Pal (surname)

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Pal, alternative form "Paul", is a common surname found in India and Bangladesh. It is traditionally believed that 'Pal' originated from the Sanskrit pala meaning protector or keeper. [1] It is also occasionally found in other countries.

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History

The surname Pal (or Paul) is found in Bengal among Bengali Kayasthas. [2] [3] Historian Tej Ram Sharma mentions that the surname is "now confined to Kayasthas of Bengal" while referring to the names of Brahmins ending in such Kayastha surnames in the early inscriptions dating back to the Gupta period. [2]

Pal is also used as a surname by the Bengali Hindu potters (Kumbhakars), [4] [5] and other castes like Teli, [5] Subarnabanik and Sadgop. [6]

The Pardhi, a hunter community of Maharashtra, is also known as Pal. [7]

The saint Gwalipa told Suraj Sen, the ruler of Gwalior, to adopt the surname Pal, which remains prevalent up to eighty-three descendants of Suraj Sen. [8]

The Ahirs in Central India use Pal as a surname. [9]

In imitation of Pal dynasty of Assam, the Chutia (pronounced as Sutia) also took the surname of Pal. [10]

Pal was also a popular surname among the Parmar Rajput rulers of the Garhwal. [11] [12]

Pal is a surname of the Thakuri people of Nepal. [13] : 22 

In Punjab and other states, Pal is often used as a middle name followed by Singh.[ citation needed ]

Pal is also used as a surname by the Punjabi Khatri community.[ citation needed ]

The rulers of Kullu held the surname Pal up to about the 15th century A.D., which they later changed to Singh. [14]

Bengalis

During the Gupta period, the Kayasthas had not developed into a distinct caste in Bengal, although the office of the Kayasthas (scribes) had been instituted before the beginning of the period, as evidenced from the contemporary smritis.

The names of brahmanas occurring in our inscriptions sometimes end in a non-brahmanic cognomen such as Bhatta, Datta and Kunda, etc., which are available in the inscriptions of Bengal. Surnames like Datta, Dama, Palita, Pala, Kunda (Kundu), Dasa, Naga and Nandin are now confined to Kayasthas of Bengal but not to brahmanas. Noticing brahmanic names with a large number of modern Bengali Kayastha cognomens in several early epigraphs discovered in Bengal, some scholars have suggested that there is a considerable brahmana element in the present day Kayastha community of Bengal. Originally the professions of Kayastha (scribe) and Vaidya (physician) were not restricted and could be followed by people of different varnas including the brahmanas. So there is every probability that a number of brahmana families were mixed up with members of other varnas in forming the present Kayastha and Vaidya communities of Bengal.

— Tej Ram Sharma, Indian historian, [2]

Abu al-Fazl, describes these kings (the Pal Kings) as Kayastha. Bengal, in effect, became the land of the Kayasthas, having been ruled by the Kayasthas for about 2000 years. Sanskrit sources such as Rajtarangini however do not yet regard Kayastha as a caste in any sense but as a category of "officials" or "scribes". Between the fifth or sixth centuries (when we first hear of them) and the eleventh-twelfth centuries, its component elements were putative Kshatriyas and, for the larger majority Brahmins, who either retained their caste identity or became Buddhists while laying down the sacred thread. The Kayasthas obtained aspect of a caste perhaps under the Senas.

— André Wink, Historian, [15]

According to Radhey Shyam Chourasia, an Indian historian, the Palas do not trace their origin to any ancient hero. The dynasty is so called because the names of all kings had the termination - Pala. The family has no illustrious ancestry. [16]

Historian Guptajit Pathak believes that the Palas of Kamarupa, who had the same surname as the Palas of Bengal and Bihar (Gaura and Magadha), "were perhaps of non-Aryan origin". [17]

Several kings of the Pala dynasty were Buddhists. [18]

