Saraswat Brahmins are spread over widely separated regions spanning fromKashmir andPunjab inNorth India toKonkan inWest India toKanara (coastal region ofKarnataka) andKerala inSouth India. In places such as western and southern India, the claim of Brahminhood of some communities who claim to be Saraswat Brahmins is disputed.[1] The wordSaraswat is derived from the RigvedicSarasvati River.[2][3][4]
Saraswats Brahmins are classified under thePancha Gauda Brahmin classification of the Brahmin community in India.[3]
In Western and South India, along with theChitpavan,Karhades (includingPadhyes,Bhatt Prabhus), andKonkani-speaking Saraswat Brahmins are referred to asKonkani Brahmins, which denotes those Brahmin sub-castes of theKonkan coast which have a regional significance in Maharashtra and Goa.[5]
InKarnataka andKerala, Majority of Gaud Saraswat Brahmins are followers ofMadhvacharya, while the Chitrapur Saraswat Brahmins areSmarthas, followers ofAdi Shankara.[6][7][8] WriterChandrakant Keni and formerI.C.S officer V. N. Kudva says, "The majority of the Saraswats, including those inGoa, are nowVaishnavas".[9][10][11]
The Saraswat Brahmins originating in Balochistan were calledsindhur and were considered a low caste. They have a legend of origin related toLord Ramachandra (not the same as Parashurama), who could not find a priest in Balochistan and applied a Tilaka on the head of someMleccha. Jürgen Schaflechner cites the historian Rowe who states that such "low ranking Brahmins" formed a symbiotic relationship withVaishya castes such asKhatris,Lohanas, etc. who were trying to raise their varna status - which in turn would benefit the Saraswats as well. For this purpose, certain religious texts were written during the British Raj era.[12]
Saraswats of western India claim to be part of the Saraswat brahmin community of the north based on the Sahyadri Khanda of Skanda Purana. As per the Purana, Parshurama brought Saraswats toKonkan.[13] However, Sanskrit scholar Madhav Deshpande, Indologist and Sanskrit Scholar Stephan Hillyer Levitt and historianO'Hanlon consider the portion of theSahyādrikhaṇḍa that describes Saraswats to be corrupted and recently interpolated by Saraswats themselves in order to improve their status.[14][15]
The southward migration of Saraswat Brahmins is explained in theSkanda Purana. The Sayhadrikhand of Skandapurana narrates thefounding myths of various Brahmin communities.In the text, Shiva narrates the following founding myths to Skanda:[16]Parshurama brought Sarasvatas fromTirhut toKonkan, settling them in the villages ofKelosi andKusasthal. These settlers were "attractive, well-behaved, and skilled in every rite". The deitiesShantadurga,Mangesh,Mhalsa,Nagesh and Mahalakshmi accompanied them to Konkan.[13]
According to Rosalind O'Hanlon, the core of the text was likely written around the end of the 1st millennium, it contains stories about Brahmin village settlements that have fallen from virtue. The remaining text appears to have been written later, as it describes thePancha Gauda andPancha Dravida classification of Brahmins, which became popular during the 13th-14th centuries.[17]
Saraswats were spread over a wide area in northern part of the Indian subcontinent. One group lived in coastalSindh andGujarat, this group migrated toBombay State after thepartition of India in 1947. One group was found inpre-partition Punjab andKashmir, these also have tended to migrate away from the part of Punjab located in Pakistan after 1947. Another branch known as Dakshinatraya Saraswat Brahmin are now found along thewestern coast of India.[4][18]
Saraswats have contributed to the fields of Sanskrit, Konkani, Marathi and Kannada literature and philosophy. All the mathadhipathis ofKashi Math,Gokarna Math,Kavale Math andChitrapur Math without a single exception are from the Saraswat Brahmin community.[19][20][need quotation to verify] The 17th-century Madhva Saraswat scholar, Sagara Ramacharya, authored theKonkanabhyudhaya.[21]
Advaita saints such asGaudapada[verification needed], grand-teacher of the philosopherShankaracharya;[22] Narayana Tirtha,[23] the first peetadhipathi ofGokarna Math and Yadavendra Tirtha,[23] the first peetadhipathi ofKashi Math, are some of the prominent saints from the Saraswat Brahmin community.[23]
InKalhana'sRajatarangini (12th century CE), the Saraswats are mentioned as one of the fivePancha Gauda Brahmin communities residing to the north of theVindhyas.[3]
According to M. K. Kaw (2001),Kashmiri Pandits, a part of the larger Saraswat Brahmin community hold the highest social status inKashmir.[24] Based on the calendar used, they divided into two groups-Malmasi (who remained in the valley despite religious persecution) and Banmasi (who are said to have immigrated or re-immigrated under King Zain ul Abidin in the fifteenth century) The former follow the lunar calendar while latter who are in the majority follow the solar calendar.[25][26] Walter Lawrence states that the Kashmiri Pandit community to be divided into the following classes - the Jotish (astrologer), the priestly class Guru or Bachabat and the Karkun (working class) that was employed in government service.[25] Philosophers likeSureśvara, the first peetadhipathi ofSringeri Sharada Peetham,Mandana Mishra, were Kashmiri Saraswat Brahmins.[22] andParijnanashram I, was the first peetadhipathi ofChitrapur Math.
