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The '''Sadgop''' sub-caste is a [[Bengali people|Bengali]] [[Hindu]] [[Yadav]] ([[Gopa]]) caste,
{{pp-semi-indef|small=yes}}
<ref name="Global Prayer Digest 2020">{{cite web | title=Global Prayer Digest | website=Global Prayer Digest | date=2020-04-24 | url=http://www.globalprayerdigest.org/issue/day/sadgope-yadav-people/ | access-date=2021-02-09}}</ref> found in [[West Bengal]],  [[Odisha]], [[Jharkhand]] and parts of [[Bihar]] state in [[India]].<ref name="A"> People of India Bihar Volume XVI  Part Two edited by S Gopal & Hetukar Jha pages 827 to 831 Seagull Books</ref> Traditionally they are engaged with Dairy-farming and cultivation,<ref>{{cite book|title=Man in Biosphere: A Case Study of Similipal Biosphere Reserve|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uFsVOKk7AqcC&q=Sad+Gope+milkman|year=2013|publisher=Anthropological Survey of India|isbn=978-81-212-1163-5}}</ref> but nowadays most of them are rich cultivators or land holders.<ref name="BandyopadhyayRao2011">{{cite book|author1=Suraj Bandyopadhyay|author2=A R. Rao|author3=Bikas Kumar Sinha|title=Models for Social Networks With Statistical Applications|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1OIpYyzBTlsC&pg=PA24|year=2011|publisher=SAGE|isbn=978-1-4129-4168-6|pages=24–}}</ref> However, historically Sadgop kings had ruled some parts of Bengal such as Gopbhumi, Amragarh,<ref name="McLane2002">{{cite book|author=John R. McLane|title=Land and Local Kingship in Eighteenth-Century Bengal|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YH6ijJnUPmcC&pg=PA157|date=25 July 2002|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-52654-8|pages=157–}}</ref> Narayangarh and Balrampur etc.<ref name="Bandyopadhyay2004">{{cite book|author=Sekhar Bandyopadhyay|title=Caste, Culture and Hegemony: Social Dominance in Colonial Bengal|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GPqHAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA51|date=1 July 2004|publisher=SAGE Publications|isbn=978-81-321-0407-0|pages=51–}}</ref>
{{short description|Social community of India}}
{{Infobox ethnic group
| group            = Sadgop and Gop
| image            =
| caption          =
| regions          = [[Birbhum]],  [[Burdwan district|Burdwan]], [[Hooghly district|Hooghly]], [[Bankura district|Bankura]], [[Midnapore district|Midnapore]], [[Murshidabad district|Murshidabad]], [[24 Parganas]], [[Nadia]]
| languages        = [[Bengali language|Bengali]]
| religions        = [[Hinduism]]
}}
'''Sadgop''' ({{langx|bn|সদগোপ}}), also spelled as '''Sadgope''', is a [[Bengali Hindu]] [[Yadav]] (Gopa) caste.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Choudhury |first=Mamata |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1HABAAAAMAAJ&q=Sadgop+ahir |title=Tribes of Ancient India |date=1977 |publisher=Indian Museum |language=en}}</ref><ref name="A"> People of India Bihar Volume XVI  Part Two edited by S Gopal & Hetukar Jha pages 827 to 831 Seagull Books</ref> Traditionally they are engaged in cultivation.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uFsVOKk7AqcC&q=Sad+Gope+|title=Man in Biosphere: A Case Study of Similipal Biosphere Reserve|date=2013|publisher=Anthropological Survey of India|isbn=978-81-212-1163-5|language=en}}</ref><ref name="BandyopadhyayRao2011">{{cite book|author1=Suraj Bandyopadhyay|author2=A R. Rao|author3=Bikas Kumar Sinha|title=Models for Social Networks With Statistical Applications|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1OIpYyzBTlsC&pg=PA24|year=2011|publisher=SAGE|isbn=978-1-4129-4168-6|pages=24–}}</ref> Since late mediaeval period Sadgops had established themselves as dominant political power in peripheral lateritic forest areas of [[Rarh region]], now included in [[Birbhum district|Birbhum]], [[Burdwan district|Burdwan]] and [[Midnapore district|Midnapore]] districts in [[West Bengal]]. [[Midnapore Raj|Karnagarh]], [[Narajole]],<ref name="McLane2002">{{cite book|author=John R. McLane|title=Land and Local Kingship in Eighteenth-Century Bengal|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YH6ijJnUPmcC&pg=PA157|date=25 July 2002|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-52654-8|pages=157–}}</ref> [[Narayangarh, Paschim Medinipur|Narayangarh]] and [[Balarampur, Purulia|Balarampur]] in Midnapore and several other zamindari estates in Burdwan, Hooghly, Birbhum belonged to them.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Bhaumik |first=Sudarshana |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KmL3zgEACAAJ |title=The Changing World of Caste and Hierarchy in Bengal: Depiction from the Mangalkavyas C. 1700-1931 |date=2022 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |isbn=978-0-367-70418-6 |pages=7, 16, 48, 197 |language=en}}</ref><ref name="Bandyopadhyay2004">{{cite book|author=Sekhar Bandyopadhyay|title=Caste, Culture and Hegemony: Social Dominance in Colonial Bengal|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GPqHAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA51|date=1 July 2004|publisher=SAGE Publications|isbn=978-81-321-0407-0|pages=51–}}</ref> As of the late nineteenth century they were one of the fourteen castes belonging to 'Nabasakh' group.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Sanyal|first=Hitesranjan|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ezzuAAAAIAAJ&q=gandhabanik|title=Social Mobility in Bengal|date=1981|publisher=Papyrus|pages=115|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Guha |first=Ayan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=m6-SEAAAQBAJ |title=The Curious Trajectory of Caste in West Bengal Politics: Chronicling Continuity and Change |date=2022-09-26 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=978-90-04-51456-0 |pages=128–129 |language=en}}</ref>