According to the Khalimpur Plate of Dharmapala, Gopala I, the founder of the dynasty, "was the son of a warrior Vapyata and the grandson of a highly educated Dayitavishnu". Unlike other contemporary dynasties, the Palas "do not claim descent from any mythological figure or epic hero". The Kamauly Copper Plate inscription suggests that Palas call themselves Kshatriyas belonging to Solar dynasty. "According to Manjusree Mulakalpa, Gopala I was a sudra and according to Abul Fazl, the Palas were Kayasthas." In Ramacharita, the Pala King Rampala is called Kshatriya but later in the same book Dharmapala is described as Samudrakula-dipa. Bagchi suggests that "the non-mention of caste may be a reason that the Palas were Buddhists and they were not supposed to mention their caste like the Brahmanical ruling dynasties", though they performed the duties and functions of Kshatriyas for about four centuries. [19]

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References

  1. ↑ Sharma, Tej Ram (1978). Personal and Geographical Names in the Gupta Empire. New Delhi: Concept Publishing Company. p. 56.
  2. 1 2 3 Sharma, Tej Ram (1978). Personal and Geographical Names in the Gupta Empire. New Delhi: Concept Publishing Company. p. 115.
  3. ↑ Inden, Ronald B. (1976). Marriage and Rank in Bengali Culture: A History of Caste and Clan in Middle Period Bengal. University of California Press. p. 40. ISBN   978-0-520-02569-1.
  4. ↑ Alexander Nemerov (2001). The Body of Raphaelle Peale: Still Life and Selfhood, 1812-1824. University of California Press. pp. 206, 259. ISBN   9780520224988.
  5. 1 2 Amal Datta (2003). Human Migration: A Social Phenomenon. Mittal Publications. p. 143. ISBN   9788170998334.
  6. ↑ Marvin Davis (1983). Rank and Rivalry: The Politics of Inequality in Rural West Bengal. CUP Archive. p. 65. ISBN   9780521288804.
  7. ↑ People of India: Maharashtra, Part 3. Popular Prakashan. 2004. pp. 1662–1667. ISBN   9788179911020.
  8. ↑ Trudy Ring; Robert M. Salkin; Sharon La Boda (1994). International Dictionary of Historic Places: Asia and Oceania. Taylor & Francis. p. 312. ISBN   9781884964046.
  9. ↑ André Wink (2002). Al-Hind, the Making of the Indo-Islamic World: Early Medieval India and the Expansion of Islam 7Th-11th Centuries. BRILL. p. 293. ISBN   9780391041738.
  10. ↑ Swami Bangovinda Parampanthi (1987). Bhagawan Parashuram and Evolution of Culture in North-East India. Daya Publishing House, Original from the University of Michigan. p. 109. ISBN   9788170350330.
  11. ↑ Ajay S. Rawat (2002). Garhwal Himalayas: A Study in Historical Perspective. Indus Publishing. pp. 278, 275. ISBN   9788173871368.
  12. ↑ B. P. Kamboj (2003). Early Wall Painting of Garhwal. Indus Publishing. p. 21. ISBN   9788173871399.
  13. ↑ Adhikary, Surya Mani (1997). The Khasa Kingdom: A trans-Himalayan empire of the middle age. Nirala Publications. ISBN   8185693501.
  14. ↑ Punjab (India). Public Relations Dept (1956). Kulu, the Happy Valley, Volume 25. Director, Public Relations, Original from Pennsylvania State University. p. 2.
  15. ↑ André Wink (1991). Al- Hind: The slave kings and the Islamic conquest. 2, Volume 1. BRILL. p. 269. ISBN   9789004095090.
  16. ↑ Radhey Shyam Chaurasia (2002). History of Ancient India. Atlantic Publishers & Dist. p. 199. ISBN   9788126900275.
  17. ↑ Guptajit Pathak (2008). Assam's history and its graphics. Mittal Publications. p. 62. ISBN   9788183242516.
  18. ↑ Promsak Jermsawatdi (1979). Thai Art with Indian Influences. Abhinav Publications. p. 55. ISBN   9788170170907.
  19. ↑ Jhunu Bagchi (1993). The History and Culture of the Pālas of Bengal and Bihar, Cir. 750 A.D.-cir. 1200 A.D. Abhinav Publications. p. 37. ISBN   9788170173014.

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