TheKachhi are a Hinducaste of vegetable cultivators found in the regions ofDelhi,Madhya Pradesh,Rajasthan andUttar Pradesh in India.

The Kachhi caste forms part of a wider community that claims a common descent. This community, known as theKushwaha, nowadays generally claim descent fromKusha, a son of the mythologicalRama, who is considered^{[by whom?]} to be anavatar ofVishnu. This enables their claim to be of theSuryavansh - or Solar - dynasty but it is a myth of origin developed in the twentieth century. Prior to that time, the various branches that form the Kushwaha community - the Mauraos, Kachhis andKoeris - favoured a connection withShiva andShakta.^[1] Ganga Prasad Gupta claimed in the 1920s that Kushwaha families worshipedHanuman - described by Pinch as "the embodiment of true devotion to Ram and Sita" - duringKartika, a month in theHindu lunar calendar.^[2]

In Uttar Pradesh, the vegetable-cultivators Kachhis traditionally cultivate on their comparatively smaller landholdings without aid of the animals.^[3]

In 1991, they were designated anOther Backward Class in the Indian system ofpositive discrimination. This applied to the populations in Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh.^[4]

• Chaudhuri, B. B. (2008).Peasant History of Late Pre-colonial and Colonial India. Pearson Education India. pp. 467–468.ISBN 978-8-13171-688-5.
• Richards, J. F. (1981). "The Indian Empire and Peasant Production of Opium in the Nineteenth Century".Modern Asian Studies.15 (1):59–82.doi:10.1017/s0026749x00006788.JSTOR 312105.

• Social groups of Uttar Pradesh
• Social groups of Rajasthan
• Social groups of Madhya Pradesh
• Agricultural castes
• Social groups of Delhi

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