Kayastha: Bengal
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Kayastha: Bengal
An overview
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These are the common surnames of Bengali Kayastha caste
In Bengal and other parts of India, Kayasthas were traditionally administrators, officers as well as writers. …
Surnames of Bengali Kayastha vary from region to region according to the internal structure of their sub-sections. Bengali Kayasthas are divided regionally into six sub-groups ——Dakshin Rahri , Bangaja, Uttar-Rahri, Barendra, Madyashreni and Sylheti. Previously no marriage could take place outside the same sub-groups. There are specific upper-lower rank of their own in every sections. Among all the regional sub-groups, Dakshin Rahri and Bangajas are numerically much stronger than their other counterparts.
DAKSHIN RAHRI
(দক্ষিন-রাঢ়ী) —
These are the Kayasthas who had settled in Dakshin-rarh area of ancient Bengal. [An area that lies between the Chhota Nagpur Plateau on the West and the Ganges Delta on the East.] They had settled in the districts of western sides of undivided Bengal. Though they mostly resided in the southern-parts of west-Bengal,they migrated to east-Bengal too; especially in Jessore-Khulna and Chattagram (Chitagong) in a noticeable number.
The Dakshin Rahri s are minorities in east-Bengal where BANGAJA section of Kayastha always predominated. Dakshin Rahri are of two types— Kulin and Maulik.
Mauliks are again divided into two——-sidhya or attghar (8 surnames) and Sadhya or bahatture (72 surnames).
Dakshin Rahri KULINs —-
1) Ghosh of SOUKALIN gotra, 2) BOSE/BASU of GAUTAM gotra,3) MITRA of BISWAMITRA gotra (Though GUHA of KASHYAP gotra is kulin in bangaja section but not so in Dakshin Rahri ). These gotras are specific. No other caste has same surname-gotra combinations.
For instance, non-Kayastha MITRAs have different gotras (not BISWAMITRA). Mitra of Barujibi caste—-Karnamaharshi, Alimbayan etc. gotra, Modak Mitra—-Chandrarishi gotra and so on. Goala/ Sodgope and other castes also use Ghosh as their surname but definitely their gotras are not Soukalin.
Similarly Kayastha BOSE is always GOUTAM.
Many castes other than Kayastha also use BOSE but their gotras are not goutam.
Majority of these Dakshin Rahri Ghosh-BOSE-MITRA remained kulin but some of them lost there kulinism later on and became BANSAJA (degraded kulin).
SIDHYA MOULIK
SIDHYA MOULIK (8 surnames) comes immediately after kulin and bansaja.
These are —- Dutta, De/Deb, Sen, Kar, Sinha, Palit, Das and Guha. Their gotras are not single-numbered as it is in kulin.
In SIDHYA-MOULIK, each of the surnames has more than one gotra, sometimes as many as 8 in number. In case of SIDHYA-MOULIK with multiple gotras, every gotras is further specific to a different samaj (ANCESTRAL ORIGIN).
So, to identify the genuine Kayastha one should ask ancestral house/origin along with gotra.
For example, Deb of Karnaswarnapur Samaj are of Modgolya / Madhukulya ggotra but Deb of Chitrapur Samaj is Kashyap gotra, Deb of Karnapur — Alimban/Alimbayan gotra. Similarly, Sen of Deganga — Basuki gotra, Sinha of Anulia is Modgolya/Madhukulya, Sinha of Choula is Atri, Sinha of Patna is Kashyap, Palit of Kona is Bharadwaj, Kar of Panihati — Kashyap gotra, Das of Sankrail— Kashyap gotra, Dutta of Bali is Bharadwaj, Dutta of Dariatona is Kashyap and so on. Only GUHA has single gotra among Sidhya-Moulik of Dakshin Rahri section.
All Kayastha GUHAs are of KASHYAP gotra irrespective of sub-sections.
Some non-Kayastha castes also use ‘GUHA’ as their surnames but their gotra is not kashyap. For example, Barujibi (Barui) Guha— Modgolya/Alimban gotra and Aguri Guha—Krishnatreya gotra. So, be conscious about it. GUHAs of BARUJIBI caste are mainly found in village Atra, Daibagyahati, Sagarkhali in the then Jessore-Khulna district of undivided Bengal. They are seen in west-Bengal too. All aguri (ugrakshatriya) guha’s ancestral origin is bardhaman. Sanktia in Bardhaman, Tirole of Arambag are among some villages where they now reside.
