Raj Bhansi

Raj-Bhansi (i.e. "sons of kings"), the title assumed by numerous Hinduised aborigines of Kutch-Bebar, Bengal, who claim to be Aryans of the Kshatrya (warrior) caste, but who are really a branch of the Koch race (q.v.) dominant in the Lower Ganges basin before the arrival of the Aryans; the genealogies of the local "rajas" showing Aryan descent are all fabrications. The Maharaja, paramount lord of all the Baj-Bhansi, has married the daughter of Kishab Chandra Sen, founder of the Brahmo-Somaj deistic sect. In Assam there is an agricultural caste specially known as Raj-Bhansi, who are also of Koch descent, and who number about 110,000.