Meaning

Simply put, the name Dixit means “learned person” or “scholar.”

Specifically, the word Dixit is derived from the Sanskrit root Deeksha, which refers to attainment of knowledge, as in: “I received Deeksha from my Guru about Vedanta or Bhakti Yoga.” Also, when you obtains or receives a Guru mantra from an enlightened person (e.g., one’s Guru) you might say “I took Deeksha from my Guru.” During the Janaou Ceremony (also known as the Yagyopaveet Ceremony), one receives the Deeksha of the Gayatri Mantra, and the person who gives the mantra becomes one Guru. So Dixit or Dikshit means “one who has obtained Deeksha.”

Transliteration

Since Dixit is a name in Hindi, there are a variety of ways to transliterate the name into English. Babuji’s father, who was a lawyer, spelled his last name as Dixit in its anglicized version during the British era. Babuji spelled his last name as Dikshit. Dixit has become the more common spelling, and today, the people in our family living in North America all spell the name as Dixit.

Pronunciation

The “t” at the end of Deekshit is a soft “t,” not a hard “t.” To get close to the Hindi pronunciation, one might spell it as Deeksheet or even Deeksheeth, where the “t” has a soft “t” sound that does not exist in English.

Categorization

Although Dixit is also a common name among Maharashtrians, who come from Maharashtra province and who speak Marathi, we are Hindi-speaking Brahmins originally from UP province.

There are many types of Brahmins. Often Brahmins are classified according the region they come from. The Dixits are Kanyakubj Brahmins. That is, we come from the region in India known as Kannoj (in Uttar Pradesh). There are other Brahmins like Sarupari (from the other side of the River Saryou), Gaur (from the region known as Gaur (in Bihar, I think), and Sanadhya (I am not sure which region this refers to), and Saraswat (from the region where the River Saraswati once flowed). Not all Dixits are Kanyakubj. In South India, Dixit are known as Dixitar or Dikshitar.

Our family consists of Kanyakubj Dixits originally from the village Dondiyakher. However, Babuji’s grandfather settled in a village called Chimyani, which is in Unnao District in Uttar Pradesh. We still have a house there with a very large farm and mango plantation.

Dixit Names

The name Sunjay

Sunjay, more traditionally spelt in India as Sanjay or Sanjaya, was the name of the Senior Adviser who gave counsel to King Dhashratha, the father of the Kuravas, during the epic battle described in the Bhagavad Gita.

Throughout the battle, Sanjay sat with King Dashratha at the royal palace in Hastinapur, relaying the events of the battle to the king. Sanjay was uniquely equipped to narrate the battle because Bhagwan Shri Krishna, Prince Arjuna’s charioteer, had temporarily bestowed upon him “divya drishti”—special visionary powers that allowed him to see every event happening on the battlefield.