Jalia Kaibarta

(or Jaliya Kaibartta, or: Jāliya Kaibbarta, possibly also: Jalia Kaibartya) is a community comprising people of low ritual status, fishermen, who later acquired respectable caste identities within the larger Hindu fold, helped by their commercial prosperity and Vaishnavite affiliations, through Sanskritisation. They are traditionally engaged in the occupation of fishing and originally belonged to Assam, West Bengal, Odisha and eastern Bihar along with Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan. The Kaibartas were initially considered a single tribe divided into two groups, Jaliya and Haliya Kaibarta. Jaliya Kaibartas are categorised as a Scheduled Caste. They are recognised as Schedule Caste in Assam under the name Jal Keot or Kaibarta.

In Brahmavaivarta, a Kaibarta is said to be born to a Kshatriya father and a Vaishya mother, while other consider Kaibarta to be a Hinduised word of Kevatta which refer to a class of fishermens in the Budhhist Jatakas.

The first proto-Assamese manuscript, in the form of Caryapādas, was written by a Buddhist priest, known in Tibetan language as Lui-pā, who is identified with Matsyendranātha, a member of the fishermen community of ancient Kāmarūpa, which later became Kaibartas.

Notable People

Hima Das, Indian sprinter from Assam, National record holder and Gold medalist in Asian Games and IAAF World U20 Championships in 400 metres