Abstract
The Jogīs (Jugīs, Yogīs or Nāths) formed one of the most numerous castes in the Lower Bengal part of the Bengal Presidency before the partition of Bengal in 1905. Traditionally, they were weavers, mostly illiterate and predominantly Śaivas.
They were regarded as a very low caste, but according to the Risley's report (1891), their precise caste status was ambiguous and apparently different in various parts of Lower Bengal. In 1872 they began to question their low caste status and in the following years some individual Jogīs proclaimed themselves to be Brahmins and began to wear the sacred thread.
A well-organized movement of the Jogīs for their caste shift started after the Census in 1901 with the great help of the respected vaiṣṇava scholar Radha Gobinda Nath. They have established an organization called Yogī sammilanī, which started to publish its influential monthly journal Yogī sakhā (in Bengali) in 1905.
In my presentation, I have documented this struggle which lasted for many decades and finally has been at least partly successful, since in some parts of Bengal Nāths are now recognized as Brahmins. The main source of my information is the journal Yogī sakhā, where the development of this struggle has been regularly reported.
This historical evidence has been supplemented by findings from my field research among contemporary Nāth communities in West Bengal, south Assam, Tripura and north Bangladesh.