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m Removed the photo labeled "LOW CASTE TRIBE POSSIBLY ABORIGINAL GOORUCKPOOR" due to its degrading implications regarding the Koeri community. This characterization does not reflect the historical status and significant contributions of the community, as highlighted by various reports and studies. The Koeris, are recognized for their high agricultural skills and upward mobility, and such a label does not accurately represent their caste status history.
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{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2023}}
{{Infobox caste
| name caste_name = Koeri
| region = [[Bihar]], [[Uttar Pradesh]], [[Jharkhand]], [[Madhesh Province|Madhesh]]
| languages = [[Bhojpuri language|Bhojpuri]], [[Magahi language|Magahi]], [[Awadhi language|Awadhi]], [[Hindi]]-[[Urdu]]
| religions = [[Hinduism]], [[Buddhism]],<ref>{{cite news|url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/patna/sri-lankan-missionary-engineers-conversion-in-gaya-about-500-embrace-buddhism/articleshow/45752797.cms|title=Sri Lankan missionary engineers conversion in Gaya|website=Times of India|date=5 January 2015 |accessdate=28 August 2023|archive-date=29 August 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230829103202/https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/patna/sri-lankan-missionary-engineers-conversion-in-gaya-about-500-embrace-buddhism/articleshow/45752797.cms|url-status=live}}</ref> [[Islam]]
| image =
| caption =
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==Sanskritisation==
[[File:Twee Koeri mannen op een pad in Gorakhpur met gereedschap voor de landbouw Koerees. Low caste tribe, possibly aboriginal. Goruckpoor (titel op object), RP-F-2001-7-1122B-44.jpg|thumb|British era image of two men from Koeri caste describing low caste and possibility of aboriginal origin.]]
Haruka Yanagisawa, Professor Emeritus of the [[University of Tokyo]] mentions in his work that Koeris along with Yadav and Kurmis were classified as upper-middle caste, who were known for their sturdy and hardy nature.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hf-VEAAAQBAJ |last=Yanagisawa|first =H.|title=&nbsp;Indian Economic Growth in Historical Perspective: The Roots of Development|date=23 December 2022 |place=United States|publisher=[[Taylor & Francis]]|isbn=9781000803396 |quote= Three upper-middle castes, the Yadav, Koeri and Kurmi (designated OBC), considerably improved their economic position. "These three castes have been the major beneficiaries of the so- called Green Revolution in Bihar.... These sturdy and hardy castes, traditionally engaged in cultivation, have managed to produce more from cultivation than their upper caste counterparts".}}</ref> Koeris have traditionally been classified as a “[[shudra]]“<ref>{{cite book |last1=Sharma |first1=Shalendra |title=Development and Democracy in India |date=1999 |publisher=Lynne Rienner Publishers |isbn=9781555878108 |page=157 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=i4bV4cKpPlIC&pg=PA157 |quote=Upper of forward caste(brahmin thakur bania kayastha), cultivating or middle castes(jat bhumihar tyagi), lower shudra or backward caste(yadav, kurmi, lodh koeri gujar kahar gadaria teli harhai nai kachi others), scheduled castes(chamar pasis dhobi bhangi) |access-date=18 April 2022 |archive-date=18 April 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220418013913/https://books.google.com/books?id=i4bV4cKpPlIC&pg=PA157 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Omvedt |first=Gail |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Wlxb0uacnRcC |title=Reinventing Revolution: New Social Movements and the Socialist Tradition in India |date=18 June 1993 |publisher=M.E. Sharpe |isbn=978-0-7656-3176-3 |pages=58 |language=en |quote=But in eastern U.P. and Bihar, marked much more by landlordism and within this the domination of the "twice-born" upper castes (brahmans, bhumihars, and rajputs), even the "shudra" peasant castes (kurmis, koeris, and yadavas) were cruelly subordinated, and there had been little of a broad anticaste movement. |access-date=15 August 2020 |archive-date=2 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230202200227/https://books.google.com/books?id=Wlxb0uacnRcC |url-status=live }}</ref> caste and today Koeris have attempted [[Sanskritisation]]—the attempt by traditionally middle and low castes to rise up the social ladder, often by tracing their origins to mythical characters or following the lifestyle of higher ''[[Varna (Hinduism)|varna]]'', such as following [[vegetarianism]], secluding women, or wearing ''[[Upanayana|Janeu]]'', the sacred thread.