Kanyakubj Brahmins are a Brahmin

Brahmin

Brahmin Brahman, Brahma and Brahmin.Brahman, Brahmin and Brahma have different meanings. Brahman refers to the Supreme Self...

 community found in central India, mainly in the states of Bengal

Bengal

Bengal is a historical and geographical region in the northeast region of the Indian Subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal. Today, it is mainly divided between the sovereign land of People's Republic of Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal, although some regions of the previous...

, Uttar Pradesh

Uttar Pradesh

Uttar Pradesh abbreviation U.P. , is a state located in the northern part of India. With a population of over 200 million people, it is India's most populous state, as well as the world's most populous sub-national entity...

, Bihar

Bihar

Bihar is a state in eastern India. It is the 12th largest state in terms of geographical size at and 3rd largest by population. Almost 58% of Biharis are below the age of 25, which is the highest proportion in India....

 and Madhya Pradesh

Madhya Pradesh

Madhya Pradesh , often called the Heart of India, is a state in central India. Its capital is Bhopal and Indore is the largest city....

. The word Kanyakubja means Brahmins of the Kannauj

Kannauj

Kannauj , also spelt Kanauj, is a city, administrative headquarters and a municipal board or Nagar Palika Parishad in Kannauj district in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. The city's name is traditionally derived from the term Kanyakubja . Kannauj is an ancient city, in earlier times the capital...

 region. Kannauj region was spread to border of Vidisha

Vidisha

Vidisha is a city in the state of Madhya Pradesh, India, located near the state capital Bhopal. Vidishā is the administrative headquarters of Vidisha District. The city was also known as Bhilsa during the medieval period.-Geography:...

 in ancient times. Most of the Kanyakubjas were landlords during the colonial rule in Awadh

Awadh

Awadh , also known in various British historical texts as Oudh or Oude derived from Ayodhya, is a region in the centre of the modern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, which was before independence known as the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh...

, Kannauj region and Bhojpuri region of Bihar

Bihar

Bihar is a state in eastern India. It is the 12th largest state in terms of geographical size at and 3rd largest by population. Almost 58% of Biharis are below the age of 25, which is the highest proportion in India....

, Madhya Pradesh

Madhya Pradesh

Madhya Pradesh , often called the Heart of India, is a state in central India. Its capital is Bhopal and Indore is the largest city....

, Jharkhand

Jharkhand

Jharkhand is a state in eastern India. It was carved out of the southern part of Bihar on 15 November 2000. Jharkhand shares its border with the states of Bihar to the north, Uttar Pradesh and Chhattisgarh to the west, Orissa to the south, and West Bengal to the east...

 and Chattisgarh The Rarhi Brahmins of Bengal are a subdivision of the Kanyakubj Brahmins.Other sub-group of Kanyakubja are the Saryupareen Brahmin, Jujhautiya Brahmin

Jujhautiya Brahmin

The Jujhautiya Brahmin are an endogamous Brahmin community found the Chambal and Yamuna river valleys in the north, and the Narbada valley in the south. Chhatarpur District in Madhya Pradesh is the centra and cultural focus of this community. They are a sub-group of the Kanyakubja Brahmins...

. In the 19th (held at Prayag) and 20th (held at Lucknow

Lucknow

Lucknow is the capital city of Uttar Pradesh in India. Lucknow is the administrative headquarters of Lucknow District and Lucknow Division....

) national convention of Kanyakubja Brahmins by Kanyakubja Mahati Sabha, in 1926 and 1927 respectively, it appealed for unity among Kanyakubja Brahmins whose different branches included Sanadhya, Pahadi, Jaiswal Brahmin

Jaiswal Brahmin

Jaiswal Brahmin 'Brahmin Jaiswals belongs to Pancha-Gauda division and are branch of Kanyakubja Brahmins. Jaiswal Brahmins are mainly Chandravanshis or Gadhiwals, Some Jaiswals are also believed to be Nagar Brahmins. Jaiswals have historical simily with Nagar Brahmins and Sakaldwipiya or Shakadvipi...

, Jujhoutia, Saryupareen, Chattisgarhi, Bhumihar Brahmin

Bhumihar

Bhumihar or Babhan or Bhuin-har is a Brahmin Hindu community mainly found in the Indian states of Bihar, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh and Bundelkhand region of Madhya Pradesh.- Varna status :...

s and different Bengali Brahmins.

