Parasnis or Parasnavis is a title and surname native to the Indian state of

Maharashtra Maharashtra (; , abbr. MH or Maha) is a states and union territories of India, state in the western India, western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. Maharashtra is the List of states and union te ...

and North Karnataka. Parasnis was a designation of a post who held a high position at the royal courts.

James Laine James W. Laine is an American academic and writer notable for his controversial book on the 17th-century Indian king Shivaji, ''Shivaji: Hindu King in Islamic India''.

in his book ''Shivaji: Hindu King in Islamic India'' says that to this day, the surname is used by many high-caste

Hindu Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism.Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...

s in

Etymology

The actual title was Parasnavis, which literally means ''One who writes in

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

''.

James Laine James W. Laine is an American academic and writer notable for his controversial book on the 17th-century Indian king Shivaji, ''Shivaji: Hindu King in Islamic India''.

says it as ''the profession as a clerk literate in Persian''.

History

Parasnis at the royal courts

Akbharats and ''the Poona Jagirdar Parasnis collections of Persian despatches from Delhi'' describes the Parasnis Jagirdar family of Poona as belonging to Deshastha Rigvedi Brahmins community with Vishvamitra as their family gotra. The family originally served as Kulkarni of Ramdoha in the

Shevgaon taluka Shevgaon taluka, is a taluka in Ahmednagar subdivision of Ahmednagar district in Maharashtra State of India. Area The table below shows area of the taluka by land type. Villages There are around 112 villages in Shevgaon taluka. ''For list of ...

Ahmednagar district Ahmednagar district (Marathi pronunciation: Help:IPA/Marathi, �ɦ(ə)məd̪nəɡəɾ is the largest districts of Maharashtra, district of Maharashtra state in western India. The historical Ahmednagar city is the headquarters of the district. ...

, who rose in ranking to become Deshmukhs and Jagirdars. One of their ancestors was renowned at the Adilshahi court of Bijapur for his skill in Persian writing. One Bhimrao from the family was the first to become a Parasnis under

Shahu I Chhatrapati Shahu Bhosale I (Pronunciation: �aːɦuː CE) was the fifth Chhatrapati of the Maratha Empire founded by his grandfather, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. Born into the Bhonsle family, he was the son of Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj ...

. His son Bapu served as the Persian secretary Peshwa Bajirao I. On Bapu's death in 1735, his paternal uncle

Niranjan Madhav Niranjan Madhav also known as Niranjan Madhav Parasnis (1703-1790) was a diplomat and poet, who worked as Parasnis under Peshwa Bajirao I. He was sent on diplomatic assignments to Karnataka and Tamil Nadu by Bajirao I and Balaji Bajirao. In 1735 ...

succeeded to the post and later became the Peshwa's envoy at the court of Nizam in 1772. The current Jagirdar Parasnis of

Pune Pune (; ; also known as Poona, (List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name from 1818 until 1978) is one of the most important industrial and educational hubs of India, with an estimated population of 7.4 million ...

is a direct descendant of Bapu Parasnis. Their family mansion stands near the Amruteshwar Temple in

Notable people

Notable people with the surname include: *

Aba Parasnis Vithal Sakharam Parasnis (17xx–18xx) was a Sanskrit, Vedic and Persian scholar of the early 19th century Maharashtra. Commonly known as "Aba", he is usually referred to as Aba Parasnis by sources. He was a native of the Satara district of Mahara ...

Vedic upright=1.2, The Vedas are ancient Sanskrit texts of Hinduism. Above: A page from the '' Atharvaveda''. The Vedas (, , ) are a large body of religious texts originating in ancient India. Composed in Vedic Sanskrit, the texts constitute the ...

and

scholar of the early 19th century

from the Chandraseniya Kayastha Prabhu community. * Dattatray Balwant Parasnis, a historian from

during

British Raj The British Raj (; from Hindi ''rāj'': kingdom, realm, state, or empire) was the rule of the British Crown on the Indian subcontinent; * * it is also called Crown rule in India, * * * * or Direct rule in India, * Quote: "Mill, who was himsel ...

. * Niranjan Madhav Parasnis, diplomat of

Maratha Empire The Maratha Empire, also referred to as the Maratha Confederacy, was an early modern Indian confederation that came to dominate much of the Indian subcontinent in the 18th century. Maratha rule formally began in 1674 with the coronation of Shi ...

References

{{surname Surnames of Indian origin

Etymology

History

Parasnis at the royal courts

Notable people

See also

References