Pandey

Pandey (Devanagari: पाण्डेय) or Pande (पाण्डे pāṇḍe) is a surname of the Hindu Brahmins communities of Northern and Central India as well as of both Brahmin and Chhetri families of Nepal. In Maharashtra, several Brahmin families have names ending in "-pande", such as "Deshpande" or Sardeshpande. There are also Marathi speaking people of the Vidarbha region with the surname Pande.

Derivation

It is most likely that it is derived from the Sanskrit word paṇḍita (पण्डित (पाण्डेय) ), which refers to a 'spiritual scholar' or 'scholar'. Sanskrit word Panditya means "learned man". This sect was derived from a group of so-called "pandits" or spiritual technician who practiced "yajnas" or yagyas and conducted other vedic practices.

Etymology

Those Brahmin families who specialized in all 4 Vedas came to be known as Chaturvedi (chaturth means 4 in Sanskrit from which it is derived), those who specialized in 3 Vedas came to be known as Trivedi or Tiwari or Tripathi (tri- meaning 3 in Sanskrit), while Dwivedi specialized in 2 Vedas (dwi- meaning 2). Those who only studied the Veda but did not specialize in them came to be known as Pathak, i.e. the reader. Those who specialized in Upanishads were known as Upadhyaya.

Pandey (disambiguation)

Pandey is a North Indian surname, and may refer to: