All India Yadav Mahasabha
All India Yadav Mahasabha was formed in 1924 CE due to the incessant efforts of 2 decades of our great ancestors. We are now feeling proud & happiness under this big umbrella. We, the Yadavas, treated as degraded caste in the recent past & all 'Goala Gope' have endured much pain, sorrow and humiliation in the name of 'casteism'. The differentiation of 'class' and 'caste' have been imposed from caste system. Hence, in spite of whimpering about the lost glory, we must all, men and women stand upon the premises of education and free ourselves from superstition to curse of child marriage, dowry system, alcoholism and encourage ourselves to glorify our ancestral business in a new scientific process. In short, we have to improve, restore the sense of self-respect of the Yadavas, restore the social status and glory and smoothen the path which the Yadav Mahasabha started a hundred years ago for the overall development of the Yadav society. It must be remembered the Yadav Mahasabha is not a communal or political organization rather a non-political social organization.
Now a days we are saying Yadav & Yadav Mahasabha, but what is Yaday. The Bangla Sahitya Samrat Rishi Bankim Chandra Chattopdhyay has clearly mentioned in his research book "Srikrishna Charitra" about the origin of the Yadays. The Yadays originated from Yadu, the son of the king Yajati. In this context it is necessary to say that about four thousand years ago, one of the greatest Narapati (King) of the vedic era was Yadu and his kingdom extended from Jhelum, Bipasha, Satadru, Chambal, betua ken rivers to Mathura. When Lord Krishna was born in Mathura, there were 40/45 branches of the Yadu dynasty in India,out of which 5 branches lived in Mathura (Brajadham). Prominent Yadav branches or clans among them were Vrishni, Andhak, Kukkur & Bhoja. Sursena and Paurjanya were the two sons among the 4 sons of Vrishri King Devamir. King of Mathura Sursena's 10 sons & 5 daughters, Basudev was one of them & King of Madhuban Paurjanya's 5 sons, foster father of Krishna, Nanda was one of them. So Basudeb and Nanda were Causin brothers and their same grandfather Vrishni King Devamir.
Another Yadav clan living in Mathura was the Bhoj clan. One of the son of the Bhoj king Ahuk was Devak and another was Ugrasena. Devak's 4 sons & 7 daughters, Devaki was one of them and Kansa was the son of Ugrasena among 9 sons & 5 daughters. Krishna was Vrishri because his father Basudev was Vreshni, maternal uncle Kansa and mother Devaki were of the Bhoj descent, their grandfather was same king Ahuk of the Bhoj descent. This is the great Yadu dynasty where Lord Krishna was born & played in Brajabhumi as a Gopa Balak i.e. cowboy, Greatpoet Kabiguri Rabindranath Tagore expressed his desire to be reborn on that Gope Family in Brajabhumi in his poem "Janmantar"
As the number of Gope Yadays of different groups of Brajabhumi gradually increased they spread all over India in search of new barron lands & pastures for their lifelehood. Some clans continued to roam like nomads while some made arable lands and started cultivation along with the cattle rearing A few of such branches reached Gour Bangla, Rar Bangla, Madhya Bangla and Pragyotishpur through Dwar Banga i.e today's Dwarbhanga. The branch that settled on the banks of the Ajay river in Birbhum made great progress in cattlerearing as well as agriculture. There the head of the clan was Murai Ghosh. In his lineage was born Shyam Ghosh, the founder of Shyamarupa mother of Rarh Bangla. The tenth descendant of this Shyam Ghosh is the famous Gope King Ichhai or Ishwar Ghosh. His father was Dhabal Ghosh, grandfather Bal Ghosh and great grandfather was Dhurta Ghosh.
The Kingdom of the mighty King Ichhai Ghosh spread to the whole of Rarh Bangla, Maldah, Dinajpur, Goalpara and Kamrup in Assam.