Mohyal Brahmins are a sub-caste ofSaraswat Brahmins from thePunjab region, who are sometimes referred to as 'Warrior Brahmins'.[27][28] Mohyal Brahmins stopped practising priestly duties.[29][verification needed]
A small minority of Mohyals also have an association withShia Muslims because they helpedImam Hussain in theBattle of Karbala, these Mohyal Brahmnins are calledHussaini Brahmins.[30][31][32]
In Gangetic belt mainly in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, Saraswat Brahmins were landlords and priests. They follow Shakta tradition, Vaishnavism and Shaivism.[33]
Here the Saraswat Brahmins are divided into three sub-groups, they are,Gaud Saraswat Brahmins,Chitrapur Saraswat Brahmins andRajapur Saraswat Brahmins. Vaishnavas among them are followers ofKashi Math andGokarna Math, while theSmarthas are followers ofKavale Math andChitrapur Math.[34]
The majority of Saraswats speakKonkani, one of the languages of theIndo-Aryan language family. The major dialects of Konkani used by Saraswats areGoan Konkani,Maharashtrian Konkani andCanarese Konkani.
HistorianSanjay Subrahmanyam states that Saraswats at "Basrur on the Kanara coast south of Goa" were a "caste of open status", which sometimes claimed to be Brahmins although they were associated with mercantile activity and called as "Chatins" fromChetti by the Portuguese. Moroccan explorerIbn Battuta had also visited Basrur, which was considered "the great center of Saraswat trade", two centuries earlier than the Portuguese, but it did not interest him as much as it did the Portuguese.[35]Chatins de Barcelor was the term used for the Saraswat community of merchants at Basrur in the time ofDiogo do Couto, but the termChatin acquired a pejorative meaning later. It is likely derived from the Tamil 'Chati', which is a suffix for many trading castes that were present on the southern side of the Godavari river.[36]
The Saraswats and Gujarati Vanias in Goa, were involved not only in trade but also in tax related income. After the 1540s discrimination against non-Christians in Goa increased and there were mass conversions to Christianity. Despite this, between 1600 and 1670, about 80% of thetax farms orrendas were held by the Hindus, especially Saraswats. The prominent Saraswat merchants mentioned at this time, that is, early 1600s are Govinda, Pondya as well as the Kini and Nayaks. Therendas were on various items such as spices(pepper), cotton and silk cloths, food shops and duties on gold. Michael Pearson has given an example of members and relatives of a Saraswat Naik family to show that when a person successfully did a bidding for arenda from the government, he had to name some guarantors - who were usually his relatives or caste members.[37][38]
The Saraswats also traded at theVengurla andRaybag ports and acted as suppliers of rice and pepper that they imported fromKanara. In this context, they also dealt with the Dutch who has established a factory in the port of Vengurla. Scholars mention a certain P. Nayak who was a notable merchant in the 1670s.[39]
Saraswat merchant families during the Portuguese rule of Goa also were involved in trade with Portuguese colonies around the globe including in the African slave trade.[40][41] In the 19th century also, French slave merchants came to Goa and contacted the Portuguese and Saraswat Brahmins who sold them African slaves.[42]
InKonkan, the Saraswat as well as the fishermen communities were traditionally traders as well assailors. The reason for seafaring was that the land of Konkan suffered due tosalinisation and unpredictable rains. This caused the Saraswats to look for livelihood outside of Konkan and they would often use theArabian Sea for travelling for trade.Dabhol was the main Konkan port in 1600 toHormutz and the traders traded withSocotra andYemen but by 1700 Dabhol was ruined due tosilting andsandbanks. Moreover, the cities with which the trading occurred had also declined.[43]
During Shivaji's coronation, the ritual status of the Saraswats to be Brahmins was supported byGaga Bhatt, a leading Brahmin fromBenares.[44]
Historically, in Maharashtra, Saraswats had served as low and medium level administrators under theDeccan Sultanates for generations. In the 18th century, the quasi-independentShinde and theHolkar rulers ofMalwa recruited Saraswats to fill their administrative positions. This made them wealthy holder of rights both in Maharashtra and Malwa during the eighteenth century. During the same period in Peshwa ruled areas, there was a continuation of filling of small number of administration post by the Saraswats.[45] During the rule of theChitpavan BrahminPeshwas in the 18th century, Saraswat Brahmins was one of the communities against whom the Chitpavans conducted a social war which led toGramanya (inter-caste dispute).[46]
