Basor
The Basor, also known as Bansor or Basphor, are a Hindu Scheduled Caste community primarily residing in the states of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh in India.[1][2] Their traditional occupation involves craftsmanship with bamboo, producing items such as baskets, mats, furniture, and other handicrafts, a practice sustained for centuries among this artisan group.[3][4] Often settled on the outskirts of villages or towns to facilitate access to raw materials and markets, Basor communities have supplemented their primary trade with marginal farming, sharecropping, and labor work.[5] Classified under the Scheduled Castes for affirmative action purposes since the constitutional lists established in 1936 and updated post-independence, they represent a small demographic segment, with census data indicating around 130,000 individuals in Uttar Pradesh alone as of 2011.[6] While some subgroups claim higher varna origins akin to Kshatriyas, official recognition affirms their Dalit status, reflecting entrenched hierarchical positions in India's caste system.[7]Etymology and Historical Origins
Etymological Roots
The name Basor is widely regarded as a phonetic corruption of the Hindi term Bansphor, literally translating to "bamboo breaker," reflecting the community's traditional occupation of splitting and processing bamboo for weaving baskets, mats, and other crafts.[8][9][10] This etymology traces back to the Hindi word bans, denoting bamboo (Bambusa species), combined with phor or phoriya, implying one who breaks or splits, a process central to their artisanal work documented in ethnographic accounts from the late 19th century.[11] Ethnologist William Crooke, in his 1896 study The Tribes and Castes of the North-Western Provinces and Oudh, explicitly links the term to this occupational descriptor, noting the Basor's specialization in bamboo manipulation, which aligns with linguistic evolution from occupational surnames in Hindi-speaking regions.[11] Similar derivations appear in regional gazetteers, such as those by R.V. Russell and R.B. Hiralal in 1916, reinforcing Basor as a degraded form of Bansphor without evidence of alternative proto-Indo-European or Dravidian roots.[9] Sub-dialectal variants, such as Burud in some central Indian contexts, may share this bamboo-related suffix but lack direct etymological ties to Basor, instead possibly deriving from Telugu or Marathi terms for forest dwellers or weavers; however, primary sources prioritize the Hindi occupational origin for the core Basor nomenclature.[9] No verifiable pre-colonial textual evidence predates these colonial-era compilations, suggesting the name crystallized in medieval Hindi vernaculars tied to agrarian economies.[10]Legendary and Mythical Foundations
The Basor caste traditionally traces its legendary origins to Raja Benu, also known as Venu, a ruler of Singorgarh in the Damoh district of Madhya Pradesh. According to community lore, Benu was exceptionally pious and refused to impose taxes on his subjects, sustaining his kingdom through the production and sale of bamboo fans rather than military force or levies.[8][11] This narrative portrays him as a devout figure who prioritized religious devotion over conventional governance, leading to the adoption of bamboo craftsmanship as a foundational occupation for his descendants. A prominent myth explains the primordial absence of bamboo and its divine introduction. Folklore holds that the first Basor ancestor procured a serpent coiled around Lord Shiva's neck and planted it head-downward into the earth, from which the inaugural bamboo sprout immediately arose; this enabled the weaving of the original bamboo fan.[8] The tale links the community's identity inextricably to bamboo, symbolizing both practical utility and sacred intervention in their ethnogenesis. Further legends attribute supernatural efficacy to Benu's bamboo artifacts, depicting him as wielding a fan to obliterate adversaries simply by snapping it, thereby compensating for his lack of an army through mystical prowess.[11] These accounts, preserved in oral traditions and ethnographic compilations, emphasize resilience and ingenuity but lack corroboration from independent historical records, reflecting the caste's self-constructed mythical charter amid occupational specialization.[8]Early Historical Evidence
The earliest documented references to the Basor community in historical records date to the late 19th century British colonial ethnographies of northern India. In William Crooke's The Tribes and Castes of the North-Western Provinces and Oudh (1896), the Basor are identified as a low-ranking occupational group residing on the outskirts of towns, primarily engaged in bamboo working, scavenging, and midwifery by women, with descriptions portraying them as relatively respectable within their social stratum despite their marginal status. Crooke further notes their association with the Dom caste cluster, emphasizing endogamous practices and ritual impurity that limited inter-caste interactions, such as the Basor's refusal to touch certain other low castes like the Dhobi.[12] Colonial census operations provide quantitative early evidence, with the Basor enumerated as a distinct caste in the 1901 Census of India, listed alongside synonyms like Basor or Basnha, and classified under Hindu affiliations, reflecting their integration into the emerging administrative taxonomy of castes.[13] These records, derived from district-level surveys, captured the Basor's concentration in regions like the United Provinces (modern Uttar Pradesh) and Central Provinces, where they numbered in the tens of thousands by the early 20th century—for instance, approximately 53,000 in the Central Provinces and Berar by 1911—primarily as bamboo artisans supplying baskets, mats, and furniture to rural and urban markets.[10] Pre-colonial textual or epigraphic evidence specifically naming the Basor remains absent from surviving ancient or medieval Indian sources, such as inscriptions or Sanskrit literature, likely due to their occupational specialization in a peripatetic, low-status role that evaded elite documentation.[14] British ethnographers like Crooke relied on local oral traditions and field observations rather than prior indigenous records, highlighting how colonial categorization systematized previously fluid or overlooked groups like the Basor within the varna framework, often linking them to Sudra or untouchable origins without corroboration from earlier periods. This evidentiary gap underscores the challenges in tracing subaltern castes prior to systematic 19th-century documentation, where British surveys prioritized occupational and ritual markers over deep historical lineages.Demographic and Geographic Profile
Population Estimates and Distribution
The Basor, classified as a Scheduled Caste in India, numbered 512,724 individuals according to the 2011 Census data compiled by the Ministry of Home Affairs.[15] This figure encompasses populations in states where Basor is officially listed as a Scheduled Caste, including variations such as Basor, Burud, Bansor, Bansodi, Bansphor, and Basar.[15] The community is predominantly concentrated in central and northern India, with the largest populations in Madhya Pradesh (315,640) and Uttar Pradesh (129,885).[15] Smaller numbers reside in Maharashtra (55,564), Chhattisgarh (11,377), and negligible populations in Odisha (81) and Uttarakhand (177).[15]| State | Population (2011 Census) |
|---|---|
| Madhya Pradesh | 315,640 |
| Uttar Pradesh | 129,885 |
| Maharashtra | 55,564 |
| Chhattisgarh | 11,377 |
| Odisha | 81 |
| Uttarakhand | 177 |
| Total | 512,724 |