He was the King during the reign of Bigraha Pal III and Mahipal II (1054-72 & 1072-75 CE). Ichhai Ghosh was defeated and Killed by Lausen's son Karna Sen. After the death of Ichhai Ghosh, his son Murari left the land of Gope Bhum and started living in middle of Bengal. After his death, his son Sri Krishna and his people reared cattle along with cultivation and spread to different parts of Birbhum, Burdwan and Hooghly. His son Rajendra started living in the west of the Domodar river and the other son Narayan moved to different regions in the eastside of the Ganges.
Mahendra or Mahindra fourded the Gope Rashtra long before the Gope Goala King lcchai Ghosh. No historical information is available about his ancestors or descendants. It is known that the fort founded by King Mahendra is still known as Amarar Garh and was the heartland of Gope Rashtra.
The Ahir clan, the ancestors of the Gopes living in the western part of the Rarh region came from Central India and Rajasthan. Majority of the Gopes of Southern Rarh Known as the Pallava Gopes came from Singhbhum, Manbhum, Mayurbhanj region of Orissa. In some areas of Purulia adjoining West Bankura lived the Pubali Gopes came from the east. Those who came from Ujjaini in Madhya Pradesh, called them Ujaane Gope. From Kanauj came Kanaujia Gope, likewise Gour Gope or Gouriya Gope. Many people have also added occupations such as Moira Gope, Meralo Gope etc. There are Rarhi, Barendra Ballav, Pallav, Nakuli Gope etc in middle of Bengal.
Dharma Ghosh, the head of a branch or a group from Nilpur village in Brindaban, UP, started cattle rearing and agricutture with 56 villages in Jessore District, Bengal. His descendants call themselves Nilpura Ghosh.
Yadays, Gope Goala did not come to Bengal only for their cattle rearing and agriculiral livelihood. They had also come to rule Bengal as the descendants of the Kshatriya dynasty which we can learn from the historian archaeologist Rakhaldas Bandyopadhay's research work "History of Bengal".
The Yadav dynasty of Madra in Punjab conquered Bengal through Gaya and ruled from 554 to 600 CE. The Yadav Kings were Hari Burma, his son Aditya Burma, his son lswar Burma, his son Ishan Burma and finally Surya Burma ruled Bengal.
The second Yadav dynasty in Bengal Pal Dynasty : The King was Gopal from Gopalak. No documentary evidence of their ancestors. However, his son Dharma Pal married Ruma, daughter of Yadav Rastrakuta King Govinda. Pall era lasted from 750 to 1161 CE. The last king was Govinda Pal.
Third Yadav dynasty in Bengal : Rashtrakuta Yadav dynasty of Maharastra belongs to Satyaki branch of Yadav dynasty. Ruled almost entire India from Deccan to Madhya Pradesh. King Dhrubadharabarsha of that dynasty had vast Kingdom. He ruled Bengal in 783 — 794 CE. After defeating the Pal King, he arranged marriage of his grand-daughter Ruma to Dharma Pal, the son of Gopal of pal dynasty.
Fourth Yadav Dynasty in Bengali : Burma dynasty According to historian Rakhal Das Bandyopadhyay, the real founders of the Yadays in Bengal were Vajra Burma and his son Raja Jata Burma. Jat Burma defeated two Kings named Divya and Gobardhan. Later he also defecated the King of Kamrup and took over. Ruled from 1050 to 1070 CE.
Fifth Yadav dynasty in Bengal : The Kalachuri dynasty of the Haihayan branch of the Yadav dynasty ruled from Gujrat, Maharashtra to Malay in the late 6th century. The first Gunambhodideb, son of the famous King Shankardev of that dynasty, joined forces with the Bhoj Rajas and occupied Gaur. During Mahipal's reign Gangyadev attacked Gaur in 1076 CE. Gangyadev's son Karnadev conquered the whole of India during his long reign of seventy years. These two Yadav rulers, Gangeyadev and Karnadev Ruled from the middle of the 10th century to the middle of the 11° century.
All the Yadavas who ruled Bengal, left soon after their fall but their followers and soldiers, many remained in association with the various Goala Gope Yadav Villages of Bengal. Raja Man Singh of Ambar was the Subedar of Bengal during the reign of the Mughal Emperor Akbar from 1594 to 1606 CE. Although he was a kachua Rajput, his deity was Lord Krishna. There were many Ahir soldiers in his army. After Raja Mansingh's conquer of Bengal, many of his soldiers started agriculture with the Goala Gope. They subsequently stayed here and came to be known as Kumar Gope.
