82:, a warrior tribe named Ambastha has been mentioned. During Alexander's invasion, they had 60000 infantry, 6000 horsemen and 500 chariots. They have been described as inhabitants of northwestern part of Indian subcontinent (near Lahore), and they were conquered by Nakula and paid tribute to Yudisthira. They fought in the Kurukhetra war (initially for the Pandavas but later for Drona). They took to different professions like priesthood, farming and medicine, and are assumed to have migrated to eastern India later on.
105:, and says that in order to explain "the great number of castes, a theory was developed that unions between men and women of different varnas produced offspring of various castes".
112:, Leslie mentions that the Ambastha is supposed to treat the Brahmins only, and hence considered as "a clean caste, definitely below the brahman, but certainly well within the
257:
But Bihar was not the original homeland of the
Ambashthas. The Ambashthas were a famous tribe from Western Punjab and have been mentioned in the Mahabharata.
116:
group". This differentiates the
Ambasthas from the average Vaidyas, who were considered "unclean" and were denied the status accorded to the Ambastha.
368:
Ambastha
Kayastha (The Evolution of a Family and Its Socio-Cultural Dimensions)/K.N. Sahay. New Delhi, Commonwealth, 2001, xxi, 344 p. 42.
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has introduced himself as both Vaidya and
Ambashtha, which indicates both the castes may have been considered as one in early medieval Bengal.
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the ancient
Ambasthas migrated to Bihar and created a sub-division of the greater Kayastha caste of this region.
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considered them as two separate sub-castes. Bharatmallik (17th century), the author of the
144:/Vaidyas were considered as the same caste in its list of 36 castes but another text, the
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38:. According to Hindu scriptures, the term Ambastha refers to the offspring of a
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The term
Ambastha is now used to describe a particular sub-caste within the
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as the offspring of a union between
Brahmin male and Vaishya female.
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242:
The Kāyasthas: a study in the formation and early history of a caste
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mother, whose traditional occupation was the practice of medicine.
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Ridgeon mentions about the myth related to the origin of the four
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43:
39:
141:
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35:
31:
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Studies in the
Religious Life of Ancient and Medieval India
183:
Major World
Religions: From Their Origins To The Present
85:The term Ambastha also get mentioned in Hindu text
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381:
207:Manu, Patrick Olivelle; Suman Olivelle (2005).
307:. University of California Press. p.
303:Asian Medical Systems: A Comparative Study
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352:(in Bengali), Kolkata:Dey's Publishing,
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213:. Oxford University Press. p. 208.
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16:Indian Chitraguptavanshi Kayastha clan
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245:. K.P. Bagchi & Co. p. 60.
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335:Kayasthas in Making of Modern Bihar
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332:Sinha, Bindeshwari Prasad (2003).
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186:. RoutledgeCurzon. p. 45.
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53:community, now found mainly in
30:or sub-caste or a community of
395:Social groups of Uttar Pradesh
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325:
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1:
269:Sircar, Dineschandra (1971).
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400:Social groups of West Bengal
275:. Motilal Banarsidass Publ.
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299:Leslie, Charles M. (1976).
239:Gupta, Chitrarekha (1996).
78:In the ancient Indian epic
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51:Chitraguptavanshi Kayastha
348:Roy, Niharranjan (1993).
338:. Impression Publication.
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350:Bangalar Itihas:Adiparba
126:Bindeshwari Prasad Sinha
180:Ridgeon, Lloyd (2003).
140:the Ambashthas and the
146:Brahma Vaivarta Purana
108:Citing the Hindu text
132:Early medieval Bengal
138:Brihaddharma Purana
120:Ambashthas of Bihar
55:North-Indian region
210:Manu's Code of Law
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220:978-0-19517-146-4
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384:Categories
160:References
154:Bhattitika
114:twice-born
87:Manusmriti
63:Jharkhand
20:Ambashtha
390:Kayastha
110:Parasara
24:Ambastha
142:Baidyas
136:In the
103:Rigveda
101:in the
44:Vaishya
40:Brahmin
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99:varnas
69:Origin
32:Hindus
59:Bihar
36:India
28:caste
26:is a
370:ISBN
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