Jalia Kaibarta

Jalia Kaibarta (or Jaliya Kaibartta, or: Jāliya Kaibbarta, possibly also: Jalia Kaibartya) is a community comprising people of low ritual status, fishermen, who later acquired respectable caste identities within the larger Hindu fold, helped by their commercial prosperity and Vaishnavite affiliations, through Sanskritisation. They are traditionally engaged in the occupation of fishing and boating and originally belonged to Assam, West Bengal, Odisha and eastern Bihar, Jharkhand along with Bangladesh. Jalia Kaibartas are categorised as a Scheduled Caste and are the second largest among the 16 SCs in Assam under the name Kaibartta, Jaliya.