Origin

There was the a son of Lord Brahma called Kush. Kush had four sons named as Kushabh, Kushnabh, Ashrutraj and Vasu. Kushnabh had one hundred extremely beautiful daughters through Ghritachee, an Apsara. The god of Vaayu (Air) was very much attracted by the beauty of these fair ladies & wanted to marry with them. These virgins told god Vaayu that they were the daughters of a rishi and they would marry with only that person as advised by their father and humbly denied the proposal of god Vaayu to marry with him. The god Vaayu was annoyed and cursed all these beautiful virgin daughters of Kushnabh become Hunchbacked or to become Kubja. These virgin hunchback daughters of Kushnabh were married with Brahma Dutta, the noble king of Kampilya, son of Choolie Rishi and Somada Gandharvee. As soon as, these virgin daughters of Kushnabh were touched by noble King Brahma Dutta, all these virgins were free from curse of god Vaayu. They became normal, their bumps were vanished and they regained their original beauty and charm.

Kampilya the kingdom of Brahma Dutta later became famous by name of Kanyakubja (because he married the kubja daughters of Kushnabh). Now a day it is known as Kannauj

Kannauj

Kannauj , also spelt Kanauj, is a city, administrative headquarters and a municipal board or Nagar Palika Parishad in Kannauj district in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. The city's name is traditionally derived from the term Kanyakubja . Kannauj is an ancient city, in earlier times the capital...

.The native Brahmins of this land were later known as Kanyakubja Brahmins.

Famous personalities

• Mangal Pandey
  Mangal Pandey
  Mangal Pandey was a sepoy in the 34th Regiment of the Bengal Native Infantry of the English East India Company. He is widely known in India as one of its first freedom fighters...
  
   one of India's first Freedom Fighters.
• Swami Sahajanand Saraswati
  Swami Sahajanand Saraswati
  Swami Sahajanand Saraswati , born in a Jijhoutia Brahminfamily of Ghazipur of Uttar Pradesh state of India, was an ascetic of Dashnami Order of Adi Shankara Sampradaya as well as a nationalist and peasant leader of India...
  
  
• Suryakant Tripathi 'Nirala'
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• Atal Bihari Vajpai,former Prime Minister of India
  Prime Minister of India
  The Prime Minister of India , as addressed to in the Constitution of India — Prime Minister for the Union, is the chief of government, head of the Council of Ministers and the leader of the majority party in parliament...
  
  .
• Pandit Ravi Shankar Shukla- Primier of CP & Berar & First Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh
• Shyama Charan Shukla
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  Shyama Charan Shukla , veteran Indian National Congress leader was 3 times Chief Minister of undivided Madhya Pradesh...
  
  - former Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh ,son of Pandit Ravi Shankar Shukla
• Vidya Charan Shukla
  Vidya Charan Shukla
  Vidya Charan Shukla was born on 2 August 1929 at Raipur . His father Pandit Ravi Shankar Shukla was an illustrious lawyer, freedom fighter, veteran Congressman, Premier of CP & Berar and the first Chief Minister of reorganised Madhya Pradesh. Vidya Charan Shukla graduated from Morris College Nagpur...
  
  -former Indian Cabinet Minister in various portfolios,Agriculturist ,son of Pandit Ravi Shankar Shukla
• Manoj Bajpai
  Manoj Bajpai
  Manoj Bajpai , also credited as Manoj Bajpayee, is an Indian film actor, known for playing offbeat and unconventional roles. He first shot into fame with his breakthrough role in Ram Gopal Varma's 1998 film Satya.-Early life:...
  
  
• Abhijeet Dube, eminent lawyer.
• Chandra Shekhar Azad(Tiwari) Indian Freedom Fighter.
• Ram Prasad Bismil
  Ram Prasad Bismil
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   Indian Freedom Fighter, Poet.
• Sheila Dikshit
  Sheila Dikshit
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  , Chief Minister of Delhi
  Delhi
  Delhi , officially National Capital Territory of Delhi , is the largest metropolis by area and the second-largest by population in India, next to Mumbai. It is the eighth largest metropolis in the world by population with 16,753,265 inhabitants in the Territory at the 2011 Census...
  
  
• Prabhash Chandra Tiwary
• Chaitanya Mahaprabhu
  Chaitanya Mahaprabhu
  Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was a Vaishnava saint and social reformer in eastern India in the 16th century, believed by followers of Gaudiya Vaishnavism to be the full incarnation of Lord Krishna...
  
   (1486–1534), ascetic, founder of Gaudiya Vaishnavism
  Gaudiya Vaishnavism
  Gaudiya Vaishnavism is a Vaishnava religious movement founded by Chaitanya Mahaprabhu in India in the 16th century. "Gaudiya" refers to the Gauḍa region with Vaishnavism meaning "the worship of Vishnu"...
  
