A Brief History of Dusadh Community

Dusadh is the second largest group among the scheduled caste in Bihar. They are also known as Darh and Darhi. Their caste titles are Hazra, Paswan, Bhagat and Manjhi. They are largely concentrated in Muzaffarpur and Darbhanga in north Bihar but they are also found in other districts of Bihar. They are regarded as a good agricultural labourer, watchmen or chawkidars and the henchmen of the landlord. They also rear cattle, but due to sanskritization and modernization they have abandoned the practice of rearing animals.

The Dusadh community divided into a number of sub-castes like kanaujia, magahia, silhotia, darhi, darh, manjhi and pariva. The child marriage and dowry was prevalent among this community previously. But, with the help of education this scenario is changed and no child marriage case of this community has been reported from last 5-6 decades. Their marriage rituals are more or less an imitation of Hindu marriage rituals. Previously the Brahmin used to fix the time and date of marriage and performs the rituals but he did not take food in their marriage ceremony, but now a days he takes food as well as asks for ‘sidha’ also . This community usually burn their dead and perform shradh. However, their occupational status has not changed and majority of them remain as agricultural labourer and 'Banihar'.

They worship a number of deities and the chief among them is Rahu Baba. The deities worshiped by them are Goraya, Manusdeva, Sokha, Sahlesh, Bhairawa, Jagdamba Mai, Kali and Chauharmal Baba. For the religious rituals the Dusadh themselves act as priests. These deities are offered animal sacrifices and fruits. Besides this, they also worship a number of Hindu deities. In past they have their own caste councils to settle disputes complaints if any but in this new era they prefer to approach govt organisations/institutions in such cases.

Dusadh is historically a rustic community mostly found in the states of Bihar, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, Uttrakhand, West Bengal, Aasam, Madhyapradesh, etc. with other states in India. Some people of this caste are also found Haryana & Delhi area. The Dusadh, also known as Dusad or Dusadh or Dosadh, are a large community of more than two crore people distributed across the different states in India. They were also palanquin bearers a long time ago. In Bihar, the number of Schedule Castes is 15.7% of the total population, in which Dusadh is the second most populous caste & their number is 30.9%. As per castes census of India 2001 literacy rate of Dusadh is about 33.00%.

H.H. Risley in “The Tribes and Castes of Bengal (1891)” describes the Dusadh as a degraded cultivating caste of Bihar & the members of which are mainly employed as village watchmen and messengers. It is learnt that the army of Robert Clive, which won the decisive battle of Plessey in the year 1757 and laid the foundation of the British Empire in India, consisted of the Dusadh warriors.

The Dusadh are registered as a Scheduled Caste under the provision of the Indian Constitution vide the Gazette of India (extra-ordinary), Part-II-Section-III published by authority on Friday, 11th August 1950 and in the schedule Dusadh including Dhari or Dharhi caste were placed at Part II-Bihar 1(8).

History of Dusadh is very aristocratic. People of this caste are strong, extraordinary, mighty and self-controlled. They have always been in the forefront in fighting, struggling against social, economic, political, and religious and other forms of atrocities, misconduct, oppression and exploitation. In spite of not a good financial condition, Dusadh are happy with their hard work & happy to live a simple life. In regards, to Dusadh caste, there is not much help available from history, but in the folk songs related to its Godfather Baba Chauharmal, Raja Sahalesh, Baba Makra Manjhi, Rahu Baba & Goraya Baba, the resonance of respect, honour, devotion, love, power, character, divine etc. reflects. Dusadh caste is mainly associated with Gahlaut Kshatriya, Sun Dynasty. The main foundation of this establishment is Lieutenant Colonel James Tod's book "The Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan". The author has discussed the Kshatriya Gahlaut lineage under the Sun Dynasty and the light of the same is discussed in the branch of "Dosaudh". By adding caste to the Dushadh word itself, people coming under it consider themselves to be descendants of Gahlot Kshatriyas. People of Dusadh caste still worship Goreya Baba, Rahu Baba and other goddesses, who have a spanking history of valor and sacrifice. Gorayya Baba is a local divinity who is worshipped in the form of little mounds or platforms made of clay.

A priest known as Bhagat (devotee) is also popular in Barah Pooja & cures diseases using spells and charms, and protects them from harmful evil spirits. Family deities like Rahu and Jagdamba are also appeased by the Bhagat in the month of Aashwin and during this time flowers and sweet dish are offered to these deities.

Dusadh caste has not a traditional profession. It was evident from the basis of its properties and mis-interpretation of words that people of this caste used to do hard work and they were reliable and courageous and did not accept anybody's submission, as a result Dusadh were called miserable because they could not be easily restrained. As per available records in different books, journals, research papers, social media etc. branches of Dusadh are Suryaha, Maghia or Magadhiya, Dhadhi, Dharhi/Dhar, Kannoujiya, Baheliya, Silhotiya, Palliwar, Raaddhi, Kurna, Choupriya etc.