{{Use Indian English, date=December 2019
Aithal is the lastname or
surname
In many societies, a surname, family name, or last name is the mostly hereditary portion of one's personal name that indicates one's family. It is typically combined with a given name to form the full name of a person, although several give ...
Shivalli
The Shivalli Brahmins are a Hindu Brahmin community mainly in Tulunad region of South West India. They are divided into two groups, the first of who follow the Dvaita philosophy founded by the Vaishnava saint Madhvacharya of Udupi are called ...
Brahmin the subsect of
Brahmin
Brahmin (; ) is a ''Varna (Hinduism), varna'' (theoretical social classes) within Hindu society. The other three varnas are the ''Kshatriya'' (rulers and warriors), ''Vaishya'' (traders, merchants, and farmers), and ''Shudra'' (labourers). Th ...
in
Dakshina Kannada
Dakshina Kannada district is located in the states and territories of India, state of Karnataka in India, with its headquarters in the coastal city of Mangaluru. The district covers an area nestled in between the Western Ghats to its east and the ...
and
Udupi
Udupi () also known as 'Odipu' () is a city in the Indian state of Karnataka. It is the administrative headquarters of Udupi district, and one of the fastest-growing cities in Karnataka. Udupi is one of the top tourist attractions in Karnataka an ...
districts of
Karnataka
Karnataka ( ) is a States and union territories of India, state in the southwestern region of India. It was Unification of Karnataka, formed as Mysore State on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, 1956, States Re ...
,
India
India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...
. In general, Aithals residing in these districts speak a regional dialect of the
Kannada
Kannada () is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly in the state of Karnataka in southwestern India, and spoken by a minority of the population in all neighbouring states. It has 44 million native speakers, and is additionally a ...
and
Tulu language
The Tulu language (, Tigalari script: , Kannada script: , Malayalam script: ; ) is a Dravidian language whose speakers are concentrated in Dakshina Kannada and in the southern part of Udupi of Karnataka in south-western India and al ...
. There are many Aithals who have migrated to other places within erstwhile South Canara district e.g.,
Surathkal
Surathkal(kn:ಸುರತ್ಕಲ್)" is one of the major localities in the northern part of Mangaluru taluk located on National Highway 66 (old NH-17) in the Dakshina Kannada district, Karnataka state, India on the shore of Arabian sea. I ...
or Puttur and claim those places as their native places. People with the surname Aithal have emigrated from India to Europe and North America beginning in the early to mid-1960s, with many having permanently settled outside of India.
Etymology
The word Aithal derives from a prerequisite
vedic
upright=1.2, The Vedas are ancient Sanskrit texts of Hinduism. Above: A page from the '' Atharvaveda''.
The Vedas ( or ; ), sometimes collectively called the Veda, are a large body of religious texts originating in ancient India. Composed ...
ritual of securing and maintaining the three fires. ''Ahita anala yasya sah'', is an ''ahitanala'', which essentially means one who has secured and has been maintaining the three fires required for an agnichayanam. The Apabhramsa form of this word became ''aithala''. As one of the members of a vedic group, Aithalas have co-existed with
Vaishnavas
Vaishnavism () ), also called Vishnuism, is one of the major Hindu denominations, Hindu traditions, that considers Vishnu as the sole Para Brahman, supreme being leading all other Hindu deities, that is, ''Mahavishnu''. It is one of the majo ...
for a long time. Aithal comes from the Sanskrit words ''ahiti'' which means ''placing'' and ''anala'' meaning ''fire''. The meaning is similar to the word ''
agnihotra
Agnihotra (IAST: ''Agnihotra'', Devnagari: अग्निहोत्र) refers to the yajna of offering ghee into the sacred fire as per strict rites, and may include twice-daily heated milk offering made by those in the Śrauta tradition. Th ...