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{{Short description|Agrian community of Odisha, India}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2021}}
{{Infobox caste
| caste_name = Chasa
| subdivisions = Odachasa, Odapadhan
| populated_states = [[Odisha]]
| religions = [[Hinduism]]
| languages = [[Odia language|Odia]]
| related = [[Gopal (caste)|Gopal]], [[Karan (caste)|Karana]]
}}

'''Chasa''' is a community from the Indian state of [[Odisha]]. Chasas were traditionally cultivators but are now engaged in several professions. The [[Odia language|Odia]] word ''chasa'' means farmer.<ref>{{cite book |author1=Nab Kishore Behura |author2=Ramesh P. Mohanty |title=Family Welfare in India: A Cross-cultural Study |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=o6Gz0ZDw7PQC&pg=PA43 |date=1 January 2005 |publisher=Discovery Publishing House |isbn=978-81-7141-920-3 |page=43 }}</ref> They are third largest caste by population in Odisha.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://casi.sas.upenn.edu/sites/default/files/iit/Sanjay%20Kumar.pdf |title=casi.sas.upenn.edu |format= |accessdate=}}</ref>

==History==
The Orh/Oda Chasas claim that they were the first tribe to settle in Odisha, and that they began to cultivate the land. They claim that Odisha is named after them.<ref name="Pati2008">{{cite book|author=Rabindra Nath Pati|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_5seKkk3GkIC&pg=PA114|title=Family Planning|publisher=APH Publishing|year=2008|isbn=978-81-313-0352-8|pages=114–115}}</ref>

They are classified as [[Shudra]] in the [[Hindu caste system]].<ref>{{Cite book|last=Sable|first=Alan|title=Education in Orissa: A Study in Selection and Allocation Process|publisher=S. Chand Group|year=1977|pages=33}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title=The Eastern Anthropologist|publisher=Ethnographic and Folk Culture Society|year=2006|pages=214–215}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Rösel|first=Jakob|title=Der Palast des Herrn der Welt: Entstehungsgeschichte und Organisation der indischen Tempel-und Pilgerstadt Puri|publisher=Weltforum Verlag|year=1980|pages=46, 66, 70}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last1=Behera|first1=Deepak Kumar|title=Contemporary Society: Tribal situation in India|last2=Pfeffer|first2=Georg|publisher=Concept Publishing Company|year=1997|pages=191}}</ref> The association between Chasas and their occupation of manual labour (ploughing) was used to stigmatize the Chasas and distinguish them from the upper castes as late as the early 19th century.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Pinch|first=William R.|title=Peasants and Monks in British India|publisher=University of California Press|year=1996|isbn=0-520-20060-8|pages=112|chapter=Being ''Vaishnava'', Becoming ''Kshatriya''}}</ref> "''Chasa''" was considered to be a "generic derogatory term for cultivators", in contrast to the ''sabhya bhabya Gan'' "sophisticated people".<ref>{{Cite book|last=Ray|first=Subhajyoti|title=Transformations on the Bengal Frontier: Jalpaiguri 1765-1948|publisher=[[Routledge]]|year=2002|isbn=978-0-700-71408-7|pages=136}}</ref>

Around the turn of the 20th century, Chasas were small farmers and marginal [[raiyat]]s.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Mohanty|first=Bidyut|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9S1AEAAAQBAJ&q=chasa|title=A Haunting Tragedy: Gender, Caste and Class in the 1866 Famine of Orissa|publisher=Routledge|year=2022|isbn=9781000506839 }}</ref>

In modern-day Odisha, the Chasas are among the dominant castes in most villages, and are landowners and economically powerful.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Mahapatra|first=L. K.|title=The Realm of the Extra-Human: Agents and Audiences|publisher=Mouton Publishers|year=1976|editor-last=Bharati|editor-first=Agehananda|pages=65|chapter=Gods, Kings, and the Caste System in India}}</ref>

==Classification==
Chasas are classified under [[Other Backward Class|OBC]] category in Odisha, where '''Odapadhan''' a subdivision of Chasa caste are belongs to SEBC category. Risley notes that, since the caste system is not practiced as per the Varna model he was idolizing, it was possible for outsiders to become Chasas, and wealthy Chasas who took up the title [[Mohanty]] could marry into [[Karan (caste)|Karana]] families.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Hewitt|first=J. F.|date=April 1893|title=Art. VII.–The Tribes and Castes of Bengal, by H. H. Risley. Vols. I. and II. Ethnographic Glossary, Vols. I. and II. Anthropometric Data|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0035869x00022395|journal=Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain & Ireland|volume=25|issue=2|pages=237–300|doi=10.1017/s0035869x00022395|s2cid=163011123 |issn=0035-869X}}</ref> Some wealthy Chasas began identifying as [[Khandayat (caste)|Khandayats]].<ref>{{Cite book|last=Pati|first=Biswamoy|title=India's Princely States: People, Princes and Colonialism|publisher=Routledge|year=2007|isbn=978-0-203-93380-0|editor-last=Ernst|editor-first=Waltraud|pages=89|chapter=The order of legitimacy: princely Orissa}}</ref> The Chasas are ranked into four subcastes: Benatya, oda/odra, Chukuliya, and Sukuliya. The Benatyas are the highest in rank, and the Chukuliya is the lowest in rank.<ref name="Pati2008" />

According to Risley's 1901 study, the Chasa's were a low caste and did not eat [[beef]], [[pork]], or [[fowl]]. They were usually served by degraded [[Brahmin]]s, [[Dhobi|Dhobas]], and rarely a Napit.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Bhowmick|first=P. K.|title=Occupational mobility and caste structure in Bengal; study of rural market|publisher=Indian Publications|year=1969|pages=28}}</ref>

==People==

* [[Sarala Dasa]], 15th century Odia poet<ref name="Mukherjee1998">{{cite book|author=Sujit Mukherjee|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YCJrUfVtZxoC&pg=PA351|title=A Dictionary of Indian Literature: Beginnings-1850|publisher=Orient Blackswan|year=1998|isbn=978-81-250-1453-9|pages=351–}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*http://www.bcmbcmw.tn.gov.in/obc/faq/orrisa.pdf

[[Category:Indian castes]]
[[Category:Social groups of Odisha]]

Chasa (caste) - Revision history

Ajay Kumar: Creating a new article