<ref name="Jayapalan2001">{{cite book|author=N. Jayapalan|title=Indian society and social institutions|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AumuJ2jtRZIC&pg=PA428|access-date=17 January 2013|year=2001|publisher=Atlantic Publishers & Distri|isbn=978-81-7156-925-0|page=428}}</ref> The Sanskritising trend in castes of northern India, including that of the Koeris, was inspired by the [[Vaishnavism|vaishnavite]] tradition, as attested by their bid to seek association with avatars of [[Vishnu]]. Author William Pinch wrote:
{{blockquote|"The nineteenth century antecedents of the Kushvaha- kshatriya movement reveal distinct cosmological associations with Shiva and his divine consort, Parvati. Kushvaha-kshatriya identity was espoused by agricultural community well known throughout the Gangetic north for an expertise in vegetable and (to an increasingly limited scale after the turn of twentieth century) poppy cultivation.
Prominent among them were ''Kachhi'' and ''[[Murao people|Murao]]'' agriculturalist of central Uttar Pradesh ,''Kachhvahas'' of western Uttar Pradesh and ''Koiris'' of Bihar and eastern Uttar Pradesh."<ref>{{cite book |title=Peasants and monks in British India |first=William R. |last=Pinch |publisher=University of California Press |year=1996 |isbn=978-0-520-20061-6 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uEP-ceGYsnYC&q=peasants+and+monk+in+br&pg=PA92 |page=91,92 |access-date=4 October 2020 |archive-date=17 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210417221352/https://books.google.com/books?id=uEP-ceGYsnYC&q=peasants+and+monk+in+br&pg=PA92 |url-status=live }}</ref>}}
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In 1877, there was an attempt by colonial [[Bengal Presidency|Government of Bengal]] to prepare an account of Indian society and it culminated into the process of all india social classification of various castes and tribes beginning with the first census of 1871. In 1901, [[Herbert Hope Risley]] applied anthropometrical methods to develop a racial taxonomy of Indian society leading to a problematic attempt to classify people of India. The Koeris were classified as "agricultural caste" along with the Kurmis.<ref name="Bauer">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UCmVDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA143|title=The Peasant Production of Opium in Nineteenth Century India|author=Rolf Bauer|publisher=BRILL|year=2019|isbn=978-9004385184|page=143|access-date=30 May 2022|archive-date=2 February 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230202200228/https://books.google.com/books?id=UCmVDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA143|url-status=live}}</ref> An official report of 1941 described them as being the "most advanced" cultivators in Bihar and said, "Simple in habits, thrifty to a degree and a master in the art of market-gardening, the Koeri is amongst the best of the tillers of the soil to be found anywhere in India."<ref>{{cite book |title=India's silent revolution: the rise of the lower castes in North India |page=197 |first=Christophe |last=Jaffrelot |publisher=C. Hurst & Co. |location=London |year=2003 |isbn=978-1-85065-670-8 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OAkW94DtUMAC |access-date=29 August 2011 |archive-date=2 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230202200231/https://books.google.com/books?id=OAkW94DtUMAC |url-status=live }}</ref> During the [[British Raj|colonial period]], in the provinces such as Bengal, although majority of rural population was having a living from the agriculture, only a few of them deserved classification as "agriculturists". The Koeris along with the [[Kachhi (caste)|Kachhi]]s and the [[Kurmi]]s were not only the major "agricultural caste", but were also reputed as most skilled cultivators. As per the description of [[William Crooke]] of the contemporary agrarian society, the Koeris were 'quiet, industrious and well-behaved people'.<ref name="Bauer"/>
 
