Mukherjee

'Mukherjee , Mukerjee , Mookerjee , Mukerji , Mukherji, Mukhujje or Mookherjee is a Kulin Brahmin surname of Hindu Religion, common among residents of the Indian state of West Bengal. The traditional Bengali version is Mukhopaddhae, which is sometimes written Mukhopadhyay, which is alternately spelled as Mookerjee or Mukerji.

All santanu Mukherjees belong to the Bharadwaj Gotra or the clan of Rishi Bharadwaj. The santanu Mukherjees belong to the class and are also classified as Radh Brahmins. The origins of most Brahmins in Southern Bengal was the Gangetic plains of Northern India, chiefly Kanauj. In the eleventh century AD., the ruler of Bengal, Adisara, is reputed to have brought five Brahmins known for their superior rank to the region. These Vedic Brahmins were supposed to have nine gunas (favoured attributes), among which was insistence on same rank marriages. Later,the Mukherjees, along with Banerjees, Chatterjees, Bhattacharjees and Gangulys moved on to settle on the western banks of the Bhagirathi river in Southern Bengal on the invitation of the Sena Dynasty of Bengal. The invitation was meant to establish Brahminism in Bengal which has been ruled by the Buddhist Pala dynasty for about four centuries. Though the first wave of Brahmin migration to Bengal started during the Maurya period and the Jain Acharya Bhadrabahu - regarded to be the preceptor of Chandragupta Maurya - is said to have been born in Brahmin family of Pundravardhana (or Puṇḍra), the medium to large scale migrations of Brahmins from other parts of India to Bengal, especially from the ancient Kanyakubja region, happened during the last part of the Buddhist Pala Empire and early part of Hindu Sena dynasty. . This region is known as Radh or Radh Bhoomi, leading to these clans of Brahmins being categorized as Radh Brahmins.

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