== History and origin ==
==Origin==
In the 1910s, Sadgops along with [[Ahir|Ahirs]], [[Gopa (caste)|Gops]], [[Gopal (caste)|Gopals]], and Goalas began claiming [[kshatriya]] status based on claimed descent from the legendary king [[Yadu (legendary king)|Yadu]]. The Yadav-kshatriya movement attracted communities in the [[Gangetic Plain|Gangetic plain]] who were associated with a combination of cultivation, cattle-herding, and dairy farming.<ref name="Pinch1996">{{cite book|author=William R. Pinch|title=Peasants and Monks in British India|url=https://archive.org/details/peasantsmonksinb0000pinc|url-access=registration|accessdate=9 July 2017|date=18 June 1996|publisher=University of California Press|language=en|isbn=978-0-520-91630-2|page=[https://archive.org/details/peasantsmonksinb0000pinc/page/91 91]}}</ref>
===Etymology===
The Sadgop name is derived from two Sanskrit word Sad and Gope, which means clean or good Gopes or milkmen.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uFsVOKk7AqcC&q=Sadgop+Gope |title=Man in Biosphere: A Case Study of Similipal Biosphere Reserve |date=2013 |publisher=Anthropological Survey of India |isbn=978-81-212-1163-5 |language=en}}</ref>
 
===Origin===
The Sadgops are an offshoot of the pastoral [[Gopa (caste)|Gopa]] caste who broke away from the main caste before the middle of the sixteenth century. Their switch to agriculture was only 'the starting point of rise to eminence'. Through extending their activities to trade, they established control over the land they had put under the plough. Thus, leaders from the group acquired political power at the local level. Later on the group also ventured into trade and worked as officials of the state and the big [[Zamindar|Zamindars]]. Members of the new group also made achievements in the fields of religion, and from dissident Gop families came popular saints like Syamananda and the founder of the influential [[Kartabhaja]] sect, [[Aulchand]]. In the process, they changed their jati affiliation by adding sad (sat, 'clean') to their name, thus becoming Sadgops.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Sanyal |first=Hitesranjan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ezzuAAAAIAAJ&q=sadgop+goala |title=Social Mobility in Bengal |date=1981 |publisher=Papyrus |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Heierstad |first=Geir |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=E7s1DgAAQBAJ&dq=sad+gop+goala&pg=PA24 |title=Caste, Entrepreneurship and the Illusions of Tradition: Branding the Potters of Kolkata |date=2017-01-02 |publisher=Anthem Press |isbn=978-1-78308-518-7 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Commissioner |first=India Census |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6C1RAAAAYAAJ&dq=sadgop+goala&pg=PA353 |title=Census of India, 1911 |date=1902 |publisher=Superintendent Government Prtg. |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Singh |first=Swaran |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=A2huAAAAMAAJ&q=sadgop+goala |title=Bathudi and Sounti Tribes: A Bio-anthropological Profile |date=1994 |publisher=Gyan Publishing House |isbn=978-81-212-0466-8 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Davis |first=Marvin G. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_kw4AAAAIAAJ&dq=sadgop+goala&pg=PA58 |title=Rank and Rivalry: The Politics of Inequality in Rural West Bengal |date=1983-03-10 |publisher=CUP Archive |isbn=978-0-521-24657-6 |language=en}}</ref>
 
