Origin of Bengali Brahmin surnames along with ill effects and implementation of Koulinya Pratha

 - 1000 yeras ago, local bengal king Adisur invited 5 brahmins from kingdom or area of erstwhile kannauj

- King Adisur is a big landlord/samanta under pal dynasty towards the end of the pal dynasty (source: khitish bangshabali charitam charita - local lineage history record book of Khitish blood line)

- Pal dynasty was budhdhist while Adisur was Hindu

- Rard desh, banga desh, gour desh, baredra desh were the area under King/landlord/samanta Adisur

- time line mentioned in poem: in same book

- Bikramabda (this incident happened before onset of gregorian calendar) so 999 Bikramsambat (year) pusha nakshatra on shukla paksha (day)

- 942 BC approx

- Reason of calling: Adisur was without male child. In ved there is provision of putreshthi yajna. In that time there were 700 household brahmins in the same region but they were unknown to the Vedic Yajna of Putresthi. These 700 brahmin households are call saptasati brahmins.

- notably bengal followed non vedic tradition. Murti puja had no provision in Vedas but murti pujas were there in Bengal. Lord Shiva is half vaidic as he is mentioned as rudra. This is because this region concentrated more on tantra sadhana or shakti sadhana.

- 2 centres of shakti or tantra sadhana are Assam's kamrup and Tibet's Lhasa

- In main budhism there is no provision of idol/murti worship and this sect of budhism is called vajrajan sampradai

- for example idol of shiva is different in east and westrn india. In western India Shiva has well exercised body but in East as well as in Tantric sect of Budhism idols have pot bellies 

- There was clash and difference of opinion between vedic path followers and shakti sadhaks

- raghunandand bhattacharya / raghunanda shiromani - samaj sangskarak ended the clash and gave verdict that Tantra sadhana and vedic sadhana are same and intertwined

- Adisur gets a son called bhusur and daughter laxmi

- so Adisur son had a short life and the dynasty was carried forward by daughter laxmi and son in law and eventually we see names like Samanta sen, Bijoy sen, ballal sen and the sen dynasty rises into historical prominence.

- Rardri Brahmins - descendents of the 5 original brhamins who inhabited in Rardri area (western side of Ganga river ie., present day west bengal, bihar and jharkhand like manbhum, birbhum, bardhaman etc.).

- Barendra Brahmins - descendents of 5 original brahmins who inhabited the barendra area (easternside of ganga river) ie. bangladesh dinajpur and rajshahi dist.

# Alternate History of arrival of 5 brahmins from kannauj

- dead vulture found on the roof top of Adisur's palace. Dead vulture is very bad omen. Royal pandit suggested a yajna needs to be convened dedicated to vulture. So, 700 household brahmins (saptasati brahmins) were assigned the task to capture a vulture and they failed and they also conveyed that they can not perform or knowledge of such yajna dedicated to a vulture.

- So a local statement became famous - "satso brahman e ekta boker thyang dhorte pare na shokun toh durer kotha" which means 700 brahmis could not cath the leg of a crane, vulture is a long shot for them.

- so a story came up in kings courtroom that someone saw brahmins from kannauj capturing vultures with magic. so, these 5 brahmins were called upon from Kannauj.

- it is refered that these brahmisn wore shirts with buttons and rode mules or donkeys when they arrived. The clothing part is disputed as buttons came in India with turkish influence and brahmins never worn stiched clothing in those times. These Brahmins were chewing paan. These things were forbidden for brahmins. When Adisur heard of their dressup and pan etc he became hopeless and went inside his palace.

- in the meantime to bless the king Adisur the 5 brahmins were standing with holy water in their hands. On seeing delay in arrival of king adisur they poured the water on a dead log or twig and the dead twig grew into a live full blown tree instantly. On hearing the news Adisur came out running.

# Alternate history of arrival of 5 Brahmins from Kannauj

Post death of vulture on palace terrace.Adisur sought 5 brahmins from king of kannauj. Brahmins being asset of Kannauj and Bengal being treated as mlecchcha terriroty for eating fish and meat, king of kannauj refused. Adisur sent soldiers for war with Kannauj king on the back of cattle. Kannauj king seeing death and injury to Gomata which he so revered went for settlement and agreed to give 5 brahmins.

