Bhuiya - History and Cultural Relations

The Bhuiya tribe believe that they were born out of the mother earth and have several legends about their origin. According to a legend, the goddess chose the Bhuiya tribe to be the owners of land and cultivation to be their livelihood. Another legend suggests that formerly all sections of the tribe were of royal origin and enjoyed equal status, but some of them lost the purity of their royal blood and were degraded to a lower status. Social mobility both up and down is indicated. Some sections of the Bhuiyas disclaimed the tribal name and assumed names indicative of higher social status, while others sank lower in social position than most of their congeners elsewhere. Some tribes ethnoculturally distinct from the Bhuiyas, and also a few Hindu castes of high social status, take pride in adopting Bhuiya nomenclature. The latter are titular Bhuiya.