The Sadgops believe they have descended from Lord [[Krishna]].<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uFsVOKk7AqcC&q=Krishna|title=Man in Biosphere: A Case Study of Similipal Biosphere Reserve|date=2013|publisher=Anthropological Survey of India|isbn=978-81-212-1163-5|language=en}}</ref>
 
==History==
===Varna===
Sadgops  have generally been considered as clean [[shudra]]s (sat-shudras) in the caste structure of Bengal.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Sanyal |first=Hitesranjan |date=1971 |title=Continuities of Social Mobility in Traditional and Modern Society in India: Two Case Studies of Caste Mobility in Bengal |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-asian-studies/article/abs/continuities-of-social-mobility-in-traditional-and-modern-society-in-india-two-case-studies-of-caste-mobility-in-bengal/ED9A4F64E784EE62E1DABCEDB0FD4504 |journal=The Journal of Asian Studies |language=en |volume=30 |issue=2 |pages=315–339 |doi=10.2307/2942917 |jstor=2942917 |s2cid=163001574 |issn=1752-0401|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{Cite report|title=The Tribes and Castes of West Bengal|last=Mitra|first=A.|date=1953|publisher=Land and Land Revenue Department, Government of West Bengal|page=21|series=Census 1951}}</ref> Like south India social groups of east India usually divided in two grades - Brahmins and Shudras.<ref>{{Cite book |last=SIRCAR |first=D. C. |url=http://archive.org/details/dli.bengal.10689.12965 |title=STUDIES IN THE SOCIETY AND ADMINISTRATION OF ANCIENT AND MEDIEVAL INDIA VOL. 1 |date=1959 |publisher=FIRMA K. L. MUKHOPADHYAY, CALCUTTA |pages=115}}</ref>
 
===Sanskritisation===
In the 1910s, Sadgops along with [[Ahir|Ahirs]], [[Gopa (caste)|Gops]], [[Gopal (caste)|Gopals]] etc began claiming [[kshatriya]] status based on claimed descent from the legendary king [[Yadu (legendary king)|Yadu]]. The Yadav-kshatriya movement attracted communities in the [[Gangetic Plain|Gangetic plain]] who were associated with a combination of cultivation, cattle-herding, and dairy farming.<ref name="Pinch1996">{{cite book|author=William R. Pinch|title=Peasants and Monks in British India|url=https://archive.org/details/peasantsmonksinb0000pinc|url-access=registration|accessdate=9 July 2017|date=18 June 1996|publisher=University of California Press|language=en|isbn=978-0-520-91630-2|page=[https://archive.org/details/peasantsmonksinb0000pinc/page/91 91]}}</ref>


==Present circumstances==
==Present circumstances==
The Sadgop consist of a number of sub-divisions. They are an endogamous group and practice [[gotra]] exogamy. The Sadgop are mainly a landholding community, but many Sadgop have settled in [[Kolkata]] and other cities of West Bengal. Their own community organization is named as Bangiya Sadgop Samiti.<ref name="A"/>
The Sadgop consist of a number of sub-divisions. They are an endogamous group and practice [[gotra]] exogamy. The Sadgop are mainly a landholding community, but many Sadgop have settled in [[Kolkata]] and other cities of West Bengal. Their own community organization is named as Bangiya Sadgop Samiti.<ref name="A"/>
Sadgops and Gops(Goala) both were included in the list of 177 "backward classes" for the state of West Bengal by [[Mandal Commission]]. Gops were given [[Other Backward Class]] status in 1990s (now OBC-A in West Bengal), and Sadgops have been recognized as an other backward class (OBC-B) since June 2025.<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Pfeffer|first1=Georg|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2j9LAAAAYAAJ&q=mahishya|title=Contemporary Society: Developmental issues, transition, and change|last2=Behera|first2=Deepak Kumar|date=1997|publisher=Concept Publishing Company|isbn=978-81-7022-642-0|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Agrawal |first1=S. P. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=COcwoYRCYhcC |title=Educational and Social Uplift of Backward Classes: At what Cost and How? : Mandal Commission and After |last2=Aggarwal |first2=J. C. |date=1991 |publisher=Concept Publishing Company |isbn=978-81-7022-339-9 |pages=174 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Anagrasarkalyan {{!}} Backward Classes Welfare Department |url=https://anagrasarkalyan.gov.in/Bcw/ex_page/17 |access-date=2025-06-12 |website=anagrasarkalyan.gov.in}}</ref>
== Notable people ==
* [[Rani Shiromani]], Zamindar of [[Karnagarh]], one of the leaders of [[Chuar Rebellion]]<ref>{{Cite book |last=Gupta |first=Swarupa |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AGSuVgPH9T4C&q=sadgop+kornagar&pg=PA289 |title=Notions of Nationhood in Bengal: Perspectives on Samaj, c. 1867–1905 |date=2009 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=978-90-04-17614-0 |language=en}}</ref>
* [[Mahendralal Sarkar]], Indian physician, founder of [[Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science]]<ref>{{Cite book |last=Ernst |first=Waltraud |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=q-GEAgAAQBAJ&dq=mahendralal+sarkar+sadgop&pg=PA50 |title=Plural Medicine, Tradition and Modernity, 1800-2000 |date= November 2002|publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-134-73602-7 |language=en}}</ref>
*[[Rash Behari Ghosh]], Indian politician, lawyer and social worker
==See also==
*[[Gopa (caste)|Gopa]]
*[[Yadav]]
*[[Gopbhum]]


