Jalia Kaibarta is a community of low ritual-status fishermen who eventually gained respectable caste identities within the greater Hindu fold through Sanskritisation, aided by their economic prosperity and Vaishnavite affinities.
The Kaibartas were once thought to be a single tribe that had been split into the Haliya and Jaliya Kaibarta clans, with the former being seen as superior to the former. The second largest of Assam’s 16 Scheduled Castes (also known as Kaibartas or Jalias) are the Jaliya Kaibartas.
LOCATION of JALIA KAIBARTA
They originally came from Assam, West Bengal, Odisha, and eastern Bihar, as well as Bangladesh, Nepal, and Bhutan. Their traditional occupation is fishing.
OCCUPATION
Fishing is their main occupation but after coming under the influence of Garamur satradhikar gave up their traditional occupation of fishing and divided themselves into – machi mara and machi na-mara.
Beliefs and Rituals of JALIA KAIBARTA
The Hindu goddess Vasuli Devi is revered particularly by the Jalia. In April, the Jalia perform a ritual dance in her honour. A manifestation of the great Mother Goddess is Vasuli Devi. The Kaibartta are regarded by some as animists because, beneath the surface of their Hinduism, they also hold a belief in the existence of nature spirits. At significant family rites including births, marriages, and burials, village elders and the priest act as the leaders.
MYTH
A Kaibarta is reported to be born to a Kshatriya father and a Vaishya mother in the Brahmavaivarta, but some believe Kaibarta is a Hinduized name for Kevatta, which refers to a class of fishermen in the Buddhist Jatakas. They also have their own priest, according to legend.
The first proto-Assamese text, Caryapdas, was authored by a Buddhist monk known in Tibetan as Lui-p, who is connected with Matsyendrantha, a member of the ancient Kmarpa fishing community that subsequently became Kaibartas.
The origin, development, roles, and functions of this community are described in detail in the Kaibarta Gita, a poem by the mediaeval Oriyan poet and Vaishnav saint Achyutananda Dasa.
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