The Pants of Uttarakhand--4
Around 10th C one Jaydev Pant of Bhardwaj Gotra (Madhyandin branch of Vedic scholarship), came up to Uttrakhand from Konkan, on a pilgrimage with his family that included his wife's brother Dinkar Rao (of Parashar Gotra). The Chand kings who ruled the area, offered them two villages ( Rikhadi and Uprada) should they choose to stay back and help him run the state and start Vedic schools for the gen next. It seems the Pant family found the offer good enough to stay back and be included in the king's Durbar.
Thus the Pants of Uttrakhand . Most of whom belong to Bhardwaj Gotra . They were basically Vaishnavites and strict vegetarians.
Opinions differ as to whether Jaydev was a Chitpavan Brahmin or a Sarswat one, since he gave up his identifying tag and retained only the suffix Pant that literally means a minister.
In time, the Bhardwaj Gotriya clan of Dinkar Rao seems to have atrophied.
However, four recognised branches of Jaydev's clan came up and prospered . These were all sired by his 4 sons. Of these Shrinath Pant's clan became Rajgurus, Sharm's offspring (sic) became royal doctors (Rajvaidya), Nathu Pant became a Minister( portfolio unknown) and Bhavdas Pant was appointed as the head of the army. In time, given their military orientations, Bhavdas's family took royal pardon and began eating meat .
In 1565 when the king shifted his capital to the new town of Almora, the Pants moved with him.
The various Pant clans of Almora can be identified by their belonging to some villages where their family deities ( Kul Devi)'s shrines are located. The villages are :
Uprada, Jajyut, Chitai, Kalsail, Barset, Khantoli , Mana, Khoont.
Sharm Pant and his sons were ultra liberals in their thinking, and when the royals expelled the clan of Upreti Brahmins from the Durbar under allegations of seditious behaviour, Sharm Pant's clan challenged the order and were also expelled. For their rare show of obstinacy ( Hath), they also came to be known as Hathwal ( the Obstinate) Pants. Thereafter the Hathwals often referred to the Loyalist Pants as Besharm (shameless)Pant .
Thus were clans created, uncreated and thumbed their long noses at each other!
Thus the Pants of Uttrakhand . Most of whom belong to Bhardwaj Gotra . They were basically Vaishnavites and strict vegetarians.
Opinions differ as to whether Jaydev was a Chitpavan Brahmin or a Sarswat one, since he gave up his identifying tag and retained only the suffix Pant that literally means a minister.
In time, the Bhardwaj Gotriya clan of Dinkar Rao seems to have atrophied.
However, four recognised branches of Jaydev's clan came up and prospered . These were all sired by his 4 sons. Of these Shrinath Pant's clan became Rajgurus, Sharm's offspring (sic) became royal doctors (Rajvaidya), Nathu Pant became a Minister( portfolio unknown) and Bhavdas Pant was appointed as the head of the army. In time, given their military orientations, Bhavdas's family took royal pardon and began eating meat .
In 1565 when the king shifted his capital to the new town of Almora, the Pants moved with him.
The various Pant clans of Almora can be identified by their belonging to some villages where their family deities ( Kul Devi)'s shrines are located. The villages are :
Uprada, Jajyut, Chitai, Kalsail, Barset, Khantoli , Mana, Khoont.
Sharm Pant and his sons were ultra liberals in their thinking, and when the royals expelled the clan of Upreti Brahmins from the Durbar under allegations of seditious behaviour, Sharm Pant's clan challenged the order and were also expelled. For their rare show of obstinacy ( Hath), they also came to be known as Hathwal ( the Obstinate) Pants. Thereafter the Hathwals often referred to the Loyalist Pants as Besharm (shameless)Pant .
Thus were clans created, uncreated and thumbed their long noses at each other!
posted by Mrinal Pande @ 21:27
4 Comments
4 Comments:
Thanks for brief and apt intro of Pants, however, there are some missing links I would like to remind. Jaydev Pant was offered Odyari by Katyuris. Chands were nowhere to be seen around and were confined to Champawat and a part of Pithoragarh at that time. Shridhar Pant, fifth gen descendant of Jaidev, was made Rajguru by Manikoti Raja and offered another village Rikhadi. This being very far from Raja’s seat at Manikot, Gangolihat, he asked for a place nearby and eventually given an adjacent village Uprada.
The four clans (raths) are not from Jaidev’s sons as you hasve mentioned. Jaidev had only one son hierarchy up to Shridhar. Shridhar had two sons. Sharm, Shrinath, Nathu, Bhaudas et al were in 10th/11th gens from Jaidev and were cousins among themselves. Apart from these four there is fifth Rath called Gautam jyu Rath and the sixth Hatwals.
Pant doesnt mean minister(this is wrong),u should read history of maharashtrian brahmin. and u will find that itmeans pandit ( a scholar) .
Dont depend on the history of kumaon ka itihas explore further andu will find that thajvur marathi ( in tamilnadu) are descedent of gundopant and arni( jagir) is set by tukopant. there is more..........i will share it
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