==References==
==References==

Revision as of 02:56, 11 January 2026


Sadgop and Gop
Regions with significant populations
Birbhum, Burdwan, Hooghly, Bankura, Midnapore, Murshidabad, 24 Parganas, Nadia
Languages
Bengali
Religion
Hinduism

Sadgop (Script error: The function "langx" does not exist.), also spelled as Sadgope, is a Bengali Hindu Yadav (Gopa) caste.[1][2] Traditionally they are engaged in cultivation.[3][4] Since late mediaeval period Sadgops had established themselves as dominant political power in peripheral lateritic forest areas of Rarh region, now included in Birbhum, Burdwan and Midnapore districts in West Bengal. Karnagarh, Narajole,[5] Narayangarh and Balarampur in Midnapore and several other zamindari estates in Burdwan, Hooghly, Birbhum belonged to them.[6][7] As of the late nineteenth century they were one of the fourteen castes belonging to 'Nabasakh' group.[8][9]

Origin

Etymology

The Sadgop name is derived from two Sanskrit word Sad and Gope, which means clean or good Gopes or milkmen.[10]

Origin

The Sadgops are an offshoot of the pastoral Gopa caste who broke away from the main caste before the middle of the sixteenth century. Their switch to agriculture was only 'the starting point of rise to eminence'. Through extending their activities to trade, they established control over the land they had put under the plough. Thus, leaders from the group acquired political power at the local level. Later on the group also ventured into trade and worked as officials of the state and the big Zamindars. Members of the new group also made achievements in the fields of religion, and from dissident Gop families came popular saints like Syamananda and the founder of the influential Kartabhaja sect, Aulchand. In the process, they changed their jati affiliation by adding sad (sat, 'clean') to their name, thus becoming Sadgops.[11][12][13][14][15]

The Sadgops believe they have descended from Lord Krishna.[16]

History

Varna

Sadgops have generally been considered as clean shudras (sat-shudras) in the caste structure of Bengal.[17][18] Like south India social groups of east India usually divided in two grades - Brahmins and Shudras.[19]

Sanskritisation

In the 1910s, Sadgops along with Ahirs, Gops, Gopals etc began claiming kshatriya status based on claimed descent from the legendary king Yadu. The Yadav-kshatriya movement attracted communities in the Gangetic plain who were associated with a combination of cultivation, cattle-herding, and dairy farming.[20]

Present circumstances

The Sadgop consist of a number of sub-divisions. They are an endogamous group and practice gotra exogamy. The Sadgop are mainly a landholding community, but many Sadgop have settled in Kolkata and other cities of West Bengal. Their own community organization is named as Bangiya Sadgop Samiti.[2]

Sadgops and Gops(Goala) both were included in the list of 177 "backward classes" for the state of West Bengal by Mandal Commission. Gops were given Other Backward Class status in 1990s (now OBC-A in West Bengal), and Sadgops have been recognized as an other backward class (OBC-B) since June 2025.[21][22][23]