After theliberation of Goa from the Portuguese colonial rule in 1961, many Goan Saraswats opposed merger of Goa into Maharashtra.[47]
The 19th century Konkani scholarShenoi Goembab,and the 20th century multi-facetedMarathi scholarPurushottam Laxman Deshpande are some of the prominent scholars from the Saraswat Brahmin community.[48][49]
According to Nagendra Rao, the trading communities of Saraswats, Jews, Arabs,Komatis,Nawayath, etc. were active in south Kanara when the Portuguese arrived for trading in the 1500s. The items of trade were rice, pepper, ginger, etc. International trade already existed at the time in South Kanara and business existed with Malabar, Maldives, ports of the Red Sea.[50] In Mangalore, Saraswats were part of the trading community when the Portuguese arrived to importsaltpetre. The items from Mangalore were exported to Malabar, Goa, Surat, Bengal, Malacca, Maldives, Mecca, Aden, Congo, Hormuz and Ceylon.[51]
Studies show that between 1500 and 1650, in Kanara, Saraswats andNawayath were dominant in commerce with ports outside India but it wasMappila Muslims and Middle Eastern Muslims who dominated in Malabar.[52]
The rulers in India encouragedTobacco production from the mid-1600s because chewing, smoking and sniffing Tobacco gathered momentum in India. The Dutch extended cultivation in Kerala. Some towns in Kerala received support from the King ofCochin for tobacco cultivation. Here, the Saraswat Brahmin merchants such as Nayak, Kamat, etc. took up tobacco farming in the latter half of the seventeenth century and this resulted in major income for the King of Cochin.[53]
According to some socialists due to the pescatarian diet of saraswats the claim of satkarmi brahminhood of saraswats was contested by local Brahmins but majority of saraswat Brahmins were Vegetarians, this was discussed during the coronation of shivaji where Gagabhatt gave verdict in favour of saraswat Brahmins,further during British era this matter reached court which resulted in court declaring saraswat Brahmins as Satkarmi Brahmins[10][8][54] Sociologist and researcher Ramesh Bairy writes that "Saraswat claim to Brahminhood is still strongly under dispute, particularly in the coastal districts of Karnataka".[1]
According to thesociologist, Gopa Sabharwal (2006), inBelgaum, Karnataka,[55] "marriages between Saraswat and non-Saraswat Brahmins are on the increase though they were unheard of before, mainly because the Saraswats eatfish and occasionallymeat, while all other Brahmins are vegetarians".[56] According to sociologist Ramesh Bairy, even in 2010, in Karnataka, "at the level of the community as a whole, Brahmins may not be incensed at the Saraswat claim to Brahminhood. But a non-Saraswat Brahmin will not be keen on proposing marriage with a Saraswat family".[57]
The Saraswat Brahmins are divided into various territorial endogamous groups, who did not intermarry.[58]
Kashmiri Pandits eat mutton and fish, but obey restrictions laid down by theshastras of not eating the meat of forbidden animals.[25] Professor Frederick J. Simoons says according to some reports, Saraswat Brahmins from northern India also consume fish as part of their diet.[59][60][61]
InGoa andKonkan region, Saraswat Brahmins have bothvegetarians andpescetarians among them,[62][63][64] while inMaharashtra they arepescetarians.[65]
InGujarat, Saraswat Brahmins are pure vegetarians and do not even consumemasur dal andgarlic. They chiefly live on Bajri (millet),wheat roti (unleavened bread) with rice duringlunch,andKhichdi (a mixture of rice and pulse) in theDinner.[66]
InKarnataka, Saraswat Brahmins are mainly concentrated in the coastalKanara region. The sub-groups among Saraswats areGaud Saraswat Brahmins,Chitrapur Saraswat Brahmins andRajapur Saraswat Brahmins are largely vegetarians.[10][8] InKerala, Rajapur Saraswat Brahmins and Gaud Saraswat Brahmins are chieflyvegetarians, but there are alsopescetarians among them.[67][68]
Saraswat claim to Brahminhood is still strongly under dispute, particularly in the coastal districts of Karnataka.
As a result of this, the Saraswats living in the south of the Gangavali in North Kanara separated into what is known as the Gowda Saraswat community consisting mostly of Vaishnavas and Chitrapur Saraswats, mostly of Smarthas.
The Gauda Saraswats are the Madhva Vaishnavite Saraswat Brahmins, while the Saraswats [Chitrapur] have continued to be Smarthas.
The majority of the Saraswats, including those in Goa, are now Vaishnavas
The Saraswats are largely a vegetarian community, whose coconut- based cuisine is famed for its variety.
