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Pāṇi is a surname used in India, found often in the state of Odisha (formerly Orissa). The surname Pāṇi is widely used in Orissa, Madhya Pradesh, and a large part of eastern and central India. This surname is used by Brahmins whose root is claimed to be traced to
Ujjain Ujjain (, Hindustani language, Hindustani pronunciation: Help:IPA/Hindi and Urdu, d͡ːʒɛːn is a city in Ujjain district of the States and territories of India, Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. It is the fifth-largest city in Madhya Prad ...
of Madhya Pradesh and to the period of
Kalidasa Kālidāsa (''fl.'' 4th–5th century CE) was a Classical Sanskrit author who is often considered ancient India's greatest poet and playwright. His plays and poetry are primarily based on the Vedas, the Rāmāyaṇa, the Mahābhārata and ...
.


History

There are two stories how this surname (or caste name) came about. The first one says the great grammar pundit Pāṇini is the ancestor of Pāṇis, and the other story is that a king of Kalinga conferred the title Pāṇi to Brahmins who could easily memorize all of the Vedas. It is widely believed that the Brahmins who were primarily occupied with writing scriptures and preserving it were known by the surname Pāṇi. Unlike other Brahmin communities, these Brahmins practiced martial arts and participated in wars. Pani reached their zenith and were revered as ministers in the period of king Vikramaditya (1st century AD). Pani migrated to Orissa in the 12th century AD after king Jajati Keshari invited them for a yajna that was held to honour Shiva. Pani families in Purulia district have been Zamindars (in
Chakradharpur Chakradharpur is a city in West Singhbhum district in the state of Jharkhand, India. It is the railway divisional headquarters of Chakradharpur (CKP) division of the South Eastern Railway. The city stands at an elevation of 227 metres (745 fee ...
, Puri,
Barabazar Barabazar is a census town in the Barabazar CD block in the Manbazar subdivision of the Purulia district in the state of West Bengal, India. Geography Area overview Purulia district forms the lowest step of the Chota Nagpur Plateau. The g ...
. Some Pāṇis migrated inland to the tribal areas of Jharkhand and settled during the
Mughal period The Mughal Empire was an early-modern empire that controlled much of South Asia between the 16th and 19th centuries. Quote: "Although the first two Timurid emperors and many of their noblemen were recent migrants to the subcontinent, the d ...
(17th century). (The migrants' descendants still identify themselves as residents of Orissa.) There are a few Pāṇis from this migratory group in Jhargram in west bengal and in western Odisha.


Notable people

Notable people with the surname include: *
Baishnaba Pani Baishnaba Pani (1882–1956) was an Indian writer and arranger of jatras, born at Kothapada, Mahanga, Cuttack; a type of folk-theatre in the state of Odisha Odisha (English: , ), formerly Orissa ( the official name until 2011), is an ...
(1882–1956), Indian writer and theatre director *
Biswamohan Pani Biswamohan Pani is a former design engineer at Intel. In November 2008 he was charged with stealing $1 billion worth of trade secrets from Intel while he worked for its main rival, Advanced Micro Devices (AMD).Anastasia Tubanos''Intel Employee Cha ...
, former design engineer at Intel *
Bhavna Pani Bhavna Pani is an Indian actress, model and dancer. She is trained in classical dance forms Odissi and Kathak, as well as in ballet and contemporary modern dance. She debuted in films in 2001 with ''Tere Liye''. Career Bhavna Pani was born ...
, Indian actress, model, and dancer *
Ravi Narayan Pani Ravi Narayan Pani is an Indian politician. He was elected to the Lok Sabha, the lower house of the Parliament of India from Deogarh, Odisha as a member of the Janata Dal Janata Dal (“People’s Party”) was an List of political parties in ...
, Indian politician *
Uday Shankar Pani Uday Shankar Pani is an Indian film maker. He graduated in 1974 from the Film and Television Institute of India. He was an assistant director in Richard Attenborough's ''Gandhi''. A 1974 documentary on the National Film Archive of India made by ...
, Indian filmmaker


References

{{portalbar, India, Language Surnames Indian surnames