Dwivedi

Dwivedi or Duvedi or Diwedi or Dubay or Dubey or Dube or Dobé is an Indian surname meaning versed in two Vedas. The surname is used by Brahmins in northern India.[1][2]

Origin of surname

Though the common assumption is that Dwivedi means 'one who knows two vedas', oral Hindu tradition has an alternative explanation. In Sanskrit, Dvi = 'two' and Vedi = 'to see'. Therefore, a Dwivedi is one with 'two-fold vision', or someone who is able to distinguish between right and wrong. The practical application is that a Dwivedi was an expert in morality and can guide the public with regards to what is right and wrong.

There is no limit to the number of vedas an individual can learn, therefore there is no reason why a Dwivedi or Trivedi could not learn all four vedas. The explanation that a Dwivedi only knows two out of four vedas is a very superficial translation of a Sanskrit surname with deeper meaning.

Geographical distribution

Dwivedi is a North Indian Brahmin surname most commonly encountered in the Indian states of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.

As of 2014, there are approximately 65,999 people in the world with surname Dwivedi. Of those, approximately 95.1% of all known bearers of the surname Dwivedi were residents of India. The following Indian states have the greatest number of individuals with surname Dwivedi (with population in parentheses) [3]

• 1. Uttar Pradesh (21,510)
• 2. Bihar (10,266)
• 3. Maharashtra (6,986)
• 4. Delhi (6,101)
• 5. Madhya Pradesh (3,032)

Notable people with the surname Dwivedi

• Bal Govind Dwivedi - Hindi poet
• Chandraprakash Dwivedi - Indian film director and script writer
• Major General G. G. Dwivedi
• Hazari Prasad Dwivedi - Hindi novelist
• Janardan Dwivedi - Politician from Indian National Congress party
• Kapil Deva Dvivedi - Sanskrit Scholar Padma Shri
• Mahavir Prasad Dwivedi - Indian writer
• Manilal Dwivedi (1858–1898) - Gujarati writer and philosopher
• Nikhil Dwivedi - Bollywood actor
• O.P. Dwivedi - Professor emeritus, Order of Canada, Royal Society of Canada
• Ragini Dwivedi - Kannada actress and model
• Ram Chandra Dwivedi - (AKA Kavi Pradeep) - Poet and songwriter
• Rewa Prasad Dwivedi - Sanskrit scholar and poet
• Satyendra Dubey- Project Director for NHAI, murdered for fighting against corruption
• Seema Dwivedi, Indian politician
• Sharada Dwivedi - Mumbai-based historian and researcher
• Sudhakara Dvivedi - Mathematician

See also

• Trivedi, meaning versed in three vedas
• Upreti, meaning cessation from worldly pleasure

References

1. Bedh Prakash Upreti (1975). Analysis of Change in Limbu-Brahmin Interrelationships in Limbuwan, Nepal. University of Wisconsin--Madison. p. 29.
2. Janaki Ballabha Mohanty (1991). Vrajanatha Vadajena. Sahitya Akademi. p. 33. At the king's behest came the brahmins with various surnames — Nanda, Misra, Mohapatra, Kar, Rath, Acharya, Sharangi, Bhatta, Dwivedi, Tripathy, Pari Chakravarthi,Rajguru...the Brahmins of North India.
3. "Dwivedi Surname". Forebears.