Besides, few GUINs also tries to convert into GUHA but they are easily identified before marriage.
SADHYA-MOULIK
Sidhya-moulik is then followed by SADHYA-MOULIK.
Though it is said that 72 surnames once existed in Sadhya moulik but in reality more or less 20 surnames are found i.e. Nag (only 2 gotras i.e. Soupayan and Soukalin), Shome (only 1 gotra-Sandilya), Aditya, Raha, Bhanja (1 gotra —Jamadagni), Brahma, Bishnu (gotra- Bairagpadra), Nandi, Rakshit, Tej, Rudra (gotra-Kasyap), Arnab, Pal, Aich, Hore, Chandra (gotra-Bharadwaj, Bishnurishi, Chandrarishi…), Bhadra (gotra-Alimban…), Dhar (gotra-Jamadagni), Rahut, Kirti. Rest of the 72 families like Sharma, Barma, Khil, Pil, Shan, Khom, Khem, Man, Dahak, Ban, Dhanu, Shan etc. can’t be found anywhere in the Dakshin Rahri Kayastha society.
They probably became extinct in a definite period of time. The extinction of these Sadhya-moulik surnames are probably due to their failure to accommodate in the kulin-centric society. These Sadhya mouliks (20 existing surnames) are visible very rarely in Dakshin Rahri Kayastha society.
Rather, these surnames of Sadhya moulik are seen among non-Kayastha community in a greater number. Most of the Nag, Raha, Shome, Rakshit, Hore, Pal, Dhar, Rahut etc. in west-Bengal (rarh region) are non-Kayastha by caste. There is no special reason to consider them Kayastha unless it is proved by the formulas of gotra and ancestral origin.
Every Dakshin Rahri Kayastha family (either kulin or moulik) has specific gotra- samaj (ancestral origin) combination. If any non-Kayastha tries to enter into Kayastha community hiding his caste, he can be easily singled out. Nowadays, some non-Kayasthas having the surnames similar to that of Kayasthas, are constantly trying to merge with the latter but one can easily recognise them.
Apart from original surnames, some Kayasthas also use Roy Chowdhury, Roy, Chowdhury, Mazumdar, Sarkar, Biswas, Mustaphy, Bakshi, Munshi, Bhowmick, Mullick etc. These were gifted either by Mughal badshah or by British east-india-company. We should give some example of Dakshin Rahri Kayasthas having these gifted titles. Famous family of Ramdulal Sarkar of kolkata is from Deb family; here Sarkar is a gifted title.
The famous family of Upendrakishore Roychowdhury-Sukumar Roy-Satyajit Roy is actually the DEB of Karnaswarnapur of Modgolya gotra. Family of Acharya Prafulla Chandra Roy and Dr. Nilratan Sircar also belongs to the same DEB family of karnaswarnapur samaj. Famous SARKAR family of Bagbazar is actually GUHA whereas sarkar was recieved at the time of east india company. Roy Chowdhury zamindar of Baruipur is actually Dutta, Roy Chowdhury of Chengutia of Khulna is Dutta of Kalkish gotra, Roy Chowdhury Zamindar of Banagram, Chingrakhali and Maghia of Khulna is Sen of Basuki gotra, Roy Chowdhury of Moubhog of Khulna is Dutta of Bharadwaj gotra, Sural is Chandra of Bishnurishi gotra, Aikat of Bankura-Bishnupur is actually De (?) of Bishnurishi gotra, Majumdar of Maheshwarpasa (In Khulna) is Guha of Kashyap gotra, Family of Actor Robin Majumdar is actually Brahma, Mullick of Pataldanga (Kolkata) and Sarbadhikari of Khanakul (Hooghly) are Bose,
The Family of Peary Charan Sarkar was actually Das, Roy and Sarkar of Narail (in Jessore) are Dutta of Bharadwaj gotra, Sarkar Family of Beliaghata In Kolkata (a bus-stop named Sarkar Bazaar in that locality indicates this family) is Deb of Kashyap gotra, Zamindar Biswas of Khardaha and Chowdhury of Baharu (South 24 Parganas) are actually Das, Zamindar Sarkar of Ramnagar (Baruipur,South 24 Parganas) and Chowdhury of Ghateswar (Near Laxmikantapur Railway Station, South 24 Parganas) are also Das, Mustaphy of Ula-Birnagar is Mitra, Mustaphy of Senhati of Khulna is Dutta of Bharadwaj gotra and so on. … This is the basic structure of Dakshin Rahri Kayastha society.
