My father was aloof and didn’t share much about his past with us, his children. He didn’t talk about his family either. The few stories he shared with us were not pleasant and, since, his only sibling died when I was very young, I really didn’t know about his side of family until a few month ago.
I thought I didn't care about my parents’ root until a few months ago. Then, I got a chance to visit my father’s birthplace and discovered very intriguing family history:
My father’s great great-grandfather moved to Dhading from Gorkha destrict five generations ago. His name was Laxmi Nath Adhikari, but he is mostly known as the “jame budha” in Dhading. Jama means long skirt and budha means an old man in Nepali. So, if my father’s great great-grandfather wore long skirt, was tall and fair and his last name was “Adhikari”, there is a fair chance that he came from a Rajput family in central and northern ancient India.
I don’t know exactly what year my ancestor had left India, but it should have been during the Growth of Muslim Population in Medieval India around 1500 AD. Since the Islamic rulers treated all the non-Muslims (Hindus, Buddhists and Jains) awfully and forced them to pay taxes or face the prosecution (if they wanted to keep their religious freedom in India), my Rajput ancestors must have fled to Nepal to avoid all that and to raise their family peacefully.
The fact that my father's last name is Adhikari could be another clue that my ancestors were the Rajputs. Adhikari in Sanskrit means the one with power (adhikar) over someone of something. Since the Rajputs ruled some central and northern parts of ancient India, their descendants are called the “sons of the king” or Adhikari!
Another reason for me to think about my ancestors that was is that two of my great aunts lived in Tripureshwor, Kathmandu. Tripureshwor was already a fully developed town by the time I came to know these aunts. Since they lived inside the crowded allies, my great aunts were fair-skinned and delicate.
But my parents had moved to a suburb and won several plots of land. That meant we grew our own food, sun-dry some of them for later use when I was growing up. So, when our aunts visited us in the village they helped us sun-drying the grains and collect them from the straw-mats wearing their face masks.
Two other clues were that one of my father’s relatives lived in a palace-look house near Gorkha (the Shah Kings’ palace at the time). My mother said the family of this relative spoke the “palace-language” and lived luxuriously!
And, of course, my own father was raised by the “hajuria”. Hajuria is the title given to a king’s close-encounters or advisor. In my father’s case, his god-father played cards with the “second-king” of Nepal, Juddha Samsher Jungha Bahadur Rana.
The second clue is that my father’s family belong to Rishi Kashyap. Kashyap rishi was one of the seven original rishis who supposedly wrote many of the stories (hymns) for the Upanishads.
For example, it is believed that all Hindus are the off springs of the original seven rishis or “Saptarishis”. It is also the belief that our “gotra” tells us which rishi was our forefather, since gotra is the term used to indicate our family linage.
So, my father’s side of family came from the Rishi Kashyap and they carry Kashyap gotra. Knowing I could be the descended of Kashyaparishi and my ancestors may have ruled some parts of ancient India was pretty cool!
