Surnames in Maharashtra and Gujarat

Question:

I would be further interested to know why the Parsis (for instance) would have abandoned their ancestral surnaming style (tribal, was it? Or generational patronymic?) at such a late point in their long and distinguished history. Any ideas? It's as though Colonel Smithers of the EIC suddenly changed his surname to "Colonel".

I shall attempt an answer, based on my general knowledge.

It appears that use of surnames in the Marathi and Gujarati areas which not go back more than 300/400 years. Surnames were not in use in India in ancient times and almost till the end of the first millennium CE. Thousands of names are known from Sanskrit and Prakrit texts, rock-cut inscriptions, copper plates, coins etc. They are almost always single names. Very occasionally, we do come across the use of the name of a parent along with the name of the individual. For example, an important king of the Satavahana dynasty which ruled from Junnar (Poona District) or Paithan (Auragabad District) is called Gautamiputra Satakarni. Here Gautami is the name of the mother and Satakarni is her son (putra). This was done more as a mark of respect for the parent.

I would think that the patronymics and the surnames started crystallizing around the end of the first millennium. Some of the common surnames of today are corruptions of certain dynastic names from the Indian Middle Ages, such as Parmar to Pawar, Shilahar to Shelar, Chalukya to Salunke. In the second millennium started the use of surnames derived from the occupations such as Joshi from Jyotishi (village astrologer), Kulkarni for the village clerk, Deshpande for the clerk of a larger area or Desh, Patil/Patel for the headman etc. Later, surnames arose from the trades such as Sutar (carpenter), Lohar (blacksmith), Sonar (goldsmith) etc. or from physical and mental attributes such as Thite (a short person), Godbole (a smooth talker). Surnames also arose from places of origin such as Kolhatkar (a person hailing from the village of Kolthar (District Ratnagiri), Nimbkhedkar from the village of Nimbkhed etc. This is a complex subject and only a trained sociologist will be able to do justice to it. Though the surnames had started forming, it appears that they were little used.

Patronymics came in wide use from the middle of the 16th century, probably due to Muslim influence, as evidenced by an occasional use of the Arab 'bin' (son of) in Hindu names in the early days. Most names that we come across from that time till almost the end of the 18th century are a combination of the person's and his father's names, such as Dadoji Konddev (Shivaji's mentor in early days), Balaji Aavji and Prahlad Niraji (Shivaji's ministers), Balaji Vishvanath (the first Peshwa), Balaji Bajirao (the third Peshwa), Madhavrao Ballal (his son and the forth Peshwa).

Use of surnames really became widespread with the advent of the British administration. This was perhaps caused by the needs of a more systematic administration that demanded more clarity in identifying individuals and the facility of documentation and reading created by the widening use of the printing press. Thus came into being the current method of the individual's name, father's name and the surname.

The above is as regards Hindu Marathi surnames. An interesting thing happened with the Parsis. Apparently they had not brought any surnames with them when the migrated into India in the 14th century because all their present day surnames appear to be of the post-migration origin. Surnames in current use among parsis appear to be of 4 types - derived from a placename, an occupation of a new type that came into being under the British presence, a traditional occupation or a religious function. In the first category are surnames like Bharucha (from Bharuch or Broach), Khambatta (from Khambatt or Cambay), Balsara (from Valsad or Balsad), Surti (from Surat), Navsaria (from Navsari) etc. In the second category are names like Contractor, Vakil, Doctor - yes, this a surname for some Pasis -, Daruvala (dealer in alcoholic spirits), Batliwala (dealer in bottles) etc. In the third category are surnames like Gandhi (dealer in herbal medicines), Mehta (accountant) etc. Parsis share these surnames with the remaining Gujarati community. In the fourth category are surnames like Dastur (Zoroastian priest).

I hope I have succeeded to some extent in answering the question.