[2] They consider themselves part of the Shaikh community, and claim to be the descendants of Abu Bakr, the first Sunni Caliph, who was a companion of and the father-in-law of Muhammad.
[3][4] The Kayastha community has historically converted to Islam and held the occupations of land record keeping, administration and accounting.
In the reign of the Mughals, a number of educated upper caste Hindus with sharp intellects attained administrative positions through rapid adaptation to the Persian language and culture of these new rulers of South Asia.
They treated the Kayasthas more as a community than a Hindu caste, because they developed expertise in Persian (the state language in Islamic India), and learned Turkish and Arabic, economics, administration and taxation.
They became civil servants, tax officers, junior administrators, teachers, legal helpers and barristers, and rose to the highest positions accessible to natives in British India.