The majority of the Saraswats, including those in Goa, are now Vaishnavas. Nearly the whole of the prosperous trading community on the West Coast are now Madhvas.
The Deśasthas, Citpāvans and Karhāḍes were united in their rejection of the brahminhood for the Sārasvatas, and Wagle himself provides evidence of this animosity. See Wagle 1970b: 318–319 for court cases filed by different brahmins against the Sārasvatas in 1788 ad, 1850 ad and 1864 ad. Also see Bambardekar 1939 and Conlon 1977: 39ff
Remembering that some of his predecessors like Sureshvaracharya (the famous Mandana Misra, the successor of Sankaracharya on the Sringeri Sharada Pitha) were Kashmiri Saraswats, the Jagadguru readily gave them a letter in which ...
An important and relatively little-known example of a sort of 'merchant republic' form, in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries can be found at Basrur, on the Kanara coast south of Goa. The dominant trading community here were Saraswats , a caste of open status , which at times claimed Brahminhood but more usually was identified with mercantile activity ( the Portuguese usually term them chatins , from chetti )
When the Dutch established a factory in the port of Wingurla , they dealt with a number of Hindu merchant suppliers of the neighbourhood . Hindu merchants , Konkanis and Saraswats , were located southwards in the Kanarese ports and Goa . They traded in the Bijapur ports of Wingurla and Raybag , being the major suppliers there of pepper and rice which they brought from Kanara . A prominent merchant of the 1670s with extensive dealings with the Nayak was Polpot Nayak.
The Saraswat Brahmin communities and the fishermen have traditionally been heavily involved in trade and seafaring, for this was a poor land: the soil was threatened by salinization, the harvest by the erratic rains.
The jati disputes were not a rare occurrence in Maharashtra. There are recorded instances of disputes between jatis such as Chandraseniya Kayastha Prabhus and the Chitpawans, Pathare Prabhus and the Chitpawans, Saraswats and the Chitpawans and Shukla Yajurvedi and the Chitpawans. These intra-caste dispute involving the supposed violation of the Brahmanical ritual code of behavior was called Gramanya in marathi.
Shennoy Goembab, the great Konkani writer and scholar, himself a Saraswat Brahmin by caste ,
Deshpande a college graduate from a progressive Gaud Saraswat Brahmin community..
The Portuguese were first European traders to arrive at the ports of South Kanara. On the eve of the arrival of the Portuguese, South Kanara comprised of large number of major and minor ports. There existed trade with Malabar, Maldives and ports of the Red Sea. There also existed the trading communities like the Arabs, Jews, Saraswats, Telugu Komatis, Navayats and others. International trade was not new to the traders of South Kanara. The traders dealt with commodities like rice, pepper, ginger and other spices. The arrival of Portuguese helped in enhancing the volume of trade in the ports of South Kanara.
In 1632, the agent of the Portuguese sent their men to Mangalore to procure saltpetre from Mangalore. The trading community of Mangalore consisted of Muslims, Saraswats, Komatis, Virashaiva traders of Karnataka,Christians, Gujaratis, traders from Kerala and foreign traders belonging to Red Sea ports. According to the Livro do Cartazes,during the period from 1705 to 1724 about 8600 khandis were exported to different markets. The destinations of Mangalore trade were Malabar, Goa, Surat, Bengal, Malacca, Maldives,Mecca, Aden, Congo, Hormuz and Ceylon
the period from 1500 to 1650 , one finds certain communities which appear to dominate external commerce : Mappilas and a heterogenous group of Middle Eastern Muslims in Malabar , Saraswats and Navayat Muslims in the Kanara region
Saraswatis claim that they come from the Brahmin caste – hence their name - but others believe that they are usurpers using some fake brahmin ancestry to maintain their superiority.
In fact, marriages between Saraswat and non-Saraswat Brahmins are on the increase though they were unheard of before, mainly because the Saraswats eat fish and occasionally meat, while all other Brahmins are vegetarians.
The Saraswat Brahman are an ancient and a dynamic community of India, spread from Kashmir to Konkan. They are divided into various territorial endogamous groups, who at one time did not intermarry.
There are even reports of certain Brahmin (Bengali Brahmins, Oriya Brahmins, Brahmins of certain parts of Bihar, Saraswat Brahmins of northern India, and Kashmiri Pandits) eating fish.
Saraswats are mainly vegetarians but are permitted to eat fish.
In Maharashtra among most Brahmin castes non-vegetarian food is taboo but the Saraswat Brahmins eat fish.
Rajapura Saraswat ( Rajapuri ) are loosely referred to as Nayaka ... The Rajapura Saraswat are mostly vegetarian , rice being their chief food , but some use fish , and rear fowls..
_by_Sophie_Charlotte_Belnos%2c_digitally_enhanced_by_rawpixel-com_16.jpg)