  .
• Gadadhar Chattopadhyay (Ramakrishna Paramahansa) (1836–1886), Revered Hindu Religious leader, led Hindu revival.
• Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay
  Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay
  Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay was a famous Bengali writer, poet and journalist. He was the composer of India’s national song Vande Mataram, originally a Bengali and Sanskrit stotra personifying India as a mother goddess and inspiring the activists during the Indian Freedom Movement...
  
   (1838–1894), author and one of the founders of Indian nationalism.
• Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay Author of famous novels like Devdas, Parineeta etc. and one of the most popular Bengali novelist and story-teller.
• Surendranath Banerjee (1848–1925), founder of the Indian National Association, one of the first political leaders in India and one of the chief formulators of the idea of Swadeshi.
• Jatindra Nath Mukherjee (Bagha Jatin) (1879–1915), Freedom Fighter and Revolutionary Leader.
• Sir Ashutosh Mukherjee (1864–1924) Educationist, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Calcutta (1906–1924), and referred commonly as 'Bengal Tiger'.
• Kiranchandra Chatterjee(Darbeshji)(1878-1946) Famous bengali poet and saint,from Varanasi.
• Rakhaldas Bandyopadhyay
  Rakhaldas Bandyopadhyay
  Rakhaldas Bandyopadhyay , also known as R. D. Banerji, was an Indian historian and a native Indian pioneer in the fields of Indian archaeology, epigraphy and palaeography. He was the Manindra Chandra Nandy Professor of Ancient Indian History and Culture at the Banaras Hindu University from 1928-30...
  
   (1885–1930) Archaeologist, credited with finding and excavating the Mohenjo Daro civilization (Indus Valley Civilization) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rakhaldas_Bandyopadhyay
• Womesh Chandra Bonerjee, founder of the Indian National Congress.
• Bibhutibhushan Bandopadhyay
  Bibhutibhushan Bandopadhyay
  Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay was one of the most famous Bengali novelist and writer of modern Bengali literature...
  
  , novelist, author of Pather Panchali
  Pather Panchali
  Pather Panchali is a 1955 Bengali drama film written and directed by Satyajit Ray and produced by the Government of the Indian state of West Bengal. Based on Bibhutibhushan Bandopadhyay's 1929 Bengali novel of the same name, the film was the directorial debut of Ray...
  
  .
• Shyama Prasad Mukherjee, founder president, the Bharatiya Jana Sangh
  Bharatiya Jana Sangh
  The Bharatiya Jana Sangh existed from 1951 to 1980, whereupon it was succeeded by the Bharatiya Janata Party, one of India's largest political parties...
  
  , now the Bharatiya Janata Party
  Bharatiya Janata Party
  The Bharatiya Janata Party ,; translation: Indian People's Party) is one of the two major political parties in India, the other being the Indian National Congress. Established in 1980, it is India's second largest political party in terms of representation in the parliament...
  
  .
• Subroto Mukerjee
  Subroto Mukerjee
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   First Air Chief Marshall of Independent India.
• Kishore Kumar Ganguly, celebrated singer and actor.
• Amit Dube, noted lawyer, journalist and social activist.
• Ashok Kumar Ganguly, actor.
• Pranab Mukherjee
  Pranab Mukherjee
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  , India's current Finance Minister.
• Mamata Banerjee
  Mamata Banerjee
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   current Indian Union Minister of railways
• Somnath Chatterjee
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   speaker of the Lok Sabha
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  The Lok Sabha or House of the People is the lower house of the Parliament of India. Members of the Lok Sabha are elected by direct election under universal adult suffrage. As of 2009, there have been fifteen Lok Sabhas elected by the people of India...
  
   (2004-9).
• Shirshendu Mukhopadhyay
  Shirshendu Mukhopadhyay
  Shirshendu Mukhopadhyay is a Bengali author who writes Bengali books. He has written stories for both adults and children.-Life:Shirshendu Mukhopadhyay was born in Bikrampur , now in Bangladesh. He spent his childhood in Bihar and many places in Bengal and Assam accompanying his father, who worked...
  
  , author.
• Sunil Gangopadhyay
  Sunil Gangopadhyay
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   author.
• Bharati Mukherjee
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  , author.
• Subhash Mukhopadhyay, poet
• Harindranath Chattopadhyay
  Harindranath Chattopadhyay
  Harindranath Chattopadhyay was an Indian English poet, an actor, and a member of the 1st Lok Sabha from Vijayawada constituency. He was the younger brother of Sarojini Naidu.-Life:...
  
  , noted poet and actor.
• Joy Mukherjee
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  - Family Background :Main article: Mukherjee-Samarth familyJoy Mukherjee is the son of Sashadhar Mukherjee and Sati Devi. His father was a successful producer and a co-founder of Filmalaya Studios. His paternal uncle is director Subodh Mukherjee, whilst his maternal uncles were Ashok Kumar and...
  
