Kabiraj ( bn, কবিরাজ, Kobiraj ; as, কবিৰাজ; or, କବିରାଜ; Magahi: कबिराज; ) is an occupational title found in persons of Eastern

Indian subcontinent The Indian subcontinent is a physiographical region in Southern Asia. It is situated on the Indian Plate, projecting southwards into the Indian Ocean from the Himalayas. Geopolitically, it includes the countries of Bangladesh, Bhutan, India ...

. In olden days people traditionally practising

Ayurveda Ayurveda () is an alternative medicine system with historical roots in the Indian subcontinent. The theory and practice of Ayurveda is pseudoscientific. Ayurveda is heavily practiced in India and Nepal, where around 80% of the population repor ...

were generally called ''kabi''/''kobi'' in eastern India. Many of them were attached to royal courts to treat kings and the royal family. As such they were given the title of ''Kabirāj''/''Kobirāj'' ("King ''Kabi''", compare ''Rāj Vaidya'' used elsewhere). The descendants of such persons started using "Kabiraj" as a surname. This surname is often found in persons originating from

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million pe ...

and Indian States of

West Bengal West Bengal (, Bengali: ''Poshchim Bongo'', , abbr. WB) is a state in the eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabitants within an area of . West Bengal is the four ...

Bihar Bihar (; ) is a state in eastern India. It is the 2nd largest state by population in 2019, 12th largest by area of , and 14th largest by GDP in 2021. Bihar borders Uttar Pradesh to its west, Nepal to the north, the northern part of West ...

Assam Assam (; ) is a state in northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . The state is bordered by Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh to the north; Nagaland and Manipur ...

and

Orissa Odisha (English: , ), formerly Orissa ( the official name until 2011), is an Indian state located in Eastern India. It is the 8th largest state by area, and the 11th largest by population. The state has the third largest population of S ...

, which are in the same cultural region of the subcontinent and shares common linguistic origins.

References

{{Reflist Surnames Indian surnames Indian words and phrases Titles in India Titles in Bangladesh Men's social titles Cultural history of India Traditional healthcare occupations Linguistic history of India Cultural history of Bangladesh

See also

References