The central problematic of this essay, the process of caste identity formation, is explored here with a focus on the fishing and riverfaring group of castes, the Mallah or Nishad, of the Bhojpuri-speaking region in eastern UP and Bihar. The process is analysed with reference to different sources of information, both colonial and post-colonial, which include the census, the system of scheduling whereby the Mallah/Nishad was labelled as both a criminal tribe and a backward caste, and finally, through voices from within the community. The essay is concerned with both the emergence of the Nishad identity as a result of and in reaction to the interventions of the colonial state and with the effects of the latter on identity-formation in the post-colonial era.
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