Upreti

Upreti/Uprety
उप्रेती
Pronunciation /əˈprɛtiː/
Hindustani pronunciation: [ˈʊpreːt̪iː]
Origin
Region of origin Pithoragarh district, Uttarakhand, India
Achham District, Province No. 7, Nepal
Meaning derived from the village named Uprara, meaning "originated from Uprara"
Other names
See also Gyawali, Lohani, Mainali, Panta, Regmi, Sitaula

Upreti or sometimes spelled Uprety (Devanagari: उप्रेती; Upretī), is a surname found in Hindu community of Kumaoni Saraswat Brahmins and also in Nepali Kumain Bahuns (Brahmins) primarily living in the Kumaon region of Uttarakhand state of India, all over Nepal and few are found in Sikkim too.

According to their traditions they are the descendents of the Rajarshi Mudgal, the teacher of Lord Ganesha and the man who introduced OM in his teachings for Lord Ganesha. Adherent Shaivism sect, they worship Shiva as their prime deity.[1]

Etymology

According to Pandit Badri Datt Pandey's book History of Kumaon (Hindi: कुमाऊँ का इतिहास) where he quotes Pandit Rudra Datt Pant, (pp. 572) - "During the times of the Katyuri Kings, from the Chauki village of Doti, a Kanyakubja Brahmin Shambhu Sharma came to Uprara village in Kali Kumaon, Pithoragarh district and hence the descendants were called Upretis."

Next, around 450 A.D. to 550 A.D. Lalchan Bhatta came to Achham (a district in Nepal) from Panchal (now Punjab) to serve a new king. The highly sought yogi was rewarded as Royal Priest by the king. During his tenure as a Royal Priest he didn’t take any money nor gifts. Due to this the king awarded the great priest as Uparati’s position. This was the highest position awarded by that king at that time. Therefore, Uparati is meant as someone who is literate and has no desire for earthly wonders. Later on, the same word got crooked to form Upreti.

According to an interview with Yogi Narhari Nath on 1996 he stated that, ‘Upreti is not just a caste or a clan but it is an award.’ According to him, there used to live a Rishi name Maudgalya in a district of Mugu in Nepal. It is said that during the Ashwameg Yagya of Baliraja the chief priest (Purohita) was Basistha while secondary priests (Upa-purohita) were the descendants of Rishi Maudgalya. Therefore, it is also thought that the word Upa-purohita was twisted to make the caste Upreti.[2]

History

In the same section of his book, Badri Datt Pandey mentions about the famous Pandit Ram Datt Jyotirvidji who says that Uprara/Upretyara, the estate of the then royal priests Upretis in Gangolihat was given to the Dravida Vajpayee Brahmin Shivaprasad who came to Kumaon during the reign of Mankoti kings.

During the time of the Gorkhas, Pandit Jayakrishna Upreti was a famous General whose descendants continue to live in Almora.

Badri Datt Pandey mentions that within Kumaoni Brahmins, the Upretis of Patiya, Jhijhar, and Supakot have a common descent, whereas other Upreti's belong to a different group (pp. 572).

He also quotes that Pandit Ganga Datt Upreti claims that a few Upretis are also the original inhabitants of Maharashtra state of the Western India region who later migrated to the Kumaon region.

Thus those who claim to have Kanyakubja origins would have migrated to the Himalaya during the Islamic invasions of the twelfth century, whereas the one from Maharashtra would have moved northward along with the Marathas in the seventeenth century. The former seems more plausible as the Chand dynasty who ruled Kumaon from the tenth Century onward, after the reign of the Katyuris, came from Kannauj.

They also migrated to Nepal along with other Brahmins from Pithoragarh district under the royal patronage of the Hindu Kingdom when the Kumaon region was under the control of the Gorkhas till the Treaty of Sugauli with British India in 1815 A.D.[2]

Notable people with Upreti surname

See also

References

  1. ↑ People of India Uttar Pradesh Volume XLII Part Three edited by A. Hasan & J. C. Das Part Three pages 1545 to 1549 Manohar Publications
  2. 1 2 Upreti Vanshavali. Kathmandu: Upreti Samaj Sewa Samiti, 1995. 2009. p. 1.
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