Bedia (caste)

The Bedia are a community in India. They believe that they originally lived on Mohdipahar of Hazaribagh district and have descended from the union of Vedbansi prince with a Munda girl. The other view is that a section of the Kudmis were outcastes and came to be known as the Bedia or Wandering Kudmis.[1][2]

Not to be confused with the Muslim tribe of Eastern India, Bedia (tribe).

Present circumstances

The Bedia who have settled down in West Bengal, are also known as the Bedia Kudmi, Choto Kudmi or San Kudmi. They speak in Kudmali/Kurmali, an Indo-Aryan language, at home and Bengali for inter-group communication. The Bengali and Devanagari scripts are used.[2]

The 2011 Census of India for Uttar Pradesh, where they were classified as a Scheduled Caste under the name Beriya, showed their population as 46,775.[3] In Jharkhand, they are listed as Scheduled Tribe.[2]

Clans

They have numbers of exogamous clans such as Pecha (owl), Mahua (Madhuca India), Suia (parrot), Kachhua (tortoise), Chidra (squirrel) etc.[2] Their deity are Bad Pahari and Palcharu. They celebrate festivals such as Jitiya, Sohrai, Fagun, Sarhul.[2]

References
  1. Chowdhuri, Manas Kamal (2003). Ethnographic notes on the scheduled tribes of West Bengal. Cultural Research Institute.
  2. Saswatik Tripathy, Aditi Khan (2018). "A Study on the Bedia Community of the Village Nagrabera, Jharkhand": 1. Retrieved 29 October 2022. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  3. "A-10 Individual Scheduled Caste Primary Census Abstract Data and its Appendix - Uttar Pradesh". Registrar General & Census Commissioner, India. Retrieved 4 February 2017.
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