Notable people

See also

References

  1. ↑ Choudhury, Mamata (1977). Tribes of Ancient India. Indian Museum.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 People of India Bihar Volume XVI Part Two edited by S Gopal & Hetukar Jha pages 827 to 831 Seagull Books
  3. ↑ Man in Biosphere: A Case Study of Similipal Biosphere Reserve. Anthropological Survey of India. 2013. ISBN 978-81-212-1163-5.
  4. ↑ Suraj Bandyopadhyay; A R. Rao; Bikas Kumar Sinha (2011). Models for Social Networks With Statistical Applications. SAGE. pp. 24–. ISBN 978-1-4129-4168-6.
  5. ↑ John R. McLane (25 July 2002). Land and Local Kingship in Eighteenth-Century Bengal. Cambridge University Press. pp. 157–. ISBN 978-0-521-52654-8.
  6. ↑ Bhaumik, Sudarshana (2022). The Changing World of Caste and Hierarchy in Bengal: Depiction from the Mangalkavyas C. 1700-1931. Taylor & Francis. pp. 7, 16, 48, 197. ISBN 978-0-367-70418-6.
  7. ↑ Sekhar Bandyopadhyay (1 July 2004). Caste, Culture and Hegemony: Social Dominance in Colonial Bengal. SAGE Publications. pp. 51–. ISBN 978-81-321-0407-0.
  8. ↑ Sanyal, Hitesranjan (1981). Social Mobility in Bengal. Papyrus. p. 115.
  9. ↑ Guha, Ayan (2022-09-26). The Curious Trajectory of Caste in West Bengal Politics: Chronicling Continuity and Change. BRILL. pp. 128–129. ISBN 978-90-04-51456-0.
  10. ↑ Man in Biosphere: A Case Study of Similipal Biosphere Reserve. Anthropological Survey of India. 2013. ISBN 978-81-212-1163-5.
  11. ↑ Sanyal, Hitesranjan (1981). Social Mobility in Bengal. Papyrus.
  12. ↑ Heierstad, Geir (2017-01-02). Caste, Entrepreneurship and the Illusions of Tradition: Branding the Potters of Kolkata. Anthem Press. ISBN 978-1-78308-518-7.
  13. ↑ Commissioner, India Census (1902). Census of India, 1911. Superintendent Government Prtg.
  14. ↑ Singh, Swaran (1994). Bathudi and Sounti Tribes: A Bio-anthropological Profile. Gyan Publishing House. ISBN 978-81-212-0466-8.
  15. ↑ Davis, Marvin G. (1983-03-10). Rank and Rivalry: The Politics of Inequality in Rural West Bengal. CUP Archive. ISBN 978-0-521-24657-6.
  16. ↑ Man in Biosphere: A Case Study of Similipal Biosphere Reserve. Anthropological Survey of India. 2013. ISBN 978-81-212-1163-5.
  17. ↑ Sanyal, Hitesranjan (1971). "Continuities of Social Mobility in Traditional and Modern Society in India: Two Case Studies of Caste Mobility in Bengal". The Journal of Asian Studies. 30 (2): 315–339. doi:10.2307/2942917. ISSN 1752-0401. JSTOR 2942917. S2CID 163001574.
  18. ↑ Mitra, A. (1953). The Tribes and Castes of West Bengal (Report). Census 1951. Land and Land Revenue Department, Government of West Bengal. p. 21.
  19. ↑ SIRCAR, D. C. (1959). STUDIES IN THE SOCIETY AND ADMINISTRATION OF ANCIENT AND MEDIEVAL INDIA VOL. 1. FIRMA K. L. MUKHOPADHYAY, CALCUTTA. p. 115.
  20. ↑ William R. Pinch (18 June 1996). Peasants and Monks in British India. University of California Press. p. 91. ISBN 978-0-520-91630-2. Retrieved 9 July 2017.
  21. ↑ Pfeffer, Georg; Behera, Deepak Kumar (1997). Contemporary Society: Developmental issues, transition, and change. Concept Publishing Company. ISBN 978-81-7022-642-0.
  22. ↑ Agrawal, S. P.; Aggarwal, J. C. (1991). Educational and Social Uplift of Backward Classes: At what Cost and How? : Mandal Commission and After. Concept Publishing Company. p. 174. ISBN 978-81-7022-339-9.
  23. ↑ "Anagrasarkalyan | Backward Classes Welfare Department". anagrasarkalyan.gov.in. Retrieved 2025-06-12.
  24. ↑ Gupta, Swarupa (2009). Notions of Nationhood in Bengal: Perspectives on Samaj, c. 1867–1905. BRILL. ISBN 978-90-04-17614-0.
  25. ↑ Ernst, Waltraud (November 2002). Plural Medicine, Tradition and Modernity, 1800-2000. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-134-73602-7.
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