Burdak

Burdak (बुरड़क)[1] Burdok (बुरडोक) Bardak (बरडक) Badak (बडक) Borrak/Bordak (बोरडक)[2] Burrak (बुर्रक)[3] Buldak (बुल्डक) Wardak (वरडक) Vardak (वरडक) Vurrak/Wurrak (वुर्रक)[4][5] is surname of Jat community found in northwest Rajasthan. The surname Burdak, in India, is based on gotra Burdak.

ORIGIN

The origin of Burdak surname seems probably to be of Iranian or Russian/Ukrainian. Mahendra Singh Arya et all consider Burdaks to be the descendants of Maharaja Bahuka (बाहुक), [6] who was a Suryavanshi King, son of Vrika. Bahuka had been 33 generations earlier than Rama of Ramayana in the ancestry of Suryavansha.[7] Burdak history seems to be associated with Wardak (वरडक), one of the thirty-four provinces of Afghanistan. Burdak is an Agnivanshi Jat clan included in Chauhans.[8] Spelled as Burdok in the north-east region of India. Origin of name may probably be from plant name Burdock found in temperate Eurasia having stout tap roots and producing burs. As per records of the Bards the Jat Gotra Burdak started after Rao Burdakdeo. Rao Burdak Dev went to Lahore to help Raja Jai Pal. He died in war in V.S. 1057 (1000 AD) and his wife Tejal of gotra Shekwal became sati in Dadrewa. Her chhatri was built on the site of Dadrewa pond in samvat 1058 (1001 AD). [9] Here it is to be mentioned that Burdak existed earlier also but to remember the contribution of Rao Burdakdeo in history Bards have recorded so. Origin from Shiva - After an intensive research I have come to conclusion that Burdaks are descendants of Shiva. Aswamedha Parva, Mahabharata/Book 14 Chapter 8 gives us various names of Shiva which includes Varda (वरद)[10]. A portion of Varada were known by name Varadaksha (वरदाक्ष). By linguistic variation it changed to present name Vardak or Burdak. This theory gets historical support from Alexander Cunningham[11] who writes that the district of Kabul was also named Ortospana. In some copies of Pliny the name is written Orthospanum, which, with a slight alteration to Orthostana, as suggested by H. H. Wilson,[12] is most probably the Sanskrit Urddhasthana, that is, the " high place," or lofty city. The same name is also given to the Kabul district by the Chinese pilgrim Hwen Thsang. On leaving Ghazni, the pilgrim Hwen Thsang travelled to the north for 600 li, or 83 miles, to Fo-li-shi-sa-tang-na, of which the capital was Hu-phi-na. There can be no doubt, therefore, that Kabul must be the place that was visited by the pilgrim. The name of the capital, as given by the Chinese pilgrim, has been rendered by M. Vivien de St. Martin as Vardasthana, and identified with the district of the Wardak tribe. while the name of the province has been identified with Hupian or Opian. The Wardak valley receives its name from the Wardak tribe. According to Panini suffix -ka is used to denote : (i) Depreciation. [ Kutsite, Panini, V. 3.75, e.g. Puranaka, name of a servant.] (ii) Endearment. [Sanskrit-English Dictionary by Monier Williams p. 338, col. 3. ] According to Tej Ram Sharma[13] as interpreted for Khasaka, in Dhanaidaha copper-plate inscription of Kumaragupta I G.E.113. (AD 432), Barda is the name of a people and of their country (in the north of India). Bardaka can be native of that country or a man belonging to that race. It is a non-Sanskritic word most probably a local or dialectal feature.

Notable people

• Harji Ram Burdak - Politician and leader of Indian National Congress
• Narayan Singh Burdak - Politician and leader of Indian National Congress