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Jalia Kaibarta (or Jaliya Kaibartta, or Jāliya Kaivarta) is a traditional fishing and Boatmen community, originally belonging to Assam, West Bengal, Odisha and eastern Bihar, along with Bangladesh. A few other communities, comprising people of low ritual status, fishermen and fishmongers ( Nikari), later acquired respectable caste identities within the larger Hindu fold by adopting Kaibartta name, helped by their commercial prosperity and Vaishnavism affiliations, through Sanskritisation.The census of 1901 interpreted the act of renaming as a ‘‘refusal of those at the bottom of the social scale to acquiesce in the humble positions assigned to them.’’ For Assam’s Dom fisher caste, previously at the lowest end of the ritual hierarchy, this refusal took the form of claims to Aryanist belonging through the new names of Nadiyal and Kaibarta. In colonial Assam the upper echelons of Dom society succeeded for the most part in acquiring new, respectable caste identities within the larger Hindu fold, helped by commercial prosperity and Vaishnavite affiliations. Jalia Kaibartas are categorised as a Scheduled Caste and are the second largest among the 16 SCs in Assam under the name Kaibartta, Jaliya.
People from Kaibarta caste were responsible for rowing the boats during overseas activities by Sadhabas (Sadhaba from Kalinga) and were known as Majhis or Kandariyas. They have their own guild known as machhuya which is one of the eighteen guilds or srenis mentioned in gupta period a period work called Jambu-dvipa-prajña.
The first Abahattha or late Apabhraṃśa manuscript, in the form of Charyapada, was written by a Buddhist priest, known in Tibetan language as Luipa, who is identified with Matsyendranath, a member of the fishermen community of mediaeval period, which later became Kaibartas.Dasgupta, Shashibhushan (1946). Obscure Religious Cults, Calcutta University Press, Calcutta, p. 384-385, Internet Archive copy; third edition: Firma KLM Private Limited, Calcutta 1960, Internet Archive copy; fifth edition: Firma KLM Private Limited, Calcutta 1995, Ayyappapanicker, K. & Akademi, Sahitya (1997). Medieval Indian literature: an anthology, Volume 3. Sahitya Akademi. , , [3] (accessed: Friday 5 March 2010)
Medieval Odia poet and Vaishnavism saint Achyutananda Dasa wrote kaibarta Gita which narrates the origin, growth, functions and roles of this community.
The Kaibartas were initially considered a single community divided into two groups, Haliya and Jaliya Kaibarta, where the Haliya Kaibarta are considered to be superior than the latter."In Lower Assam the Keots are divided into two main endogamous groups, halova and jalova Keots, or agriculturalists and fishermen, the former being held superior than the latter" In Assam many from the Jalia Kaibarta community under the influence of Garamur satradhikar gave up their traditional occupation of fishing and divided themselves into – mach mara and mach na-mara. They are also claimed to have their own priests. In colonial Assam the upper echelons of Dom fishers society aspired for acquiring new respectable caste identity within the larger Hindu fold. Assam already possesed an agriculturist caste of Kaibartas. For Dom elites the acquisition of Nadiyal status would only be a first step. Prosperous Dom/Nadiyals aspire to join Kaibartta rank while wishing to retain their profitable occupation of trade in fish. In 1911 census officials recognised Doms by the name of Nadiyal. In 1921 Nadiyals were upgraded to Kaibartas.
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