Raut (caste)
{{Short description|Cattle herding caste of central India}}
{{Infobox caste
| caste_name = Raut/Rawat
| native_name = {{lang|hne|राउत}}
| religions = Hinduism
| populated_states = {{ubl|Chhattisgarh|Madhya Pradesh| Maharashtra}}
}}
Raut (also spelled as Rout) is an Indian caste, whose traditional occupation is herding.{{cite book |author=Joyce Burkhalter Flueckiger |title=Gender and Genre in the Folklore of Middle India |url=https://archive.org/details/gendergenreinfol00flue |url-access=registration |year=1996 |publisher=Cornell University Press |isbn=0-8014-8344-1 |page=[https://archive.org/details/gendergenreinfol00flue/page/141 141] }}{{cite book |author=Lidia Guzy |title=Marginalised Music: Music, Religion and Politics from Western Odisha/India |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HnU5C3IrHQcC&pg=PA147 |year=2013 |publisher=LIT Verlag Münster |isbn=978-3-643-90272-6 |page=147 |quote="...the Raut/Gour (the caste of herdsmen), the dominant caste in Chhattisgarh..."}}
The Rauts are mainly found in the Chhattisgarh state, and the neighbouring states of Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra. Traditionally, they were predominantly distributed in the districts of Durg, Raipur, Bastar, Nagpur and Bhandara.{{cite book |chapter=Raut | title = People of India: Maharashtra, Volume 1 |editor1=Kumar Suresh Singh |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OmBjoAFMfjoC&pg=PA1781 | year = 2004 | isbn = 978-81-7991-100-6 |location=Mumbai | publisher = Popular Prakashan | page = 1781 }}
History
Raut may have been a tribal militia in Chhota Nagpur, originating from the Kawar
Culture
Traditionally, the Rauts were involved in herding and milking cattle.{{cite book | title = Epic traditions in the contemporary world: the poetics of community |editor1=Margaret H. Beissinger |editor2=Susanne Lindgren Wofford | page = 137 | publisher = University of California Press | year = 1999 }} Traditionlly, their main business was sale of milk and milk products.{{Cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wT-BAAAAMAAJ&q=raut |title = The Cattle and the Stick: An Ethnographic Profile of the Raut of Chhattisgarh|isbn = 978-81-85579-57-3|last1 = Soni|first1 = Lok Nath|year = 2000|page=86| publisher=Anthropological Survey of India, Government of India, Ministry of Tourism and Culture, Department of Culture }}
Raut Nacha is a traditional dance of the Raut community which is performed on Diwali. In this dance, the Rauts wear a special costume, sing and dance in a group with sticks in their hands in the village pathways.{{Cite web|title=Raut Nacha-Culture & Heritage|url=https://durg.gov.in/culture-heritage/|website=Durg District, Government of Chhattisgarh}}
The Raut men traditionally performed the local folk epic Candaini (or Chandaini) in a combination of dance and song. The epic tells the story of princess Chanda, who leaves her impotent husband and falls in love with a common man Veer Lorik. Both the characters are from the Raut caste, and the epic seems to have originated in this caste.{{cite book | title = Gender, genre, and power in South Asian expressive traditions |author1=Arjun Appadurai |author2=Frank J. Korom |author3=Margaret A. Mills | page = 196 | publisher = Motilal Banarsidass | year = 1994 | isbn = 978-81-208-1178-2 }} As late as 1980, the Candaini performers used to be primarily from the Raut caste, but now people from other communities also take part in the performances.
In the 20th century, they underwent Sanskritisation, and adopted customs and values of the high-caste Hindus.{{Cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wT-BAAAAMAAJ&q=raut |title = The Cattle and the Stick: An Ethnographic Profile of the Raut of Chhattisgarh|isbn = 978-81-85579-57-3|last1 = Soni|first1 = Lok Nath|year = 2000|pages=45–46| publisher=Anthropological Survey of India, Government of India, Ministry of Tourism and Culture, Department of Culture }}
References
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Bibliography
- {{cite book | title = The cattle and the stick: an ethnographic profile of the Raut of Chhattisgarh | author = Lok Nath Soni | publisher = Anthropological Survey of India | year = 2000 | isbn = 978-81-85579-57-3 }}
- {{Cite book |last=Guptā |first=Śaśi |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LpWazwEACAAJ |title=Rāuta jāti kā samājaśāstrīya anuśīlana |date=2022 |publisher=Saṅkalpa Prakāśana |isbn=978-93-91435-01-1 |language=hi}}
- {{Cite book |last=Sainī |first=Abhilāshā |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JpeZzwEACAAJ |title=Rāuta jāti: udbhava evaṃ vikāsa |date=2021 |publisher=Saṅkalpa Prakāśana |isbn=978-81-951646-6-0 |language=hi}}