Baheliya
[1][2] Baheliya community had a role in the 1857 independence struggle at Pindra Village, Satna, Madhya Pradesh [3] wherein they fought bravely against the Britishers and were killed.
They have been described as primitive Hindu soldiers and sources state presence of their armies from Kashmir to Kashi, even in South India.
During the reign of Tuglaqs in Delhi in the 14th century, a certain Sanidhi, an African and a Baheliya were appointed as joint governor with the title of hazari, at the fort of Chunar on the bank of Ganga near Benaras.
The family of the Bahelias retained the office , with a permanence very rare in Indian history , till the surrender of the fortress to the British after the battle of Buxar in 1764.
They appear in many contemporary sources for battles in Bengal and Bihar, but they are rarely described in detail due to the importance placed upon cavalry rather than foot-soldiers.
They had a small village under the fort of Ghazipur, which is still famous by the name of "Bhelian ka Purva", but now there is only one house of the Baheliya.
Contemporary sources mention the presence of Bahelia musket men in all the battle fields of eighteenth century Bengal and Bihar.
Mirza Nathan mention them as serving in Bengal in 1692,[19] the Mughal fauzdar of Kanchipuram in South India had many Baheliya in his service who went over to Marathas after a battle.
They are mainly involved in bird catching, extracting honey from beehives and picking peacock feathers for the manufacture of fans.
Some of them are exceedingly plucky in such dangerous work, and their knowledge of woodcraft, the habits of game, the marking down of footsteps in the sand of a dry watercourse, are often admirable.
The unanimous testimony of hunters, European and Indian, stamps the Baheliya as a fine athletic, bold, plucky and sociable tribe.
These fans are then sold to Bania middlemen, who sell them on in cities such as Kolkata and Delhi Each of their settlement contains an informal caste council, known as a biradari panchayat.
