sadgop

{{Infobox ethnic group

| group = Sadgop and Gop

| image =

| caption =

| regions = Birbhum, Burdwan, Hooghly, Bankura, Midnapore, Murshidabad, 24 Parganas, Nadia

| languages = Bengali

| religions = Hinduism

}}

Sadgop ({{langx|bn|সদগোপ}}), also spelled as Sadgope, is a Bengali Hindu Yadav (Gopa) caste.{{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}} People of India Bihar Volume XVI Part Two edited by S Gopal & Hetukar Jha pages 827 to 831 Seagull Books Traditionally they are engaged in cultivation.{{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}}{{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–}} 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. Karnagarh, Narajole,{{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–}} Narayangarh and Balarampur in Midnapore and several other zamindari estates in Burdwan, Hooghly, Birbhum belonged to them.{{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}}{{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–}} As of late nineteenth century they were one of the fourteen castes belonging to 'Nabasakh' group.{{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}}{{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}}

Origin

=Etymology=

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

=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.{{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}}{{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}}{{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}}{{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}}{{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}}

The Sadgops believe they have descended from Lord Krishna.{{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}}

History

=Varna=

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

=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.{{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]}}

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.

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 a other backward class (OBC-B) since June 2025.{{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}}{{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}}{{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}}

Notable people

Rani Shiromani, Zamindar of Karnagarh, one of the leaders of Chuar Rebellion{{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}}
Mahendralal Sarkar, Indian physician, founder of Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science{{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}}
Rash Behari Ghosh, Indian politician, lawyer and social worker