UTTAR-RAHRI
(উত্তর-রাঢ়ী) — we have to say that some Kayasthas of northern Rarh area (specially in Birbhum, Murshidabad and Bardhaman) joined together and established a distinct society. There are total 9 families who belong to UTTAR-RAHRI Kayastha. They are divided into Kulin, San-Moulik and Samanya-Moulik. Kulins are —Ghosh of Soukalin gotra and Sinha of Batsya gotra. San-Mouliks are— Mitra of Biswamitra gotra, Das of Modgolya gotra and Dutta of Kasyap gotra.
Samanya-Mouliks are— Das of Kasyap gotra, Sinha of Bharadwaj gotra, Kar of Modgolya gotra and Ghosh of Sandilya gotra (almost extinct). Here in the Uttar-Rahri, The families of Samanya-Moulik were so neglected that they became almost extinct. The marriage of Uttar-Rahri always takes place within these 9 familes. The population of them is very low compared to that of the Dakshin Rahri.
MADHYA-SRENI KAYASTHA
(মধ্যশ্রেণী কায়স্থ) —. The word ‘madhya’ means middle in Bengali. Kayasthas who settled in the halfway between Bengal and odisha called MADHYA-SRENI. This area is now located in the Medinipur district of west-Bengal. They had settled here well before the islamic invasion. These families are 12 in number i.e. Guha of Kashyap gotra, Dutta of Krishnatreya gotra, Deb of Moudgolya gotra, Das of Kashyap gotra, Deb of Sandilya gotra, Mitra of Biswamitra gotra, Ghosh of Soukalin gotra, Pal of Kashyap gotra, Pal of Modgolya gotra, Rudra of Kashyap gotra, Chandra of Bishnurisi gotra, Chandra of Chandrarisi gotra. They generally arrange marital alliances within these 12 families but sometimes intermarriage with local Dakshin-Rahris of Medinipur takes place.
BANGAJA KAYASTHA
(বঙ্গজ কায়স্থ) — This is the most populated section of Bengali Kayastha community. This group of Bengali Kayastha originated in the districts of undivided east-Bengal. Though they were mostly seen in eastern parts of undivided Bengal, some families later migrated to westward specially in taki region of basirhat area. Bangaja Kayasthas were much fewer in Jessore-Khulna districts compared to Dakshin Rahri sections. In undivided Jessore district, they were seen only in village itna, jaggakundu and 2/3 surrounding villages.
In khulna, they had settled only in left bank of ichamati river and banagram area of then bagherhat subdivision. Some bangaja families (other than who settled in basirhat-taki area) also lived in western parts of Bengal for many centuries i.e. Mitra of nimta (north 24 pargana), Basu of bangal-bazar (howrah), Guha and Basu of darjipara (kolkata) etc. Family of wrestler Gobar Goho of kolkata turned into Dakshin Rahri when they came to settle in kolkata.
Sometimes back in 13th century CE, bangaja community was created by Dhanujmardan Deb, then king of chandradwip. Chandradwip kingdom was the first such society that patronized bangaja Kayasthas and created many guidelines among them. After the decline of Chandradwip kingdom, many other bangaja societies emerged under the leaderships of different kings. In this way, Bikrampur, Idilpur, Fatehabad, Jessore, Baju, Bhulua etc. societies were came into being. Bikrampur bangaja society was created by king Chand Roy and his brother Kedar Roy.
