Agharia Samaj

Agharia is a caste, belonging to the Sambalpur, Balangir and Sundergarh districts in Orissa state and Raigarh district, Saraipali, Basna and near places in Raipur and Mahasamund district in Chhattisgarh state in India.They belong to the Kshatriya varna in Hinduism.

According to their traditions, their forefathers were from Agra (Uttar Pradesh, India). In the book, “The Tribes and Castes of the Central Provinces of India, Volume II by R. V. Russell (1873-1915)”, the author mentions that the Agharias claim to be Somvansi Rajputs, a claim which Colonel Dalton (of British Empire) had said their appearance favours- “Tall, well-made, with high Aryan features and tawny complexions, they look like Rajputs, though they are more industrious and intelligent than the generality of the fighting tribe.”

Populace belonging to this caste are divided into more than 84 exogamous sections, of which 60 bear the surname of Patel, 18 that of Naik, 6 that of Chaudhri and the rest that of Pandey.These days many surnames have come into existence among Aghrias like Panigrahi,Mohanty,Biswal,Samantaray,Mishra and others.

Traditionally, the occupation of the Agharias has been cultivation. As cultivators they are considered to be proficient. In the census of 1901, nearly one-fourth of the caste were shown as malguzars or village proprietors and lessees However, after the agricultural land ceiling reforms in India, many were attracted to formal education and employment in services.