# Gothras and Names of 5 Brahmins from Kannauj

- Sriharsha was from Bharadwaj Gothra

- Bhattanarayan was from Shandilya gothra, also poet and his famous book benisanhar still taught today to college level sanskrit students

- Daksha was from Kashyap Gothra

- Chchandar was from Vatsya Gothra

- Vedagarbha was from Sabarna Gothra

# 2 Thories  Why these brahmins stayed back

- Huge gifts from Adisur and his dynasty in terms of land and wealth

- Rejected by Kannauj on grounds that Bengal was mlechcha land where brahmins eat fish and these 5 brahmins ate in bengal

# Next Blood lines of these 5 Brahmins

## Sriharsha (Bharadwaj Gothra) - as per Rardri Kulapanji alias Goutam as per Barendra Kuloponji

-  Sriharsha and Goutam are blood brothers of Medhatithi

- author naishadcharit (dispute/confusion)

- King of Kashmir Sriharsha, he was a poet too

- Court poet of Jaichand. Prithviraj chauhan eloped with sanghamitra, daughter of Jaichand due to which jaichand called ghori to invade.

- Founder of Mukherjee/Mukhopadhyay title

- 4 sons names and the villages they received

- Srigarbha alias Dhurandhar - received village called Mukhoti (possibly in Bankura nearby ambikanagar, current location may be bottom of Kangshabati dam)

- jon - received village called Dindisa (possibly in bardhaman district)

- lal - received villager called sahuri (current name siuri city west bengal). surname possibly saharik while cross referencing encyclopedia of indian surnames.

- ram - received village called rainagar (current name Raina, in Bardhaman district)

- all these 5 brahmins had 56 descendents who all received 1 village each from Adisur's family + 3 villages more due to growth of family (total 59 villages)

- these village names because surnames of the descendents

- King Ballal sen gave recognition to these surnames as upper caste. Those surnames which received these recognition also received an additional surname of upadhyay. So, Utsaha (name) Mukhoti(village name) Upadhaya (title given by King Ballal sen, refer Ballal sen is descendent of Adisur's daughter laxmi) became Utsaha Mukhopadhyay

# Bhattanarayan (shandilya Gothra)

- author of benisanhar, still taught today to college level sanskrit students

- 16 sons received 16 villages

- nagendranath basu, researcher identified these 16 villages

- son names and village names

- Baraha received village bandighati/ bandaghoti, current name bandihati village Birbhum

- Ram -  village name Gargar, current village name gargar, birbhum dist. Suprakash gargari (surname acquired) is associated with football club east bengal

- Nip/ nipa - village received kesar, current location bankura chatna current name kesra village. surname possibly kesorkuni while cross referencing encyclopedia of indian surnames where village name is stated as keshorkona.

- Nan - kusumkuli village surname same, current name kusumgram in bardhaman manteshwar area. Encyclopedia of indian surnames refer the surname as combination of 2 villages kusum and kuli.

- Botu - village name pariha surname acquired parihal, current name parihalpur (erstwhile name pariha) Birbhum

- Guin - village kulodi, Bankura district currently kotulpur area new village name kulahar

- Goon - village ghosol, his surname became ghosoli (ghosal surname is totally different). village name - ghosoldih, dhanbad

- santeshwar - village name seu, surname became seu. currently seur village murshidabad

- Buro - mas village, surname became maschotok. Birbhum, current name mas gram. khogen maschotok is a famous character created by author narayan gangopadhyay in kambal niruddesh story.

- Bikartan - bora village, surname boral/batabyal. village bishnupur, bankura dist.

- Nil - village received bosu, surname received bosuari. bosu village is currently named bosui village in murshidabad dist

- madhusudan - village received kori., surname received koriyal. current village name koridha, birbhum dist.

- koye - kush village, surname received kusari. Village in bardhaman dist. kushgram is currrent village name. [ketaki kusari dyson (poet, novelist, literary critic,translator, etc)][https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ketaki_Kushari_Dyson] , rabindra nath tagore family were originally holders of kusari surname and later took the title tagore/thakur.

- kam - village received jhik, surname acquired jhikral. current village name jhinkra, murshidabad.

- som - village received bokatta, surname acquired bokattal. current village name bokra in east bardhaman, raina.

- mohamoti - village received dirgha gram, surname acquired dirghangi. current village name dighara, kamarpukur hoogly dist.

>[!Note]

>Roy surname is a upadhi not surname.

> Note

>==Chakraborty== is a upadhi not a surname, meaning someone who stays in the chakra. what is this chakra? its part of jotish shahtra. There are 12 rashis and the lord of 12 rashis.

>

>==Bhattacharya== is a upadhi not a surname. Earlier times Bhatta upadhi was hugely used for example ARya bhatta, Ban bhatta. Bhatta means knowledgable (Gyani).

# Bhattanarayan (shandilya Gothra)

Tutant bhatta was a mimangshak or analyst/commentator on mimangsha shashtra/ arbitration or negotiation. Udayanacharya was nayay shahtra specialist like tutant bhatta. Someone who specailized in mimangha shatra of Tutant Bhatta+Nyay shahtra of Udayanacharya received the upadhi ==Bhattacharya==.