Idilpur bangaja society and Fatehabad samaj were established by zamindar Kamal Narayan Ghosh Roy Chowdhury of idilpur and Kayastha king Mukunda Roy respectively. Jessore bangaja samaj was built by Raja Basanta Roy, uncle of Maharaja Pratapaditya. Raja Laxman Manikya Sur established Bhulua kingdom in today’s greater noakhali region. Kings of Chandradwip had created 6 ranks among bangaja section i.e. Kulin, Kulaj, Bansaja, Madhalya, Mahapatra andSadharan. Kulins — Ghosh of Soukalin gotra, Basu/Bose of Goutam gotra, Guha of Kashyap gotra (Though Mitra of Biswamitra gotra was also kulin earlier but they lost their kulinism later and became bansaja). So, no MITRA remained kulin in bangaja section.
Some Ghosh-Bose-Guha also lost kulinism like mitra. After losing kulin status some also upgraded their ranks to a certain extent by doing prayaschitta and emerged as Kulaj (কুলজ). So, the position of kulaj was just beneath kulin and one notch above bansaja (বংশজ). Some top-ranked kulin in bangaja society are—- Ghosh Dastidar of Gabha (In Barisal), Guha Thakurta of Banaripara (In Barisal), Basu Thakur of Malkhanagar (Dhaka), Guha Mustaphi of Srinagar (Dhaka), Guha Biswas of Kachabalia-Hanua (Barisal), Basu Roy Chowdhury of Ulpur In Faridpur (They Write Only Roy Chowdhury / Roy), Guha Roy Chowdhury andGuha Sarkar of Taki-Sripur of 24-Pargana andKhulna region (In this famous family Dr. Bidhan Chandra Roy was born) etc.
Some famous Kulaj are—Ghosh Roy Chowdhury of Idilpur of Faridpur (In this family famous playback singer Geeta Dutt nee Ghosh Roy Chowdhury was born) and Basu Roy Chowdhury of Buhar (Dhaka) etc. After Kulin-Kulaj-Bansaja, Madhalya (মধ্যল্য) comes. They are — Dutta of Moudgolya gotra, Nag of Soupayan gotra, Das of Atri gotra. Other than moudgalya duttas, no other dutta is considered madhalya.
After madhalya, Mahapatra (মহাপাত্র) was taken into account. Nineteen (19) families of specific gotras were once awarded mahapatra status by different king of different periods of time. These 19 families are —Sen, Deb/Dey, Sinha, Raha, Rakshit, Palit, Shome, Bhadra, Dam, Kar, Pal, Dhar, Chanda, Ankur, Adya, Nandan, Bishnu, Kundu, Nandy. It doesn’t mean that all Bangaja Sen, Deb/Dey, Sinha etc. were Mahapatra; this special status was awarded only to a specific branch of a specific family of a specific gotra.
For example — Sen of basuki gotra of idilpur branch was awarded mahapatra but sen of other gotras were avoided. Similarly, only SHOME of louhitya gotra was conferred this. DAS of chandsi village (in barisal) of kashyap gotra was also considered mahapatra. Kundu, nandan and adya became extinct today from Kayastha society. Those who were not awarded madhalya and mahapatra remained Sadharan. Some families of Dutta other than modgalya gotra if fulfills certain conditions could climb up to mahapatra. After Mahapatra comes Sadharan.
Most common surnames of Sadharan are —Sur (gotra- Batsya In Noakhali), Hore, Aditya (gotra- Krishnatreya In Faridpur), Bardhan (gotra- Gritakaushik, Kaushik, Kashyap …), Naha, Bal (gotra— Kashyap, Gautam, Modgolya…), Goon, Brahma (gotra— Gritakaushik, Bharadwaj …), Lodh (gotra-Modgolya andKashyap), Aich (gotra— Chandrayan In Barisal-Faridpur, Kashyap …), Rahut, Shyam (gotra- Bharadwaj), Indu (gotra- Adya), Balo (gotra- Batsya), Kiran (Alimban gotra), Hom, Bhoj, Nathak (gotra- Modgolya), Rudra, Kul (gotra-Kashyap), Brishni (not Bishnu), Har (হার), Kunda (Not Kundu), Gon, Hui, Pait/Paitya (gotra— Kashyap In Dhaka-Bikrampur), Dip (gotra-Atreya), Chaki etc.