In the early 19th century in the [[Gaya district]], Koeris were recorded by Francis Buchanan as a community of "ploughing tribes" consisting primarily of poor and middle peasants. It was however noted that in his survey, Buchanan had neglected an upper crust among them, which had accumulated and hoarded cash and had emerged as moneylenders forwarding ''Kamiauti'' advances to acquire dependent labour. Oral testimonies from the colonial period indicates that by the end of 19th century, Koeris in the Gaya district included rich peasants, who had acquired material wealth by improving land relation and extending market relations. This enabled them to forward advances to the dependent labourers in order to bring them under debt bondage and ''Kamia-Malik'' relationship.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MQFvks7lahoC&pg=PA162|title=Bonded Histories Genealogies of Labor Servitude in Colonial India|issn=0575-6863|author=Gyan Prakash|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=2003|isbn=0521526582|pages=162–163|access-date=21 June 2022|archive-date=22 June 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220622094620/https://books.google.com/books?id=MQFvks7lahoC&pg=PA162|url-status=live}}</ref> According to author Bindeswar Ram, who studied rural credit market of 1880s in region such as Bengal and Bihar, Koeris worked as Mahajan or moneylenders alongside Bania and [[Sunar|Sonar]] caste in rural areas. Ram mentions that these social groups acted both as prosperous peasant proprietors as well as rural credit market agent by forwarding credit to tenants (''Raiyat''). By 1885, when the price of land surged, they started increasing their landholdings through purchase. There also witnessed increased transfer of the land of tenants by these social groups, when they mortgaged their land for credit. Ram also mentioned that after 1885, due to increase in registration of land under law and growing prices of land, the bargaining power of these groups, acting as moneylenders increased tremendously.<ref name=Ram>{{cite book|last=Ram|first=B.|year=1997|title=&nbsp;Land and Society in India: Agrarian Relations in Colonial North Bihar|place=&nbsp;India|publisher=Orient Longman|page=69|isbn=9788125006435 |accessdate=29 August 2023|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2b_j0mNe2FwC&pg=PA69|archive-date=29 August 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230829103244/https://books.google.co.in/books?id=2b_j0mNe2FwC&pg=PA69&dq=|url-status=live}}</ref>
 
Malabika Chakrabarti also mentions that better-off peasants of Koeri caste in region of South Bihar supplemented their income from cultivation by working as Mahajan or moneylenders. She also notes that they also involved the local [[Bhuiya]] population in bonded labour system by forwarding ''Kamiauti'' advances (a kind of loan) to them. These Koeri Mahajans, according to Chakraborty, were most stringent in terms of their advances to [[Bhuiya]].<ref name=Chakraborty>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=J3R6umYMROsC&pg=PA99|last=Chakrabarti|first=M.|year=2004|title=&nbsp;The Famine of 1896-1897 in Bengal: Availabilty Or Entitlement Crisis?.|place=&nbsp;India|publisher=Orient BlackSwan|page=99|isbn=9788125023890 |accessdate=29 August 2023|archive-date=29 August 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230829103158/https://books.google.co.in/books?id=J3R6umYMROsC&pg=PA99&dq=|url-status=live}}</ref>
 
In post independence India, Koeris have been classified as [[Upper Backward Castes|upper strata of Backward Castes]] by virtue of being part of the group of four of the [[Other Backward Class|OBC]] communities in [[Bihar]], who acquired land overtime, adopted improved agricultural technology and attained political power to become a class of rising ''[[Kulak]]s'' in the agricultural society of India.<ref name="BergerHeidemann2013">{{cite book | author = Carolyn Brown Heinz | editor1 = Peter Berger | editor2 = Frank Heidemann | date = 3 June 2013 | title = The Modern Anthropology of India: Ethnography, Themes and Theory | publisher = Routledge | pages = | isbn = 978-1-134-06118-1 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=sQF5-d9BMqcC&pg=PT48 | quote = The four dominant high caste groups (the forward castes)-Brahman, Bhumihar, Rajput, Kayastha-together constitute about 12 percent of the population. These are the old elite, from whose numbers came the major zamindars and land owning castes. The so-called Backward castes consisting of about half the population of Bihar, were further classified soon after independence into Upper Backward and Lower Backwards(Blair 1980). The upper backwards - Bania , Yadav, Kurmi and Koiri - constitute about 19 percent