Tyagi

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In Vedic Indian Culture, the society was divided in four castes - Brahmin, Kshatriya, Vaishya and Shudra. These castes were originally based on the profession. Brahmins were the people who were engaged in the profession of teaching, they lived on donations (Bhiksha), they received from society. Kshatriyas were the rulers, they protected and managed the society. Vaishyas were the traders, they carried out business and trades. Shudras were servants, their duties were to serve the other three castes

Initially, anybody was free to acquire any profession. But as the time passed by, people started taking up their father's professions. This may be because they were involved in that profession, directly or indirectly, from their childhood. Therefore with the passage of time, the caste system got changed. Nowadays, the caste is decided by the family in which you are born rather than being based on the profession that you take. A child will be a brahmin if he is born in a brahmin family.

Brahmin were considered to be supermost among all other castes. Even a king had to respect a brahmin. Though brahmins did not have money, they had knowledge and so they have respect in the society. In earlier days, brahmins were the religious and army teacher of the society. They devoted all their time in gaining and providing knowledge, so the management of their livelihood was the responsibility of society. They did the religious rituals and earn donation in lieu of.

In the later time (mainly at the time of Mahabharata), some groups of Brahmins were donated agricultural lands by the kings. Now these Brahmins started agiculture. But their primary profession remained teaching. Since they were earning at that time, they stopped taking donations. Instead they started providing teaching and doing other ritual functions without getting anything in lieu of. These brahmins were called Tyagis (Tyagi, means one who has given up something). Many Tyagis held high positions during the British rule in India. A lot others were very active in the freedom movement as well. In modern times,some of the influential Tyagis have been Mahavir Tyagi, Prakash Vir Shastri, Om Prakash Tyagi, Dushyant Kumar, Ramavtar Tyagi, Ravindra Nath Tyagi and Air Chief Marshal Shashindra Pal Tyagi.

Tyagis were considered a martial race by British and they mostly live in the upper Doab region, between Ganga and Yamuna river. A good number also lives in states of Haryana, Delhi and Rajasthan. The major occupation is agriculture and they possess most of fertile land irrigated by Ganga And Yamuna delta, the most fertile delta in the world.

Similar castes are found all across the country like Bhumihar Brahmins in Bihar region, Chitpawan Brahmins in Maharashtra, Havyak Brahmins in Andhra Pradesh, Namboothiri Brahmins in Kerela and Anavil Brahmins in Gujarat.

Another story that is popularly known about "Tyagis".

• After the battle of Mahabharata, there was a king named 'Janamajay' son of king 'Parixit'.

Once king Janamajay organised a religious gathering lead by a social prayer ceremony, called 'yagna', during this all the Brahmins were present and then somehow the people conducting the 'yagna' made a mistake. The others present at the ceremony termed it as unauspicious and incomplete and this lead to a huge argument which would have easily lead to war. To avoid the war king Janamajay offered land to the dissatisfied Brahmins. These Brahmins occupied huge mass of land and started cultivation. As they stopped performing the priestly ceremonies and gave up accepting donations made for conducting those ceremonies, they came to be known as Tyagi Brahmins. The act of giving up something completely is called "TYAG". This is where the word "TYAGI" came from.

• After Janamjay's incident Brahmans spreadout in india. In Bihar they are called Bhumihar Brahmins,in west Utter Pardesh they are called Tyagi Brahmins,these type of Brahmans can use sir name Rai,Sharma,Tyagi,Sinha.

NOTE:-this image IS SCANEED from a photo album from my relation.