Like other Kayastha surnames, these sadharan surnames are also adopted by other communities as well; specially barujibi. We should therefore differentiate them by knowing the gotras. Barujibi SUR is modogolya gotra (In western side of Bengal, SUR of modogolya gotra is also seen in sadgope community), Barujibi Brahma is Alimban gotra, Barujibi Aich is of Bishnumaharshi, Alimban andSabarna gotra, Barujibi Bardhan is Bishnumaharshi, Hansamaharshi etc…
Famous body-builder Manohar Aich was not kayastha, he was Barujibi by caste. In Bangaja section gotras of kulin are also single-numbered but sometimes Ghosh of two additional gotras are seen very rarely i.e. batsya and sandilya and they fall under the category of SADHARAN. Most of the batsya and sandilya Ghosh in east-Bengal are non-Kayastha (In west-Bengal and Jessore-Khulna 100% Kayastha Ghosh are soukalin). So, in case of bangaja, there is no special reason to trust any sandilya and batsya Ghosh unless it is proved otherwise. We can easily say that 99% Ghosh of bangaja-Kayastha section belongs to SOUKALIN gotra.
SYLHETI KAYASTHA
SYLHETI KAYASTHA — they are inhabitants of Sylhet district of undivided Bengal and lived there for generations. Kulin system didn’t exist in Sylheti society. Some says that they are also the part of bangaja section but some considers them a distinct identity. Ghosh-Bose-Guha-Mitra (G-B-G-M) was very rarely found in traditional Sylheti society because kulinism had never been practised there. Some of the Kayasthas didn’t hesitate to intermarry baidyas in the districts of eastern sides of old course of the Brahmaputra River i.e.Noakhali, Tripura (later Kumilla), Chattagram including Sylhet.
That’s why Kayasthas of these districts were criticised by their caste-brothers of other districts. Sylheti Kayasthas are basically divided into 3 grades. 1st grade — Deb, Dutta, Das, Nandy (Kashyap), 2nd Grade— Dhar, Kar, Pal/Paul, Chanda, Nag (Soupayan andKashyap), Palit. 3rd Grade— Dam, Shyam (Bharadwaj), Gon, Paitya (gotra- Bharadwaj In Sylhet), Hore, Raha, Sinha, Bardhan, Bhadra, Rakshit, Shome (In Sylhet—Kausik, Swarnakaushik, Kashyap, Gautam), Hom, Rahut (gotra- Goutam…), Taran, Tarat (gotra-Krishnatreya), Goon (gotra- Kashyap…), Esh, Endow (gotra- Kashyap, Alimban), Aditya (gotra-Koushik, Swarnakaushik In Sylhet), Arjun (gotra-Bharadwaj), Ayaan, Oli, Sadhya (gotra- Sandilya), Swami etc. Beside original surnames, many Kayasthas in Sylhet use Purkayastha, Chowdhury, Dastidar, Mazumdar etc.
BARENDRA-KAYASTHA
(বারেন্দ্র কায়স্থ) —
It is said that some Kayastha families of ancient Barendrabhum were united in the 13th century due to some political turmoil created by king Ballal Sen. Most of the Barendra Kayasthas established themselves in the villages of the districts of northern Bengal like bogura, rajshahi, pabna, dinajpur, rangpur etc. Barendras are divided into following ways : Sidhya— Nandy of Kasyap gotra, Das of Atri gotra, Chaki of Goutam gotra. Sadhya— Nag of Soupayan gotra, Dutta of Moudgolya gotra, Deb of Alimbayan gotra, Sinha of Batsya gotra. These seven families were considered first in Barendra section. Later many other families like SEN of atri gotra, Bhadra, Dhar, Kar, Rakshit, Dutta of Batsya gotra, Deb of Other Gotras, Das of Moudgolya andKashyap gotra, Chaki of other gotra etc. came from other sections and enlisted themselves into Barendra society. These newcomers are called GOUNYA-SADHYA and they pay respect to the seven main families. Freedom fighter Prafulla Chaki, great historian Jadunath Sircar etc. are some famous Barendra personalities in the mordern period of Bengali history.
