Migration and the Making of a Village

Migration and the Making of a Villagein the field in 2010, there was no single habitation by the name of Jitwarpur.In Araria, people knew the village by the name of its prominent hamlets -Palasi or Tegachhia -or the local market Patengana which was a kilometre away from Palasi.The village was spread over 2 km from north to south and no less from east to west.Our household survey enumerated 950 households in Jitwarpur revenue village, with a population of 5,600.Of these, 847 households belonged to Hindus and 103 to Muslims.Out of the 103 Muslim households (HHs), 101 belonged to the Dhuniya (Momin) community and two belonged to the Ansari community.The Hindu HHs belonged to the following twelve castes, with the number of households given in parentheses -Brahmin (284), Noniya (186), Kewat (9129), Godhi (125), Musahar (37), Yadav (31), Baniya ( 14), Chamar (7), Barhai (7), Halwai (2), Sudhi (1), and Nai (1).Besides, there were twenty-three Santhal households in the village. 3 The village was spread over ten tolas (hamlets); the following are their names, with the number of households they comprise mentioned alongside in parentheses -Tegachhia (323), Palasi (194), Godhi (115), Mansoori (103), Puraini (84), Musahari (37), Yadav (31), Jhaua (20), Paschim (19), and Santhal (24) which was also known as Panchavati.There was another small tola known as Gilahbari that was adjacent, almost contiguous, to the Musahari tola.Administratively, a few households of Gilahbari were part of the Musahari tola and the rest were part of Khwaspur village which was more than a kilometer from the tola.I followed the administrative division for the household survey, but for this paper, I have also included some narratives from Gilahbari.A river stream called Bhalua -a branch of the river Kosi -flowed through the northern part of the village from the east to the west between Puraini and Musahar tolas.Bhalua usually almost dried up between January and May but was in full flow during the rainy season.Palasi was basically a Brahmin tola but there also were a considerable number of Kewat households, and some Barhai, Chamar, Nai, Sudhi and Baniya households as well.The Jhaua tola was inhabited by Kewats.Tegachhia was practically divided into two separate tolas -Tegachhia Brahmin tola and Tegachhia Noniya tola.The Brahmin tola, located near the Tarabari market, had ninety-eight Brahmin households.The Noniya tola had 185 households.Other castes in Tegachhia were Barhai, Halwai, Nai and Baniya.Puraini tola was inhabited by Kewats, Brahmins and Chamars, and Paschim tola by Brahmins.Other tolas were almost single-caste habitations and known by their caste name.There were three local markets -one each at Patengana, Palasi and Tarabari.The one at Patengana, a kilometer away from Palasi, was the biggest amongst them: a weekly hatia (market) was also held here every Friday.The Tarabari market had an oil mill.People from Tegachhia, Musahari, Paschim and Jhaua tolas used this market.Every tola had at least one small grocery shop run from someone's home, and some tolas also had a flour mill.