Kalita is an ethnic group or a caste of Hindus belonging to the state of Assam in North East India. Kalita is a forward caste and belongs to General or Unreserved category. Kalita represents a category in the tribe-caste continuum of Assamese society that is placed between the Keot on one side and Ganak and Brahmin on the other. According to historians like S.L.Barua, Kalitas started migrating from North and East India to Assam during the 11th century rule of Dharmapal.

Origin

Legendary origins
According to the Purana tradition, the Kalitas are considered as pure Aryan, though this is not accepted as absolute truth. Though the Aryan descent theories endorse the arrival of the Kalitas "before the rise of the existing professional castes", the Kalitas generally claim to belong to the Kshatriya caste, and call themselves kulalupta, kula meaning caste and lupta meaning gone ("lost caste") in the context of the legend that the Kalitas "were Ksatriyas who fled from the wrath of Parasurama who was determined to exterminate the Ksatriya and later concealed themselves in the forest of Assam.

Other hypothesis of origins
According to the legends, they are "the non-Vedic Aryans" who are responsible for bringing Aryan culture to Assam. Having mingled with local population, they still preserve certain elements of Aryan culture even after localising their culture to some extent.

B.S. Guha has found similarities between some surnames of "Alpine Nagar Brahmins" of Gujarat with those of North East India, as referred in the Nidhanpur land grants of Kamarupa King Bhaskaravarman (6th century A.D.) such as Datta, Dhara, Deva, Nandi, Sena, and Vasu, etc. and connects them with the Kalitas of Assam. Again, historian Kanaklal Barua mentions these surnames while referring to the Nidhanpur inscription and says that these surnames "now belong almost exclusively to the Bengali Kayasthas".

Few scholars including K.R. Medhi, K.L. Barua, P.C. Choudhuri, M. Neog, B. K. Kakati made speculations by drawing the references of Greek records, words like Kakatiai, Kalaiai, Kaltis, Koudontai, Kudutai, Gurucharitis and few early religious literatures to establish the Kalitas through materials not based on ethnology or anthropology. According to B.C. Allen, all the Hinduised people except Brahmins were Kalita barring other aboriginal groups like Bodo-Kachari.

Mirroring the history of lower Assam, the Kalitas were regarded to be a part of the Koches. They are considered to be the original priestly class of the Koch ethnic group but with the introduction of Brahmins by Biswa Singha, the Kalitas were replaced from their original priesthood position. In Upper Assam,  Kalita represents the highest category in the tribe-caste continuum of Assamese society. In this process, a tribal neophyte usually belonging to Kachari, Garo, Lalung, Mikir peoples, takes initiation in a Sattra under a Guru and successively discards his own beliefs and habits to be replaced by the Hindu social code. It is also observed that lowercaste groups such as the Sut and even Duliya (a section of Nath Jogis) in an attempt for upward mobility in the caste hierarchy describe themselves as Sut Kalita and Duliya Kalita and this is true for  artisan caste like the Kumar, Komar, Sonari, Katani, Nat (Dancers) who attach the term Kalita to their name for similar purposes.

Demand of reservation
Since 1988, few people of the Kalita community has been demanding Scheduled Tribe status. All Assam Kalita Janogosthi Student Union (AAKJSU) has demanded 50% reservation in government sector jobs and demanded reservation of 25 MLA seats in Assam, 3 in Lok Sabha and 2 in Rajya Sabha seats from Assam. They also demanded the formation of a Kalita Development Council and the Pagjyotishpur Autonomous Council.

Notable Kalitas
 
Maniram Dewan, Freedom fighter, one of the first people to establish tea garden in Assam.
Rana Pratap Kalita.

See also
Kayastha
Napit (caste)
Chandala
Dhupi

References

Bibliography

Printed sources

Internet

Indo-Aryan peoples
Cultural history of Assam
Indian castes
Politics of Assam
Social groups of Assam
Assamese-language surnames