In Sanskrit, Rājopādhyāya or Rāj-Upādhyāya literally means 'royal teacher' or 'guru'. Rajopadhyayas, also colloquially called Dyabarmhu or Dyabājyā, were the royal gurus and purohits of the Malla kings and their Hindu aristocracy. Today, the Rajopadhyaya Brahmans are the domestic priests of the high-caste Hindu Newars, principally the Chatharīyas and Śreşțhas, and also certain segments of clean-caste Hindu Newar groups of the Kathmandu Valley. In theory, the Chatharīyas of the Kathmandu Valley do not call on other Brahmin group, as Rajopadhyayas alone serve as their historical purohits and perform all their life-cycle Sanskara rituals, including attaining their Gayatri Mantra verse and the sacred thread in the Upanayana ceremony. This is opposed to all other clean-caste Newar groups who call upon a Buddhist Vajrāchārya as their family priest to conduct all life-cycle ceremonies. Rajopadhyayas are an endogamous Brahman group who are the descendants of Kānyakubja Brahmins of Kannauj who immigrated to Kathmandu Valley as late as the 16th century CE. They are divided among the three cities of Kathmandu, Bhaktapur and Lalitpur into strictly exogamous clans, having three gotras: Gārgya of Lalitpur, Bharadwaja of Bhaktapur, and Kaushik of Kathmandu, all belonging to the Mādhyamdina school of the Krişna Yajurveda, their holy language being Sanskrit, but all well-versed in Newar. As the chief Brahmin group among Newars and as the chief preceptor of the Vedic as well as Tantric knowledge, Rajopadhyayas were placed at top in Nepalese Caste System, and they possess immense social prestige and power, especially among the Hindu Newars.
Priesthood and preceptor
Rajopadhyayas also serve as the Vedic temple priests of some of the most important temples of the Vaishnav and Shaivite sect, including Krishna Mandir and the four cardinal Vishnu temples of Kathmandu Valley; Changu Narayan, Sesh Narayan/Budhanilkantha, Bishankhu Narayan, and Ichanghu Narayana, as well as the Kumbheswar temple. In most other major temples with explicit Shakta and Tantra functions which require blood sacrifice and the use of alcohol, Rajopadhyayas are absent, and the priestly functions are performed by the Chatharīyā/Kşatrīya-status Karmāchāryas. Most of the other Shakta or Ganeshshrines are maintained by the farmer Jyapus or by unclean-castes like the Jogi/Kapali or the untouchable Chyāmaha/Déula. There also exists slightly lower status Maithili-speaking Jhā and Mishra Brahmans who migrated to Kathmandu Valley in the medieval times, but are nevertheless not part of the Rajopadhyayas. These Brahmans conduct life-cycle ceremonies to lower-status Newar castes and also serve as priests to various mathas and temples. The lone exception to the rule of Rajopadhayayas not being part of the Shakta cult is Bhaktapur's Taleju Bhawani temple, the ista-devi of Malla kings, where they serve as the chief priests. In addition to their duties as purohits to Chatharīyās and Śresțhas, Rajopadhyayas also serve as hereditary pujāris of the following temples:
Rajopadhyayas popularly use the following surnames: Rajopadhyaya, Sharma, Upadhyaya, Acharya, among others. Some popular Rajopadhyaya names from history and popular culture include:
Sudarshan Brahman
Gaya Juju of Sulimha, Patan
Vishvanath Upādhyāya of Valimha, Patan
Sahasra Shivānanda of Indrachowk
Pundit Vamshi Dharānanda Rajopadhyaya of Changu Narayan
