Deshastha Brahmin surnames

Deshastha Brahmin surnames are derived by adding the suffix kar or e to the village from which the family originally hailed.^[1] For example, Akhegaonkar came from the village Akhegaon, Bidkar came from the town of Bid, Jugade came from the village Jugad, Mulik came from district Muluk and some links say Mulikwadi from Konkan area,Yadwadkar came from Yadwad Nagpurkar comes from the city Nagpur, Virkar came from the village Vira or Veer,^[2] the Marathi poet V. V. Shirwadkar, colloquially known as Kusumagraj, came from the town of Shirwad, Dharwadkar from the town of Dharwad, and Bijapurkar from the town of Bijapur in Karnataka.^[3] Examples of Surnames with suffix e are Purandare from the village of Purandhar.

Deshasthas historically resident in Southern India also use directly the town name where they originally hail from without any suffix. For examples Diwan Tanjore Madhava Rao came from the town of Thanjavur, Diwan Kanchi Krishnaswamy Rao or Historian Conjeevaram Hayavadana Rao from the town of Kanchipuram also known as Conjeevaram in Tamil Nadu, Civil servant Gurunath Venkatesh Bewoor from the village Bewoor, poet V. K. Gokak from the city of Gokak, Mysore Sadashiva Rao from the city of Mysore in Karnataka, artist N. S. Bendre from the village of Bendri in Madhya Pradesh^{[citation needed]}

Some Deshastha Brahmin surnames are also derived from their gotra name of rishi For example, prominent Marathi writer, a poet Pralhad Keshav Atre popularly known as Acharya Atre surname "Atre" came from the gotra Atri.^[4]

Deshasthas also use the occupation or profession they did as their surnames such as Joshi means astrologer, Vaidya means doctor. Deshasthas who were manufacturers of Salt and who did trading of salt in the state of Karnataka adopted Uppu or Vuppu as their surnames which means Salt in Kannada.^[5]

Deshastha Brahmins also use the surnames, which their ancestors got as titles or positions held like Kulkarni, Deshpande, Deshmukh, Rajguru, Nirkhee, Fadnavis, Gadkari, Hatkar (हातकर) and Desai denote their professions.^[6][7][8] However, some of these names are also common to some other Marathi communities. For example, Deshpande and Kulkarni surnames are also found in the CKP caste. Deshmukh is also found in the Maratha, CKP and Chitpawan and other castes. Patil is also found in the Maratha and several other castes.^[9][10][11] Kulkarni means revenue collector and Joshi means astrologer.^[12] Ghaisas, which means brave and is a rank during Rashtrakuta dynasty and is used as a surname predominantly by Deshastha Brahmins but it is also found among some Chitpavan Brahmins and Karhade Brahmins.^[13]

Some Deshastha Brahmin surnames simply derived from their locations such as Nashikkar Nagarkar Mulik Muluk Neve.^[14]

Some Deshastha Brahmin surnames simply describe physical and mental characteristics such as Hirve which means green or Buddhisagar which literally translates to ocean of intellect or "Dharmik" or “Dharmik” which means "very religious".^[14]

See also

• Deshastha Brahmin
• List of Deshastha Brahmins

References

1. Chopra 1982, p. 52.
2. Journal, Volumes 5-6. Asiatic Society of Bombay. 1979. p. 236. Vīra, the village granted, is certainly the modern Vir, from which the surname Virkar among Desastha Brāhmaṇs is derived.
3. Prabha Chopra (1992). Forgotten Heroes of India's Freedom Struggle: A Who's Who, British Secret Documents. Delhi Agam Prakashan. p. 45. ISBN 9780836427738. Bijapurkar, Vasudeo G., Deshastha Brahmin, son of Govindji Bijapurkar, residence Rangoon, Burma.
4. The Illustrated Weekly of India, Volume 95. Bennett, Coleman & Company, Limited, at the Times of India Press. 1974. p. 31. Marathi literature is strewn with Deshastha writers. Some of the luminaries are B. S. Murdhekar, the neoclassical poet and critic; the popular dramatists' Acharya P. K. Atre, V.V.Shirwadkar; the poet and story writer G.D.Madgulkar popularly known as the "Modern Walmiki" of Maharashtra, Sahitya Akademi Award winners G. T. Deshpande, Laxmanshastri Joshi, S. N. Banhatti, V. K. Gokak and Mugali all belong to this community.
5. Karnataka State Gazetteer: Mandya. Director of Printing, Stationery and Publications at the Government Press. 1967. p. 78. This term means manufacturers of salt (uppu).
6. Hatekar, Neeraj. "'Economic Backwardness' in History Deviation from a Eurocentric Theme". IRIS Knowledge Foundation. Department of Economics, University of Mumbai, Mumbai: 32. Even then, it consistently legislated in favour of Maharas of Nagewadi in their disputes with Brahmins over the Patilki watan.
7. Kulkarni, R.A (1969). Maharashtra in the Age of Shivaji. R.J. Deshmukh. p. 32. Retrieved 2 April 2018.
8. Chatterjee, Ramananda (1914). The Modern Review, Volume 16. Modern Review Office. p. 604. Retrieved 2 April 2018.
9. Jaffrelot 2005, p. 10The balutedari formed the basic structure of the pre-colonial state as evident from the fact that the office of Patil and the Kulkarni had equivalents at the regional level, the Deshmukh and Deshpande (the latter was systematically a Brahmin whereas the former could be a Maratha or Brahmin).
10. "Their Surnames". The Illustrated Weekly of India. 91 (3). Bennett, Coleman & Company: 12. July 1970. Generally speaking, excepting names such as Kulkarni, Thackerey, Chitnis, Deshmukh, Deshpande, which are common to many communities in Maharashtra, a C.K.P. can be recognised by his surname.
11. Irina Glushkova; Rajendra Vora (eds.). Home, Family and Kinship in Maharashtra. Oxford University Press. p. 118. The wada tells us of a story of three generations of a family called Deshpande who belong to the Deshastha Brahmin caste. ....Spread all over Maharashtra as a result of this process, Deshastha Brahmans held, in particular, the office of kulkarni.
12. Karve 1968, p. 161.
13. Proceedings, Part 1. Indian History Congress. 2001. p. 431. The early use of the word Ghaisas in the form of Gahiyasahasa (brave), is met with in Radhanpur plate of Rashtrakuta Govinda, dated saka 730. Here the term Ghaisas denotes only position or rank and is not restricted to any particular section of Brahmans. This surname is found among the Desastha, Chitpavana and Karhade Brahmans of Maharashtra, in the present days.
14. Naik 2000, p. 66.

Works cited

• Chopra, Pran Nath (1982), Religions and communities of India, Vision Books, ISBN 978-0-85692-081-3
• Jaffrelot, Christophe (2005), Dr. Ambedkar and untouchability: fighting the Indian caste system, Columbia University Press, ISBN 978-0-231-13602-0
• Karve, Irawati Karmarkar (1968), "Maharashtra - Land and Its People", Maharashtra State gazetteers - General series, vol. 60, Government of Maharashtra
• Naik, Gregory (2000). Understanding Our Fellow Pilgrims. Gujarat Sahitya Prakash. ISBN 978-81-87886-10-5.

External links

• Further information: List of Deshastha Brahmin surnames