The Logic Behind Two Names

I have met so many people in these 25 years of my life and there have been so many people who have been taken by my name. Some of them liked it, some hated it but everybody took notice of it. SO what was so peculiar about my name?
Rachit +Raj – A very common question posed by so many people. Why do you have two names Rachit and Raj? Some ask, is your surname Rachit or Raj? They were bamboozled to know that my father name reads, Deepak Kumar Ambastha. No link in the surnames they say.
I knew that this was a common trend followed by the Kayasthas, but why, I only came to know when one day I posed this question to my uncle, who held a P.hd degree in ancient history.
He told me that we are Ambasthas which are a subgroup of Kayasthas, not that I did not know that, but a few things which followed were certainly new to me.
So coming back to the point of having two names, I was told that we were one of the ancient tribes where women were given equal treatment in the society. A father wanted to give a name while the mother wanted another name. At the end the child had both the chosen name and henceforth the trend continued. Sounded quite interesting. I wanted to know more. Where did our forefathers come from, I asked him?
He told me that we were originally located in Taxila a place in Afganistan, which meant we were Afganis.He went further by saying that Taxila was the oldest university even before the Nalanda Universty in Bihar and Ambasthas were mostly into education. It was then that Alexander invaded the sub-continent and reached Afganistan. A battle was fought and it is said that during the fight with the Ambasthas, his hammock was pierced with an arrow which ultimately led to his death in Alexanderia. But, this left the Ambasthas tattered and they scattered to different places. A few moved to Nalanda in Bihar, the others to Ujjain in Madhya Pradesh and the rest down to Kottayam in Kerela. Later they dispersed to different parts of the country. Kayasthas were mainly Muneems(accountants) in the kings kingdom, and all the work related to accounts were asked to be done by them. I wondered probably that is the reason why there are so few Kayasthas into Business or serving in the armed forces.
It was heartening to know some interesting facts about my forefathers which made me proud and then came the dark side of the history. The Kayasthas were supposed to form Lord Krishna’s army, and when Arjuna and Duryodhan had approached Lord Krishna to take him on their respective sides before the Kurushetra Yudh, he had kept an option between the two parties. He had said that he would fight from one party where as his huge army would be on the other side.
As history would have it, the Kayastha took the Kauravas side and were badly defeated.
I chuckled at the thought of not many Kaysthas joining the armed forces.
This way I came to know so may interesting facts about my ancestors and my dynasty. This short conversation helped me in identifying myself and my origins. I bet there would be others who after reading this would want to know their histories too.