Kachhi (caste)

This community, known as the Kushwaha, nowadays generally claim descent from Kusha, a son of the mythological Rama, who is considered to be an avatar of Vishnu.

This enables their claim to be of the Suryavansh - or Solar - dynasty but it is a myth of origin developed in the twentieth century.

Prior to that time, the various branches that form the Kushwaha community - the Mauraos, Kachhis and Koeris - favoured a connection with Shiva and Shakta.

[1] Ganga Prasad Gupta claimed in the 1920s that Kushwaha families worshiped Hanuman - described by Pinch as "the embodiment of true devotion to Ram and Sita" - during Kartika, a month in the Hindu lunar calendar.

[2] In Uttar Pradesh, the vegetable-cultivators Kachhis traditionally cultivate on their comparatively smaller landholdings without aid of the animals.