What is "upreti"

Upreti ( Devanagari: उप्रेती; Upretī), is a surname found in Hindu community of Kumaoni Saraswat Brahmins primarily living in the Kumaon region of Uttarakhand state of India. Member of this community are also found in Nepal and Sikkim. According to their traditions they are the descendents of the Rishi Bharadwaja. Adherent of the Shaivism sect, they worship Shiva as their prime deity.

According to Pandit Badri Datt Pandey's legendary book History of Kumaon and Garhwal the Upretis were originally inhabitants of Maharashtra state of the Western India region, from where they migrated to the Himalaya in the north as a result of the Islamic invasion in the 15th century A.D. They migrated to Nepal along with other Brahmins from Almora district under the royal patronage of the Hindu Kingdom when the Kumaon region was under the control of the Gorkhas till the Treaty of Sugauli with British India in 1814 A.D.