Thread by @historiakayasth

THREAD

On the etymology of the Kayastha subcaste Srivastava:

Srivastavas are today counted among the Chitraguptavanshi Kayasthas of northern India, found across several Hindi speaking states and Nepal. There are several popular derivations of this surname. But in this thread we will try to understand the etymology of this name using epigraphical records.

The clan name of Srivastava is found in several inscriptions of early-medieaval north central India as writers, officials and ministers of various kingdoms. The original spelling of the name was श्री-वास्तव्य (Śrī-vāstavya) with श्री as a prefix- which is sometimes absent in old records of this clan. Three epigraphical records by different families of this clan give us a derivation of this name which we shall discuss here.

Two families of Srivastavas served as hereditary ministers to the Chandelas of Jejakabhukti. Both these families claimed descent from Rishi Kashyap, but they differ in the etymological derivation of their clan name. Both their records are known from the Ajaigarh fort in Panna.
One of the families was originally from a city named Kausamyapura where they served as ministers to a local dynasty. Some time later they Nana, a member thereof, who was a minister of Bhojavarman Chandela established a Vishnu mandir inside the fort, as mentioned in a large stone inscription dated to 1345 Vikrama Samvat (1288 CE) now housed at the Calcutta museum.

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The appellation of Srivastava first occurs in relation to an ancestor of this family who was a descendant of Kashyap. In the verse 15 of this record he is desribed thus:
श्रियो-निवासादभजत्स-वंशो-वास्तव्यताम-प्रतिरूप-कोटिम्

"Endowed with endless virtues (श्री) the whole family thus enjoyed the appellation of Śrī-vāstavya, or the abode of श्री"

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We briefly discussed this family earlier and tentatively identified one of its members as a minister of the Gahadavalas. Read more below:

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https://x.com/historiakayasth/status/1861378403615785020

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The next record comes from the second family of Srivastavas who served the Chandelas not only as ministers but also warriors. Unlike the previous family, they were devout Shaivas. An undated inscription a member of this family named Subhata Deva furnishes a different derivation of the clan name. The inscription records the construction of Shiva temple at Ajaigarh by Subhata who was the Treasurer of Bhojavarman Chandela and also the keeper of the fort. Verses 2-4 of this record introduce a legendary ancestor named श्री-वास्तु, a descendant of Kashyap, from whom derives the name श्री-वास्तव्य. This family claims to have come from a village named Tarkarika which remains unidentified as of yet. However, scholars believe it to be situated in the vicinity of Sravasti in Uttar Pradesh. This identification is supported by the Srivastava record from Sravasti that we will discuss next.

Nevertheless, the first historic ancestor of this clan seem to be Thakkura Jajuka, who served as Prime Minister (सर्व्वाधिकारिन्) to the Chandelas for 33 years in the late 10th century CE.

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We discussed Thakkura Jajuka briefly earlier.



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https://x.com/historiakayasth/status/1805533798681264239

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The final record which helps us understand the etymology of the surname Srivastava comes from Sahet-Mahet at Sravasti. This record was commissioned by a Srivastava Kayastha named Vidyadhara who was a minister of a certain monarch named Madana, apparently a feudatory of the Gahadavalas. Vidyadhara was a Buddhist by faith and the object of this inscription was to record the renovation of the famous Jetavana vihar in the Vikrama year 1176 or 1119 CE. He has been likened to Bodhisattva here.

The record states that the legendary Suryavanshi king named Mandhata established the city of Javrisha which is perhaps identical with the modern town of Jais, in Awadh close to Sravasti. There lived many families desribed as:
श्री-पूर्व्व-वास्तव्य-कुल
Or
"Vastavyas" whose suffix was "Sri."

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Among Srivastavas, it is a long held belief that the clan originates from Sravasti and nearby areas. This is supported by the fact that not only Srivastavas historically had a sizable population in this region and surrounding districts, but also many of the Srivastava sub-clans are named after villages in Sravasti, Ayodhya, Lucknow, Hardoi etc. We have seen earlier in this thread that a Srivastava family in the Chandela realm was originally from a town named Takkarika which is believed to be in Sravasti. This record from Sahet-Mahet further adds weights to this claim.

It is believed that Sravasti is named after the legendary Suryavanshi king Sravasta. However, a more plausible derivation of Sravasti was offered by W. Hoey. According to him, Sravasti was originally named श्रय-वस्ति, or the prosperous place/place sacred to Sri. Sravasti was not just a Buddhist centre, but also that of Brahminical learning. Various families of Brahmins in many places of the subcontinent claim to have originated here.

If Sravasti is taken to be श्रय-वस्ति, then the derivation of श्री-वास्तव्य from this name becomes obvious as "resident of the place sacred to Śrī."

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x.com/historiakayast…

We shall also briefly mention that in his book "Kayasther Varna Nirnaya" Bengali scholar named Nagendra Nath Basu argued that the Kulin Kayastha surname "Vasu" is perhaps connected to the northern Kayastha surname "Śrī-vāstavya." As we have seen above, one derivation of Srivastava comes from Vastu, and also the Vasus of Bengal (var. Basu, Bose) traditionally claim to have come from Kannauj, a connection between two groups is plausible. However, nothing can be said with certainty in absence of more evidence. Nevertheless, we have plenty of evidence to suggest bi-directional movement of Kayasthas between northern and eastern India historically. We previously also discussed migration of Gauda Kayasthas in northern India.

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