The impact of colonialism on the perception and structure of caste in India has been a major subject of historical and sociological debate. While caste as a social institution predates colonial rule, the ways in which it was conceptualized, categorized, and institutionalized underwent significant transformations during British colonialism. This transformation had a deep and lasting influence on how caste was perceived, practiced, and politicized in modern India. In the context of the Modern Indian Language Bhojpuri-speaking region, these changes were not only administrative but also cultural, altering both elite and popular understandings of caste. Before colonialism, caste was largely a localized and context-based social system. In regions like the Bhojpuri-speaking areas of eastern Uttar Pradesh and western Bihar, caste identities were flexible, with considerable regional variation. Occupational mobility, ritual status, and local power dynamics often determined one's social positioning more than any rigid, pan-Indian categorization. The traditional varna system, though idealized in Sanskrit texts, had limited practical application. Instead, jati-based identities shaped everyday interactions, often adapting to local needs and changes. With the advent of colonial rule, British administrators, missionaries, and scholars sought to understand and organize Indian society. Their approach was rooted in the European tradition of classification and categorization. The colonial government sought to catalogue Indian society for purposes of governance, taxation, law, and social control. In doing so, they often relied on static and textual understandings of caste, particularly drawing from Brahmanical sources such as the Manusmriti and other Sanskrit texts. This textual bias ignored the dynamic and lived realities of caste practices in places like the Bhojpuri region. One of the most significant interventions was the introduction of the decennial census beginning in 1871. These censuses required Indians to classify themselves into caste categories, often forcing diverse and fluid jatis into rigid, pan-Indian hierarchical structures. This process led to the ossification of caste identities. In the Bhojpuri region, for instance, communities that had previously engaged in multiple occupations or had variable status across villages were now locked into fixed caste identities as recorded by the British. These classifications were then used to determine access to land, education, jobs, and other resources, giving caste a more formal and bureaucratic identity than before. Colonial ethnographic surveys and gazetteers further reinforced these perceptions. Scholars like H.H. Risley attempted to classify castes on the basis of race and physical anthropology, linking caste hierarchy to supposed racial origins. According to Risley's racial theory, the upper castes were descended from Aryan invaders while the lower castes and tribes were seen as of Dravidian or aboriginal origin. In the Bhojpuri-speaking belt, such theories influenced perceptions of communities like