of the population, and now include most of the rising Kulak class of successful peasants who have acquired land, adopted improved agricultural technology, and become a powerful force in Bihar politics. This is true, above all, of the Yadavas. The lower backwards are shudra castes such as Barhi, Dhanuk, Kahar, Kumhar, Lohar, Mallaah, Teli etc, about 32 percent of the population. The largest components of the scheduled castes(14 percent) are the Dusadh, Chamar, and Musahar, the Dalit groups who are in many parts of the statelocked in struggles for land and living wages and living wages with the rich peasants and landlords of the forward and upper backward castes | access-date = 15 June 2022 | archive-date = 14 June 2022 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20220614220553/https://books.google.com/books?id=sQF5-d9BMqcC&pg=PT48 | url-status = live }}</ref> The diversification in occupation of the Koeri caste in post independence India is shown by studies in select villages of North Bihar. In his paper, called ''Land and caste relation'', Awanish Kumar's study of select villages of West Champaran and [[Samastipur district]] of North Bihar revealed that in some of these villages, Koeri and Yadav caste have become dominant over the time, leaving behind old elite groups, such as [[Bhumihar]]s. Kumar's study found that both these caste compete for political power in these zones and a few Koeri families, who are economically sound, also own the local [[Primary Agricultural Credit Societies]] and [[Public Distribution System]]. However, intra-caste differentiation in Koeris was also high, as not all Koeri households in villages under study shared the prosperity attained by some of their clan members.The study also presented a differentiated pattern of control over land and resources, as, in some quarters, caste like Koeri and Yadav were dominant, while in others, Bhumihar caste still had control over significant amount of cultivable land.<ref>{{cite journal|title=Land and Caste Relations in North Bihar: Observations from Two Villages|last=
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==Politics==
In the early twentieth century, the Koeri and their sub-caste the [[Murao]] participated in the politics of the [[Kisan Sabha (1919-1922)|Kisan Sabha]], which worked for the peasants' cause against the ill effects of [[landlordism]] and the 1920 Gandhian [[Non-cooperation movement (1919–22)|non-cooperation movement]]. These peasant castes, which had a long tradition of independence and caste solidarity, founded the Kisan Sabhas, which later became instrumental in supporting peasant causes. The traditional method of Nai-Dhobi band—disallowing of service of washermen and barbers to enforce the sanctions on the landlords and use of their robust caste panchayats—became a symbol of this peasant movement. Koeri leader [[Mata Badal Koeri]] became a founding leader of ''Oudh Kisan Sabha'' (Awadh Farmers Conference) along with [[Baba Ram Chandra]]. Large numbers of Koeris participated in the Awadh Kisan Conference of 1920, which was held in Ayodhya.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-A2oDQAAQBAJ&pg=PT210|title=The Rise and Fall of Modern Empires, Volume IV: Reactions to Colonialism|year=2016|place=&nbsp;United Kingdom|publisher=[[Taylor & Francis]]|pages=210–211|isbn=9781351882675|access-date=22 July 2023|archive-date=22 July 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230722130106/https://books.google.com/books?id=-A2oDQAAQBAJ&pg=PT210|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Hardiman|first=&nbsp;D|year=2021|title=&nbsp;Noncooperation in India: Nonviolent Strategy and Protest, 1920-22|place=United States|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|page=74|isbn=&nbsp;978-0-19-754830-1|accessdate=19 July 2023|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=47IYEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA73|archive-date=22 July 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230722104609/https://books.google.com/books?id=47IYEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA73|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=U82GAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA194|page=194|last=Menon|first=V|year=2003|title=From Movement To Government: The Congress in the United Provinces, 1937-42|place=&nbsp;India|publisher=SAGE Publications.|isbn=9788132103684|access-date=22 July 2023|archive-date=22 July 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230722104609/https://books.google.com/books?id=U82GAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA194|url-status=live}}</ref>
 
