Puri (surname)

Puri is an Indian Punjabi surname of Kshatriya Varna derived from a Chandravanshi Indo Aryan Puru tribe of King Porus.

The Dictionary of American Family Names notes that puri means a small town in Punjabi but it is uncertain whether this is related to the surname.[1] Another theory derives it from the Purus,[2][3] the mythological Indo-Aryan tribe.

Buddha Prakash, professor of history and of Ancient Indian history, culture and archaeology, director of the Institute of Indic Studies, said:

The Purus settled between the Asikni and the Parusni, whence they launched their onslaught on the Bharatas, and after the initial rebuff in the Dasarajna War, soon regrouped and resumed their march on the Yamuna and the Sarasvati and subsequently merged with the Bharatas, Some of their off-shoots lingered on in the Punjab and one of their scions played a notable part in the events of the time at Alexander's invitation. They probably survived in the Punjab under the name of Puri, which is a sub-caste of the Khatris.[2]

  1. ^ Dictionary of American Family Names. Oxford University Press. 2013.
  2. ^ a b Prakash, Buddha (1964). Political and Social Movements in Ancient Panjab. Delhi, Patna, Varanasi: M. Banarsidass. p. 77.
  3. ^ Kosambi, Damodar Dharmanand (1966). Ancient India: A History of its Culture and Civilisation. Delhi: Pantheon Books. pp. 81–83.