# Dakhya (Kashyap Gothra)

- he had 14 sons

- Son names with assigned village names and surnames received:

- Dhir - son assigned gur, surname acquired gur. Full Name became Dhir Gur. Bankim chandra chatterjee's story muchiram gur. Gur gram is in murhisdabad

- nir - village assigned ombul, surname received ombuli. Ombul village is in Bardhaman name possibly changed to amul and amrul both currently existing in bardhaman dist. 

- suj - Village name - bhurshut. Surname acquired Bhurigrami. Acquired from Bhurisrestha Pargana, ancient pargana which draws its existance from current day howrah and hoogly districts. 

- Sanjhu/sumbho - assigned village toilobati/tilara. Current village location hoogly dist. badan ganj.

- koutuk - Pitamundi village assigned. Current location near Pakur currently called Pitmura 100 years back currently not traceable.

- Sulochan - Assigned village name chatudi. Surname acquired Chattopadhyay. Khana junction, 100 years back village name was chat-ti village, currently not traceable.

- kak - surname Har. village assigned har village. Bardhaman dist. currently present. Mouchak movie uttam kumar. this surname users use chattopadhyay surname currently.

- Kanu/krishna - village dagdhabati. this name converted to surname porari. Village not traceable currently. 100 yrs back it was traceable to Birbhum dist sainthia.

- bhanu - Village assigned polsa. Surname acquired Polsai. traceable to current Muraroi, Birbhum dist.

- Ram - Surname acquired palodhi from vaillage name Palita or palit.

- Kuber - Village assigned Simla. Surname acquired simlai. Currently traceable to hoogly simlagarh train station.

- Jagannath - surname acquired posholi, vaillage name poshola. Currently traced to Bardhaman dist.

- Subho/Banamali - Parkat surname converted to parkati, village assigned Pakur. modern surname pakrashi.

- Gopi/Keshab - Surname acquired mooli, village name mool. mool gram in Katwa, bardhaman.

- Chattaraj is a kashyap gothra surname but not part of these 14 sons. Nadia king krishna chandra was shandilya gothra and descendent of bhattanarayan. Battanarayan's son Nip whose surname was kesari or kesarkuni, his descendent was King Krishna chandra. Bhabananda majumder was a famous personality of same lineage and ancestry of king Krishna chandra. Bhabananda mazumder was earlier Bhabananda kesari, he joined hands with Man singh and fought against pratapaditya. Akbar assigned him surname/upadhi mazumder and gave him zamindari rights. 

- Due to Ballal sen's koulinya protha made kesarkuni/kesari surname became a lower bhrahmin compared to bandopadhyay though both were from same gothra or ancestry. kandarba chattopadhya of patuli, visibly a higher caste brahmin married bhabananda kesari's/mazumder's female relative. as a result kandarba chattopadhyay's stature as kulin brahmin was downgraded in society. As they had money and were influential they refused to go down in social hierarchy of kulin brahmins. Since both of them were rich they took chattaraj surname.

# Barendra Kulapanji version

- 5 brahmins came like Rarhi kulapanji version

- however, there are no clear village names for Barendra brahmins

- Goutam came bharadwaj gotra came from kannauj and they were 7 brothers - sriharsa, goutam shiv, krishna, durga. last 5 brothers were not mentioned clearly in Barendra Kuloponji.

- Sushen came from kannauj representing ==Kashyap gotra== from kannauj. Sushen and Daksha are borthers with common father name bitarag as per barendra kulo grantha.

- sabarna gotra- parashar, as per Rardri kuloponji. Bedagarbha arrived as per rardri kuloponji. both were brother as fathers name souhori ias common in both kuloponji's.

- Batsya gothra - dharadhar as per banrendra kuloponji. chandar as per rardri kuloponji. fathers name sudhanidhi, common for both these 2 brothers.

- shandilya gothra - narayan bhatta as per barendra kulaponji. Bhattanarayan as per rardri kuloponji. Father's name khitish. However, due to similarity of names it is difficult to ascertain whether they were 2 brothers or same person. As per Barendra kuloponji, the village name was adigrami ojha and no correct name of son assigned. Adigrami means that senior person who received entitlement for village.

- ==Alternate history== says the father's of these initially discussed 5 brahmins actually came and did the rituals for adisur and returned. Later their sons whose names have been discussed above and had been assigned 56+villages came and inhabited bengal land.

- this returning and coming back history has a loophole because age of these 5 brahmins were very high (senior citizens) as per written documentation of family kuloponjikas

- sriharsha was 90+ yrs old

- bhattanaryan and Daksha was about 70 yrs age

- chandar was 30 approx. yrs old

- Bedagarbha was approx. 40 yrs old

- another historical trail says a total of 31 family members of these 5 brahmins including their wives arrived from kannauj

-  Assumed other borthers (Barendra Brahmins) and family members came to bengal but they didnt received royal entitlements. However, over period of time 100 villages were identified to Barendra Brahmins' descendents over course of history.

- Bharatdwaj gothra had 24 villages

- Shandilya gotha had 14 villages

- Kashyap gothra 18 villages

- Batsya gothra 24 villages

- sabarna gothra 20 villages

- these villages are currently in Bangladesh and untraceable

# Known Surnames of Barendra Brahmins

- Bharatdwaj gothra - Goutams 5th generation acquired surname Atarthi. Famous personality Premankur Atarthi/Atorthy novelist, journaist and film director. Village name - Atur.

- Jhampati/jhamal surname acquired from jhama gram, magura mohammadpur sub division. 7th generation acquired this surname.

- nandanabasi/ Nanyasi surname acquired by shandilya gothra's narayanbhatta's 14 th generation (mounabhatta). Mounabhatta's descendents became zamindars of taherpur in north 24 parganas and first started (Kangsha Narayan) durga puja in bengal.

- Shandilya Gothra mounobhatta's brother; Village name Lahirigram, surname acquired Lahiri. Pitambar Lahiri had 3 son's - lokenath, Sadhu and Rudra. lokenath took surname of lahiri but sadhu and rudra received bagchigram and acquired surname Bagchi.

- initially for distinction purpose descendents of Sadhu and Rudra would use Surname as Sadhubagchi and Rudrabagchi but later some kept Bagchi as surname while other kept Rudra as surname and stopped using bagchi as prefix.

- 10th generation of sushen were 2 brothers -  koitai and moitai. 10 generation is prior to King Ballal sen's reign start in Bengal and onset of Koulinya pratha. koitai descendents acquired surname Bhaduri and Moitai's descendents became Moitra.

- bhaduri surname is derived from Dinajpur' dist. bhaturia Village.

- Batsya Gothra  - descendent of 5 generation was ill maintained. ==Sanjamaniyal/sanyal surname ==- descendent Lakshmidhar Sanjamoni derived from sonjamoni village.

# history of Koulinya Pratha - founder king ballal sen

- in bhagabat Gita chapter 4 shlok 13

- "chaturbarnang moyashristham guna karmabibhgasha"

- I have created 4 varnas based on Karma and Quality.

- Sen And sur dynasty kings of Bengal were favourable towards Brahmins

- Superficially it was described that King Ballal sen wanted to analyse the 11 to 14 th generation of descendents of those 5 Brahmins who came of Kannauj and reclassify them based on their Karma and gun (Quality).

- King Ballal Sen was attracted towards Tantra Sadhana and followed Birachari Tantric Path and in this he was guided by Anirudhdha Bhatta. Anirudhdha Bhatta was Saptasati Brahmin and not descendent of those who came from Kannauj and was attracted towards Tantric rituals. In this scheme of this King Ballal sen married a dom's (sweeper) daughter. As a result, he became anti brahmin. This marriage caused a tension with his exsiting son Lkshman sen and his son leaves King Ballal Sens Kingdom or he is banished for opposing his father's marriage.

- within 1 yr he recalls his son Lakshman sen realising his son has sided with all brahmins and is trying to overthrow his father.

- In an attempt to please the brahmins, King Ballal Sen attempted to impliment koulinya Pratha (divide and rule).

- He called the representatives of 100 (Barendra) +56 (Radri) brahmins of bengal

- 56 Rardri Brahmins

- 100 Barendra Brahmins

- he declared that he has perfomed puja over 1 year and as per divine guidance he is about to implement classification among the brahmins.

- He said a Brahmin can be identified by 9 characteristics

- Sadachar

- humble

- educated

- prathistha

- internal urge to do Tirtha darshan

- nistha / dedication

- donating mindset

- Puja and tap

- Abritti or getting married at the same time doing kanyadan

- This clause was resisted by Rardri Brahmins from 34 villages under Bikartan Batabyal questioned this clause as a behaviour independent to individuals and not a character for Brahmins. As counter offer, these villages asked this clause to be replaced by shanti or peace to be a character of Brahmins. they highlighted that this type of classification will divide the Brahmins and even among brothers.

- 22 Villages of rardri Brahmins accepted all clauses

- out of these 22 surnames 8 were further analysed and marked as mukho Kulin and remainded were labelled as Gouno kulins.

- Remaining 34 surnames became shrotriyo class (not kshatriya)

- Out of 100 surnames from Barendra Brahmins, similarly 8 surnames became Mukhya Kulin, all remainder became Shotriyo Brahmins.

- It was further decreed that these Kulin Brahmins will marry among themselves and if they marry non Kulin Brahmin also their position as higher caste will be downgraded.

- In this process a new overseer/morl police class was created called "ghatak", these people acquired the upadhi/surname Ghatak, which still exists. In the way Ghatak System came into being in Bengali society.

- As a result of this system, it became very difficult to get daugthers and womenfolk from Kulin Brahmin familied to be married off