8/12/2019 Kulin Brahmins - Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia

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Kulin BrahminsFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Kulin Brahminsare those Brahmins in Bengal who can trace themselves to the five families of Kanauj

(Kanyakubja), Uttar Pradesh who migrated to Bengal.They were given immense power during the reign of

the Sena/Sen kings who were staunch Hindus and did not encourage the practice of any other religion. The

five Brahmin families were differentiated by their gotras. The Kanaujiya/kanyakubj Brahmins who settled in

Bengal had the following gotras: (Shandilya, Bhardwaj, Kashyap, Saavarna and Vatsav/Vatsya); these gotras

denote the Rishis whose followers the Brahmins were.

Some of these kuleen families settled in Barendrabhoom and some in Rarhbhoom. The descendants of these

families became known as Rarhi and Barendra Brahmins as per their settlement.

Kulin system

The Kulin Prathaor Kulin System was initiated by the Sena kings in Bengal whereby the kings gave land

and power to the Brahmins to promote vedic principles in the society, leading to a strict and disciplinedlifestyle. Simultaneously they also enforced strict rules on family and marriage rules on Brahmins, leading to

the birth of Kulin Brahmins, an apex section/class/caste of the society. It was said that a person is Kulin if

and only if all the 14 generations on his father's and mother's side were Kulin. This created a very

problematic divide in the society. This was also opposed by many Brahmins. Yet it became a norm, probably

because the kulin Brahmins got lured by the newly acquired power in the society.

It was a very strict practice leading to many problems in Bengali society. If a daughter of a Kulin family

doesn't wed in a Kulin family then the parent family loses their Kulin identity. These led to several problems

like young girls getting married to old Kulin married men out of desperation of finding a Kulin groom. It was

not uncommon for Kulin grooms to have several wives, most of which stayed at their parents home, just to

be wed (for the sake of the ritual) to a Kulin and hence maintain their Kulin status.

References

"Hindu Castes and Sects", Jogendranath Bhattacharya, Thacker, Spink & Company, Calcutta, 1896.

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