Gaud Saraswat Brahmins
(also Goud or Gawd, archaically as Shenvi) are a Hindu ethno-religious community that is part of the larger Saraswat Brahmin varna that migrated to Konkan from Gaud, as per the Skanda Purana in ancient India. They belong to the Pancha (five) Gauda Brahmana groups.They primarily speak Konkani and it’s various dialects, as their mother tongue.
Etymology
There are many interpretations on how the Gaud Saraswat Brahmins received the name “Gaud” and the information about it is scant.
Authors Jose Patrocinio De Souza and Alfred D’Cruz interpreters that the word Gauda or Goud may have been taken from Ghaggar, with Goud and Saraswat having the same meaning, that is an individual residing on the banks of river Saraswati. While these Brahmins are only known as Saraswats in the vast region of Kashmir, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Bengal, the term Gaud Saraswat was applied to them by the natives after the former migrated to the South. Author V. P. Chavan opines that they might have received the name Gaud Saraswat after they started following Gaudapada, a scholar of Advaita Vedanta school of Hindu philosophy.
Historically they have been known as Shenvis and that is how they are referred to in all historical documents and British records.
History
According to the Sahyadrikhanda of the Skanda Purana, ninety-six Saraswat Brahmin families belonging to ten gotras migrated to Goa from the Saraswati river basin, along with Parashurama. Reference to Saraswat names are found in Shilaharas as well as Kadamba copper plate inscriptions. The inscriptions found in Goa bear testimony to the arrival of Brahmin families in the Konkan region.
The Shilahara kings seem to have invited supposedly pure Aryan Brahmins and Kshatriyas from the Indo-Gangetic plain to settle in Konkan. These castes are the Gaud Saraswat Brahmins and Chandraseniya Kayastha Prabhus.
Sahyadrikhanda and Mangesh Mahatmya allude to migrations of Saraswat Brahmins, constituting ninety-six families, who settled in eight villages of Goa. There were regional variations among the Saraswats, such as those among Bardeskars, Pednekars and Sastikars. The Konkana mahatmya, from the 17th century CE, deals with the internal rivalry of the Saraswats and strained relations between these groups.In Kalhana’s Rajatarangini (12th century CE), the Saraswats are mentioned as one of the five Pancha Gauda Brahmin communities residing to the north of the Vindhyas.
The GSB ancestors identified themselves as of the Saraswat section of the northern Gaud division, in contrast to their Maharashtra and Karnataka Brahman neighbours of the southern division. Many Saraswats left Goa after the invasion of Malik Kafur to the neighbouring regions and during the period of religious persecution of the Portuguese also Saraswats migrated to Uttar Kannada, Udupi, Dakshina Kannada, Kerala and South Konkan. The Saraswat Brahmins particularly served as administrators, village revenue collectors (Kulkarnis), financiers, landlords, priests, teachers and merchants in the intra-Asian trade, and diplomats. Many sources of government income in Goa, Konkan and elsewhere, including taxes on commodities and customs duties, remained in their hands.
Diet and culture
Diet
There is a misconception that most of the Gaud Saraswat Brahmins are fish eaters. Many are pure vegetarians instead, namely those who follow Madhvacharya, while the smarthas include seafood as part of their diet.
Classification and culture
Gaud Saraswat Brahmins have both Madhvas and Smarthas among them. The Gaud Saraswats following Dvaita Vedanta of Madhvacharya are followers of Kashi Math and Gokarna Math, while the followers of Advaita Vedanta of Adi Shankara are followers of Kavale Math and Chitrapur Math. Among Gaud Saraswat Brahmins the Madhvas are Vaishnavites, while the Smarthas are considered as Shivites. According to author A B de Bragnanca Pereira says, “The main deities worshipped by Shaivite are Mangesh, Shantadurga and Saptakoteshwar, while the Vaishnavites deities are Nagesh, Ramnath, Mahalakshmi, Mahalasa, Lakshmi, Narasimha, Venkataramana, Kamaksha, Bhagwati and Damodar”. Most of the GSB’s in the Malabar Coast, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu regions are followers of Madhvacharya. In Goa, the GSB’s who follow Madhvacharya and are mainly concentrated in the Bardez and Salcete regions.