Koshta

Koshta, or Koshti, is a Marathi and Telugu community of Kabirpanthis and Lingayats. Artisans from this community are spread over northern India and the Deccan in the states of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh. They speak a distinct language, with words borrowed from Sanskrit, Marathi, Khariboli, Bundeli, Chhattisgarhi and variants of Hindi.

A sub-caste of the Padmashali and Devanga communities, the Koshtas also claim to be descendants of Rishi Markandeya. They believe that when the gods were pleased with Markandeya for the cloth he produced, he was given the hand of Surya’s daughter in marriage as a reward, with a giant and a tiger as dowry. But the giant was unruly and Markandeya killed him. It was with the bones of the giant that the saint fashioned the first loom.

The Koshtas are famous for their silk-bordered textile—a white cloth with a red silk border.