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Gopal Bhar or Gopal Bhand (Bengali: গোপাল ভাঁড়) was a legendary court jester in medieval Bengal. He was in the court of Raja Krishnachandra, the famous king of Nadia in the 18th century AD.^[1] Such was the genius of Gopal that the king considered him as a Navaratna of his court. His statue can still be seen in the palace of Raja Krishnachandra.

Stories[link]

Stories about his exploits are narrated in West Bengal and Bangladesh to this day and are immortalized in countless short stories. The stories are short, beautiful, humorous and have a specific social message. Gopal Bhar is famous for stories of his wisdom, in which he outwits other fellow courtiers and men. His stories are comparable with those of Birbal and Molla Nasiruddin.

In one story Gopal Bhar visits a sweet shop, being manned by the Halwai's son and starts eating the sweets. The child protests and asks his name, to which Gopal replies, "Your father knows me; my name is Machi (Fly)." The Halwai inquires who it is from inside the house, to which his son replies it is a housefly eating the sweets. The Halwai replies that the fly eats sweets daily so he should not worry. Gopal eats all the sweets and then leaves.

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• Dutta, Swapna; Gupta, Swapna (2004). Tales of Gopal the Jester. ISBN 81-7806-059-0.
• Sinha, Seema (ed.) (2005). Gopal Bhand. ISBN 81-7011-975-8.

The Bhar are a Hindu caste found in North India. They are also known as Rajbhar.^[1] British historian General Cunningham said that Bhars are branch of the [[Bharg]Mirzapur gazetteer, Lorikayan Dr. Arjun Das Kesari And Nagar palika 105 vars] tribe.^[2]

History and origin[link]

Bhar is a word derived from tribal languages like Gondi and Munda, which means "warrior". The tribal society of central India used to have its own hierarchy, with clans ranging from Brahmins (priestly class), warriors to service or menial class. The tribal society had special respect for its warriors and martial clans. Bhar is one such clan, which in the Medieval period had its own small principalities in various parts of North India. The Bhar formed small kingdoms in the Eastern Uttar Pradesh region, until they were disposed by invading Rajput and Muslim groups in the later Middle Ages. The last Bhar raja was killed by Ibrahim Shah Sharqi, the Sultan of Jaunpur.^[3]

Present[link]

The Bhar are primarily a community of small cultivators who supplement their income by wage labour. Landholdings are small, and many Bhar work on fields owned land. The Bhar are an Hindu community, and have customs similar to other Hindu communities of the Awadh region. They speak Awadhi and Bhojpuri. The community are found in the districts of Azamgarh, Jaunpur, Ghazipur, Gonda, Gorakhpur, Varanasi, Ambedkar Nagar and Faizabad.Now they have been spread all over India, especially Mumbai, Kolkata etc.^[4]

References[link]