Nadu
  • Konars (Tamil: கோனார் (in Tamil Nadu and Kerala)
  • Kurubas or Gollas (in Karnataka)
  • Krishnauth (claiming direct lineage from Lord Shri Krishna)
  • Kurubas (Karnataka)
  • Kondayankotth-Tirunelveli-Tamilnadu
  • Maniyani (in Kerala)
  • Manjrauth (linked with Jarasandh)
  • Mandal & Bhagat (Bihar)
  • Oraon
  • Pradhans
  • Puhanian
  • Rauts
  • Sadgops (in Bengal)
  • Souryasaini
  • Saini
  • Surabhirs
  • Surasena
  • Taljunghi
  • Thatte
  • Yadavas
  • Yadavulu
  • Jadeja
  • Bhati
  • Banaphar
  • Servai, Tamil Nadu
  • Vadukayar, Tiruvnelveli in Tamil Nadu
  • Deshwal (some city in U.P)

of the major groups called castes many bear names derived from the principal professions they follow or the crafts they practice, for example, the cattle-breeding group takes the significant name of Gauli, derived from a Sanskrit word for cow. The names of the shepherd castes seem to be derived from words meaning sheep. Such is at least the case with Gadaria from 'gadar', on old Hindi word for sheep. Many others of these major groups called castes bear merely tribal or ethic names. Such are for example: Arora, Gujar, Lohana, Bhatia, Mina, Bhil, Dom, Oraon, Munda, Santal, Koch, Ahir, Mahar, Nayar, Maratha, Gond, Khond, etc.[7]

Shree Raje Ratnasing Jadhavrao, Shree Raje Krushnasing
Shree Raje Ratnasing Jadhavrao, Shree Raje Krushnasing
Shrimant Namdar Sardar Raje Shambhusing Amarsing Jadhavrao
Shrimant Namdar Sardar Raje Shambhusing Amarsing Jadhavrao
Shrimant Sau Khashibaisaheb Jadhavrao, The Queen of Malegaon
Shrimant Sau Khashibaisaheb Jadhavrao, The Queen of Malegaon

Mythology

Historical

Some scholars, such as Robert Sewell believe that the rulers of Vijayanagara Empire were Kurubas (also known as Yadavas).

Some early inscriptions, dated 1078 and 1090, have implied that the Hoysalas of Mysore were also the descendants of the original Yadava clan, by referring to the Yadava vamsa (clan) as Hoysala vamsa. But there are no records directly linking the Hoysalas to the Yadavas of North India. Calling it 'poetic fancy', William Coelho, author of Hoysala Vamsa, 1950, argues that there is no evidence of even a tradition that traces back their lineage to one of northern origin. S.U. Kamath argues that it was a common practice in royal families of medieval South India to build puranic genealogies-[8]

The founder of the Wodeyar dynasty, Vijaya, also claimed descent from the Yadu and took on the name Yadu-Raya.

According to S.C.Raychoudhary (author of Social, Cultural and Economic History of India), a noted historian, "The Pandya kingdom generally associated with the Pandus of the Mahabarata covered the districts of Madura and Tinnivelly as well as certain portions of south Travancore."[9]

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Artists / Writers

Others:

  1. ^ Commission for Other Backward Classes
  2. ^ http://www.viewzone.com/matlock.html
  3. ^ http://www.encyclopediaofauthentichinduism.org/articles/33_two_more.htm
  4. ^ http://www.stephen-knapp.com/death_of_the_aryan_invasion_theory.htm
  5. ^ Social Movements and Social Transformation by M.S.A. Rao (The Macmillan Company of India Limited, 1979. page: 123,124,125,127,128)
  6. ^ http://www.deccanherald.com/deccanherald/Jan162006/editpage1617482006115.asp
  7. ^ Caste And Race In India by G.S. Ghurye (an eminent sociologist) Popular Prakashan 2004 reprint page: 31,32,33.
  8. ^ Suryanath U. Kamath, A Concise History of Karnataka from pre-historic times to the present, 2001, Jupiter books, MCC, (Reprinted 2002), p122
  9. ^ Social, Cultural and Economic History of India [Earliest times to present times] by Raychoudhary, Surjeet publications, seventh reprint 2002, p102
  10. ^ Who is D P Yadav? A Dossier

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