What is "bediani"

Bediani is a town in Kvemo Kartli region of Georgia, in the south-East part of Tsalka Municipality, on the right bank of the Khrami River, at approx. 850 m above sea level.

Bediani was a medieval title, or a territorial epithet, of the Dadiani, the ruling family of Mingrelia in western Georgia, derived from the canton of Bedia, in Abkhazia, and in use from the end of the 12th century into the 15th. Bediani was occasionally used as a praenomen. The extent of the fief of Bedia is difficult to define; by the latter half of the 17th century, the Shervashidze of Abkhazia had supplanted the Dadiani in that area.

The title of Bediani should not be confused with that of Bedieli, which, although derived from the same toponym, was the one used by the bishops seated at the Bedia Cathedral.