Kushwaha is a surname used by people of Koeri caste in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.
[2][4][5][6] As per one opinion, the Kushwaha surname is also common among members of Kachhi caste, who later merged with the Koeris to become a single homogeneous community.
[8][9] By the early 1900, due to significant knowledge of agricultural practices, the agricultural communities like Koeri, Kachhi and Murao in the Gangetic Plain had amassed rural wealth and prosperity like the members of Kurmi and Yadav caste.
According to Herbert Hope Risley and William Wilson Hunter, these communities earlier had belief in Shakta and Shaiva faith, but the general claim on Kshatriya status made them link themselves to Solar Dynasty, via Kusha, one of the son of Lord Rama.
[10] This trend became more visible with the passing of time and by 1990s these communities had gained education, more access to non farm jobs and acquired political power to become rising Kulaks in many of the north Indian states.