Utkala Brahmin - The Oriya Brahmin Surnames

The Oriya Brahmin Surnames

 Surnames were given according to their work like  Who look after mandir is called mahant – later on mahanty  Who were associated with dixa is called Dixit  Chaturvedi,who associated with four Vedas , Panda-who guide pilgrims  Mishra,-a group of Brahmins of various gotras who came from Misar approx 5200 year ago for treatment  Praharraj-king of one prahar (3hrs) etc

The Utkala or Oriya Brahmin Surnames are Acharya, chaulia, Dikshit (Dixit), Debta or Devata, Dash or Dash sharma, Mishra, Dhar, Sharma, Chaturvedi, Nath, Kar, Tripathy, Bhatt-Mishra, Nanda, Guru, Rajguru, Rayguru, Mahapatra, Bishi, Patra, Panigrahi, Mohapatra(some of them), Rath & Rath Sharma (belonging to Atreya gotra), Patri, Satapathy, Sadangi or Sarangi, Bahinipati, Bastia, Thakur, Chaini (found mostly in Kalahandi and Sambalpur), Pati, Vedi, Dwivedi, Trivedi, Upadhyaya, Palo (Pala or Pal in OrissaOrissa), Pattajoshi, Joshi, Nayak, Panda, BadaPanda,Mallia, Barpanda, Muni, PujaPanda, Praharaj, Padhi, Pani, Paathi, Purohit, Pujari, Behera (found mostly in Kalahandi and Sambalpur), Sar, Sabat, Gantayat, Suara, Mahasuara, Garabadu, Sabata, Choudhury, Sahu, Samantray, Boxi, Boxi-patra, Bakshi, Nepak, Khadanga, Devasharma, Udgata, Hota, Otta, Bebarta.

According to Pundit Narayana Shiromani,(late 18th century) the gotra decides the surname. He mentions that Gautama gotra have surname DharaSharma, Bharadwaja gotra have KaraSharma, Kashyapa gotra people should keep Nanda or AnandaSharma, Atreya gotra people should keep RathSharma, Kaushika and Vatsa gotra have DashShrama. These above gotra Brahmins are considered as topmost among Utkal Brahmins. Rest all are Sharma or Devasharmas.

In certain areas Utkal Brahmin surnames are unique and are similar to the surnames of Vaishya, Kshatriya and Shudras. These surnames were given to the Brahmins either by Gajapati King or by his fuedotory kings as punishment or reward. In course of time this title became the surname, and the subsequent generations inherited it. E. g. Behera (found mostly in Kalahandi and Sambalpur, their surnames were changed ) from Mishra or Dash to Behera, Bahinipati, Senapati, Pradhan, Swain, jena, Mohapatra, Mohanty etc. Some people with 'Mohapatra' title are Brahmins and others are Karanas or belong to lower castes.

UTKAL BRAHMIN IN BENGAL During the reign of Gajapati empire the Utkal Brahmins were migrated to Bankura Purulia, Midnapore, & Hoogly districts of West Bengal as representative of the Gajapati King under leadership of Nakurtanga and Sripati Mahapatra, since then those areas were under the monarch of Orissa. Their surnames are Singhababu, Singhamahapatra or Sinhamahapatra, Mahanty, Pathak, Panda, Pati, Patra, Padhi, Kar, Das, Dandapath Satapathi, Sannigrahi Hota, Mishra, Goswami Praharaj, Pyne, Tewary, Pani, Nayek, Layek,Tripathi etc.