News for hackers. Stuff that matters.
Re:Churchill’s Famine: The killing of three million is a sto... by alephnerd on Sunday May 28, 2023 @10:59AM (#36104569)
Brahmins aren't the merchant class in the regions where the Bengal famine hit (modern day Eastern Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa, and Northern Bengal). Brahmins in that region (in actuality Bhumihar) were traditionally farmers.

Merchants in that region were primarily from the Marwari, Agarwal, Jains, Punjabi (Jatt+Khatri Sikh+Hindu), Telegu, and Bania communities (depending on the region).

Please don't talk about social structures if you don't have the knowledge - especially about regions which in living memory have had severe caste violence.

Re:Churchill’s Famine: The killing of three million is a sto... by iamshs on Sunday May 28, 2023 @11:15AM (#36104723)
Bengalis were exploited by Marwari and Agarwals, and Brahmins in administration.

Jatts are merchants? Come on. Jatts are predominantly farmers. No Jatts or Khatris were in Kolkata.

Re:Churchill’s Famine: The killing of three million is a sto... by alephnerd on Sunday May 28, 2023 @11:31AM (#36104898)
> Jatts are predominantly farmers

So are most Marwaris (Jodhpur region), but a subset of Biradaris migrated east to work in commerce.

Some Jatts

> No Jatts or Khatris were in Kolkata.

Bullshit.

Aroras have always had a decent sized commercial community across the region that was formerly the Bengal Presidency. I know a couple Aroras who's families have been in Kolkata for over a century at this point (rice trading).

And some of the southern Jatts in Rajasthan were called "Marwaris" by the locals in the east (Marwari being a linguistic/regional denonym, not a caste based one). Shouldn't have listed Punjabi Jatts - just waking up.

Also, the Bengal Presidency wasn't only Kolkata - it included a number of other towns and cities that had commercial needs (hence why the communities above entered that segment).