After the fall and death of Nawab Sirajuddaula, the last independent Nawab of Bengal, in 1757 CE one of his commanders, Maharaja Mohanlal & his youngest son Hukkalal and hundreds of Goala Gope infantry hide in various villages of Nadia, Murshidabad, Burdwan, Hooghly near the Plassey battlefield, among the Goala Gopes residents there. They started dairy farming so that the British could not recognize their origins. Nevertheless, the British Government suspiciously declared large Goala Gope inhabited areas in Nadia, Murshidabad, Burdwan and Hooghly districts as disturbed area during 1769 CE, which remained undocumented until India's independence.
In 1757 CE, when the British East India Company came in rule, factories began to develop around Calcutta. A large number of the poor workers who came from Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Singbhum Manbhum as labourers mainly belonged to the Gope Goala community. Most of those who came from Orissa to meet the demand of domestic workers in offices or even at rich men's homes, are Gope Goalas whose surnames have become "Beyara" or "Behara" or "Bera". Ahiri Tola earned its name from the place where Ahirs, the milk traders from Kashi, Uttar Pradesh came to Kolkata and started living. For hundreds of years, thousand of Gope Goalas Ahir and Yadav people have come to live in Bengal. Some left while most of them remained here engaged in various occupations to mingle with Bengal's culture but some of the uniqueness of their community still remained.
Majority of the Gope Goala, Ahir, Yadays depended on cattle rearing for their livelihood and thus despite being a part of Brahmanical Hindu society, illiteracy engulfed them. The Yadav community divided themselves into different groups & section due to the thousand & thousand years separation from each other not only in Bengal but also in the whole of India .
During the caste based census in British India in 1901 CE, the Yadav community along with the entire society, began to come together to know their caste & past history. At that time the education rate of the Yadav Gope Goalas was below one percent. Educated people of Yadav Gope Goala communities started forming their own Caste-based organizations in different areas. Like the other provinces of India, in Bengal too, many organizations were formed. In 1907 CE in Tripura, Noakhali, Dhaka, Mymensingh, Calcutta, Howrah, Hooghly, 24 Parganas. Baishya Gope Samiti in Dhaka, Tisha Baishi Gope Samiti were formed in Hoghly in 1909 CE, In 1912 CE in Baranagar Tisha Bangiya Gope Samiti. In 1914 CE Mymensingh Yadav Samiti. In 1921 CE Jitendranath Ghosh presided over Bengali Gope Samiti. The Bangiya Gope Samiti was established on 16 and 17 April 1922 CE in calcatta at a metting held at Surya Kumar Ghosh's house where about 500 delegates from almost all the districts of Bengal attended. Katwa's renowned lawyer Zamindar Banku Behari Ghosh became the President and lawyer Sarat Chandra Ghosh became the Secretary.
During the Holi Festival in 1923 CE, the Yadav Leadership of all over India attended in the eleventh session of the United Provices Ahir Kshatriya Mahasabha held at Prayag, where it was decided that an All India Yadav organization was necessary to promote the unity, social, mental, spiritual and political consciousness of the entire Yadav community. The first All-India Yadav organizational meeting with the Yadav leaders of all the provinces was proposed in Purnia, Bihar during the twelfth session of the Bihar Gope Jatiyo Mahasabha during the Good Friday's holiday of 1924 CE to put that objective into action. Accordingly, the first session of the All India Yadav Mahasabha was held in Purnia in April 1924 CE. The President was MLC Chowdhury Badan Singh of Uttar Pradesh and the Secretary was Bengal's Sarat Chandra Ghosh BL. Nadia District Yadav Sabha started working as a state branch of All India Yadav Mahasabha, after changing their name Bangiya Gope Samity in 1924 CE. From the beginning Mahasabha is a social, non-communal, non-political organization that respects every community and believes in individual political freedom and works for the social, moral, cultural & educational upliftment of our Yadav comm unity.