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