  , actor of Hindi movies.
• Soumitra Chatterjee
  Soumitra Chatterjee
  Soumitra Chatterjee or Soumitra Chattopadhyay is an iconic Bengali actor from India, known among other things for his frequent collaborations with the great Bengali film director Satyajit Ray and his constant comparison with the Bengali screen idol Uttam Kumar.-Background:Soumitra graduated from...
  
  , actor.
• Uttam Kumar
  Uttam Kumar
  Uttam Kumar is one of the most famous names of Indian Bengali Cinema.Born Arun Kumar Chatterjee in 1926 at Ahiritola, North Calcutta he is widely known as Uttam Kumar and Mahanayak . He remains as much of a cultural icon as he had been in his lifetime...
  
   superstar actor of Bengali cinema
  Bengali cinema
  Bengali cinema refers to the Bengali language filmmaking industries in the Bengal region of South Asia. There are two major film-making hubs in the region: one in Kolkata, West Bengal, India and the other in Dhaka, Bangladesh .The history of cinema in Bengal dates back to the 1890s, when the first...
  
  .
• Rani Mukherjee, actress.
• Hemanta Kumar Mukhopadhyay
  Hemanta Kumar Mukhopadhyay
  Hemanta Kumar Mukhopadhyay also known as Hemanta Mukherjee was an Bengali singer, composer and producer. He sang in Hindi films under the name Hemant Kumar.-Early life:...
  
  , singer and music director.
• Amit Kumar
  Amit Kumar
  Amit Kumar is an Indian film playback singer, actor, director, and music director. He is the son of famous singer and actor Kishore Kumar and Bengali singer and actress Ruma Guha Thakurta. Like his father he too loved singing since childhood and used to sing in Kolkata during Durga Pooja functions...
  
   Ganguly, singer.
• Shaan
  Shaan (singer)
  Shaan , is an Indian playback singer, and television host. He hosted the shows Sa Re Ga Ma Pa, Sa Re Ga Ma Pa L'il Champs, Star Voice of India and "Star Voice of India 2"...
  
  , popular singer.
• Shreya Ghoshal, singer.
• Hrishikesh Mukherjee
  Hrishikesh Mukherjee
  Hrishikesh Mukherjee ) was a famous Indian film director known for a number of films, including Satyakam, Chupke Chupke, Anupama, Anand, Abhimaan, Guddi, Gol Maal, Aashirwad, Bawarchi, and Namak Haraam.Popularly known as Hrishi-da, he directed 42 films during his career spanning over four decades,...
  
  , film director.
• Basu Chatterjee
  Basu Chatterjee
  Basu Chatterjee is an Indian film director. His films are very similar to those of Hrishikesh Mukherjee. Like Mukherjee, he built his plots on middle-class lives.He was born in Ajmer, Rajasthan, India....
  
  , film director.
• Nikhil Banerjee
  Nikhil Banerjee
  Nikhil Ranjan Banerjee was a Hindustani classical musician of the Maihar Gharana who played the stringed instrument sitar.-Early life and background:...
  
  , sitar player.
• Jaideep Mukherjea, Tennis Player.
• Sourav Ganguly
  Sourav Ganguly
  Sourav Chandidas Ganguly is a former Indian cricketer, and captain of the Indian national team. Born into an affluent family, Ganguly was introduced into the world of cricket by his elder brother Snehasish. He is regarded as one of India's most successful captains in modern times. He started his...
  
  , former captain of Indian cricket team
  Indian cricket team
  The Indian cricket team is the national cricket team of India. Governed by the Board of Control for Cricket in India , it is a full member of the International Cricket Council with Test and One Day International status....
  
  .
• Upamanyu Chatterjee
  Upamanyu Chatterjee
  Upamanyu Chatterjee is an Indian Bengali author and administrator, notable for his work set in the milieu of the Indian Administrative Service, especially his novel English, August. He was born in Patna, Bihar and was educated at St. Xavier's School and St. Stephen's College, in Delhi...
  
  , Indian Civil Servant and author of English, August
  English, August
  English August: An Indian Story is a novel by Indian author Upamanyu Chatterjee written in English, first published in 1988. It was adapted into a film of the same name in 1994.-Plot introduction:...
  
  .
• Moushumi Chatterjee, actress.
• Biswajit Chatterjee
  Biswajit Chatterjee
  Biswajit is a Bengali/Hindi actor. He was born in Calcutta, West Bengal, but later went over to Bombay to do some memorable Hindi films....
  
  , noted actor of Hindi movies.
• Dinesh Chandra Ramcharanlal Dube (DCR), noted astrologer and social counsellor.