In the heyday of [[British Raj]], the Koeris aligned with the Kurmis and the Yadavs to form a caste coalition-cum-political party called [[Triveni Sangh]]. The actual date of the formation of Triveni Sangh is disputed among scholars. This caste coalition fared badly against the [[Indian National Congress|Congress]] party and faced a considerable challenge from Congress's backward class federation. Though politically it was not able to make a significant mark, it remained successful in eradicating the practice of [[begar]] (forced labour).<ref name="Jaffrelot197">{{cite book |title=India's silent revolution: the rise of the lower castes in North India |first=Christophe |last=Jaffrelot |edition=Reprinted |publisher=C. Hurst & Co. |year=2003 |isbn=978-1-85065-670-8 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OAkW94DtUMAC |pages=197–198 |access-date=15 October 2016 |archive-date=2 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230202200231/https://books.google.com/books?id=OAkW94DtUMAC |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |page=44 |title=Community Warriors: State, Peasants and Caste Armies in Bihar |first=Ashwani |last=Kumar |publisher=Anthem Press |year=2008 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=num2I4NFGqIC&pg=PA44 |isbn=978-1-84331-709-8 |access-date=23 June 2020 |archive-date=2 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230202201929/https://www.google.com/books/edition/Community_Warriors/num2I4NFGqIC?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=PA44&printsec=frontcover |url-status=live }}</ref>
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==Notables==
*[[Sumitra Devi (politician)|Sumitra Devi]], first women cabinet minister of Bihar, several times Member of Bihar Legislative Assembly, mother-in-law of former Lok Sabha speaker [[Meira Kumar]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.aajtak.in/education/photo/education-upa-president-candidate-meira-kumar-unknown-facts-education-family-all-details-480843-2017-06-24|title=मीरा कुमार से जड़ी वो बातें, जो आपको हैरान करने के लिए काफी हैं|website=AajTak|date=24 June 2017|language=Hindi|accessdate=15 April 2023|quote=She met Manjul Kumar while studying law. Manjul belonged to the political family of Bihar. His mother Sumitra Devi was a Congress leader. They came from Koeri caste, which is categorised as OBC in Bihar, while Meira was a Dalit.|archive-date=14 April 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230414211125/https://www.aajtak.in/education/photo/education-upa-president-candidate-meira-kumar-unknown-facts-education-family-all-details-480843-2017-06-24|url-status=live}}</ref>
*[[Jagdish Mahto]], the founder of [[Naxalism]] in the state of Bihar. He was the leader of [[1970 Bhojpur uprising]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Singh|first=S.|year=2015|title=Ruled Or Misruled: Story and Destiny of Bihar|publisher=&nbsp;&nbsp;Bloomsbury Publishing|quote= He saw an upper caste Bhumihar man rig the booth in favour of Rajdev Ram. Bhumihars had long been waiting to teach a lesson to this 'fearless and highheaded' Jagdish, a Koeri. }}</ref>
*[[Jagdeo Prasad]], a socialist leader and former Deputy Chief Minister in the [[Government of Bihar]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/patna/no-to-casteism-politicians-wont-agree/articleshow/438064.cms|title=No to casteism? Politicians won't agree|website=Times of India|date=22 January 2004|accessdate=27 June 2023|archive-date=29 August 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230829103717/https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/patna/no-to-casteism-politicians-wont-agree/articleshow/438064.cms|url-status=live}}</ref>
*[[Upendra Nath Verma]], participated in [[Indian Independence movement]]. He served as a Union Minister in the cabinet of [[Vishwanath Pratap Singh]].<ref>{{Cite web|title='Lenin' waits wrapped in plastic|url=https://www.telegraphindia.com/bihar/lenin-waits-wrapped-in-plastic/cid/1668125|access-date=9 September 2021|website=www.telegraphindia.com|archive-date=15 July 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200715023500/https://www.telegraphindia.com/bihar/lenin-waits-wrapped-in-plastic/cid/1668125|url-status=live}}</ref>
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