The beginning....

My personal memories of my ancestral family in Lahoal is vivid and colourful. It was home - it still is. Ours is a big, BIG , family. And over the decades, we became scattered all over the globe. There are only two lasting bequests we can give our children - one is roots, and the other, wings. 

There are tales galore which say that our family's roots lie in Dhaka, Bangladesh. This is how the story goes in the Brahmin community’s genealogical chronicles called kulaji and kulapanjika. There was a king, Adisura of Bengal, who requested the king of Kanauj (Kolancha in the texts) to send him five learned brahmins who had knowledge of the Vedas as well as rituals. The request was turned down. When the king of Kanauj refused, Adisura sent against him 700 Brahmanas of Bengal, seated on bulls, as he knew that his adversary would not take up arms against Brahmanas riding on bulls. As expected, the king desisted from war and sent five Brahmanas as requested by Adisura. In Bengal, these five Brahmanas performed a sacrifice and returned to Kanauj. Upon their return, these brahmins were shunned by their relatives and asked to perform penances. In desperation, they left for Bengal with their families and servants, and were granted five villages to live in by Adisura. Each had a different gotra and all present day Rarhi and Varendra Brahmins are described to be the descendants of these five families (Rarh and Varendra are geographical descriptions located in present day West Bengal and Bangladesh, respectively). They called themselves kulin brahmins, signifying a noble origin. The 700 bull-riding brahmin warriors came to be known as Saptasati.

The story of the five Brahmins probably has no basis in history. But it obviously is part of the historical memory of the community. These texts were written from the early 15th century onwards. From then till the 19th century, many texts consistently mention the story.

Nevertheless, my great-grandfather Late Gopal Chakravarty is believed to be a descendent of such a Brahmin who came out of Kanauj and settled in Dibrugarh. The gotra of this branch is krishnatreya. Later the family shifted to Lahoal, which we all are familiar with.