The Banaut are Hindu caste, found in the state of Bihar in India
Contents
History and origin
The Banaut are found mainly in north east Bihar. They are Bundela Rajputs, and come originally from Orcha in Bundelkhand. The community are said to have left Orcha to escape the Mughals.Their culture also match that of rajputs of this region.They are generally seen as a Rajput sub-group. The Banaut are distributed in Bhagalpur-Tarar,Makarpur,Dogachhi,Bhawanpura,Dharhara,kaharpur,Munger-Belari,Rahmatpur,Sahjadpur,asargunj, Purnea-Sarsi,aligunj,sukhasan, Saharsa-kalasan, Katihar-Guagachhi,Baluaghatti,chandwa and Araria-Tamghatti,pothiya,narhki,uphrail,narsimhapur. A rajput sub-group from Hazaribag in Jharkhand also claims to be the same clan of rajput.
Present circumstances
The Banuat are a community of rich agriculturists. Most of the agricultural land in north east Bihar is owned by the Banaut. They tend to engage agricultural labourers on their fields, and many are absentee landowners. The Banaut speak Maithili,Angika but most understand Hindi. They are Hindu, and have village deities such as Hanumanji, Ramjanki and Radhakrishna.