https://en.bharatpedia.org/w/index.php?action=history&feed=atom&title=ShettShett - Revision history2026-11-14T14:58:17ZRevision history for this page on the wikiMediaWiki 1.43.6https://en.bharatpedia.org/w/index.php?title=Shett&diff=146465&oldid=previmported>Kedar U Shet: Shet in kannada was changed.2021-06-21T18:27:01Z<p>Shet in kannada was changed.</p>
<p><b>New page</b></p><div>{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2017}}<br />
{{Use Indian English|date=June 2017}}<br />
'''Shet''' (also spelt as '''Shet''') ({{lang-knn|शेट}}, {{lang-kn|ಶೇಟ್}}) is a name given to the [[Daivajna]]s of [[Konkani people|Konkani]] origin residing on the west coast of [[India]]. It is also an honorific title and a common surname used by them in [[Goa]], [[Daman District, India|Damaon]], [[Konkan|Coastal Maharashtra]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daivadnya_Brahmin|title=Daivadnya Brahmin - Wikipedia|website=en.m.wikipedia.org|language=en|access-date=2020-01-21}}</ref>{{Circular reference|date=June 2020}}& [[Coastal Karnataka]].<ref name=shet /><br />
[[File:Shetgentleman.jpg|thumb|upright|A Shett gentlemen from [[Goa]], late 18th&nbsp;– early 19th century (Courtesy: Gomant Kalika, Nutan Samvatsar Visheshank, April 2002)]]<br />
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==Etymology==<br />
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The word ''Shet'' is derived from the [[Sanskrit]] word {{IAST|Śreṣṭha}} ([[Devanagari]]: {{script|Deva|श्रेष्ठ}}) or {{IAST|Śreṣṭhin}} ({{script|Deva|श्रेष्ठीन्}}, ‘superior’), [[Prakrit]]ised as {{IAST|Seṭhī}} ({{script|Deva|सेठी}}), and then {{IAST|Śeṭ}} ({{script|Deva|शेट}}) or {{IAST|Śeṭī}} ({{script|Deva|शेट}}) in modern Indo-Aryan dialects.<ref>''Gomantak Prakruti ani Sanskruti'', Part-1, Page-221 by B.D. Satoskar, Shubhada Publication</ref><br />
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The guilds of the traders, merchants, bankers as well as moneylanders (''mahjana''), administrators of various institutions and their employees in ancient Goa, like other parts in India, were called as [[shreni|{{IAST|śreṇī}}]], and the head of these guilds were called as Śreṣṭha or Śreṣṭhīn, which would mean ''His Excellency''.<ref name="set">{{cite book|title=Census of India, 1961 |publisher=India. Office of the Registrar General|year=1962|volume= v. 11, pt. 6, no. 14 |pages=14}}</ref><br />
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==Usage==<br />
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Various [[Romanization|Romanised]] versions found during the colonial period include ''Chatim, Xete, Xetim, Xatim, Chati, Sette'' etc.<ref name=s1>{{cite book|last=Pearson|first=Michael Naylor|title=Coastal western India: studies from the Portuguese records Issue 2 of XCHR studies series|year=1981|publisher=Concept Publishing Company|isbn=9788170221609|pages=149 pages(see:102,126,127)}}</ref><ref name=s2>{{cite book|last=Shirodkar|first=Prakashchandra P.|title=Researches in Indo-Portuguese history, Volume 1|year=1998|publisher=Publication Scheme|isbn=9788186782156|pages=194}}</ref><br />
Alternatively it is also spelled as ''Shet, Sait, Shetty'' nowadays.<br />
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Before the [[Goa Inquisition]], Daivajna men used the titles ''Sethi'' etc. after their first names. e.g. ''Virupa Chattim, Gana Sethi'' etc. Father's name was used as a middle name. Daivajna diaspora started using village names after their first names to distinguish themselves from other communities. Daivajna people still in Goa still use to continue it as an honorific title. Due to various socio-economic reasons Daivajna people migrated from [[Goa]] to other places. Some started using ''Shet'' as their surname just to distinguish themselves from others (especially in [[South Canara]], [[Udupi]], [[Shimoga]] and in some parts of [[North Canara]].<ref name=shet>{{cite book|last=Karnataka (India)|title=Karnataka State gazetteer, Volume 16|year=1985|publisher=Printed by the Director of Print, Stationery and Publications at the Govt. Press|location=Karnataka|pages=254}}</ref><br />
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Few Daivajna families who converted to Catholicism migrated to [[Mangalore]] due to attacks by the [[Maratha]]s in Goa during the late 17th and early 18th century.<ref name="dm">{{Citation|url=http://www.dioceseofmangalore.org/history.asp|title= Christianity in Mangalore|access-date=30 July 2008|publisher=[[Roman Catholic Diocese of Mangalore|Diocese of Mangalore]] |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080622155343/http://www.dioceseofmangalore.org/history.asp |archive-date = 22 June 2008}}</ref><ref name="pin5">{{Harvcolnb|Pinto|1999}}, p. 124</ref> These families still use the title Śeṭ.<ref name="pinto">{{Citation|last=Pinto|first=Pius Fidelis|title=History of Christians in coastal Karnataka, 1500–1763 A.D.|publisher=Samanvaya Prakashan|location=Mangalore|year=1999|pages=168}}</ref> The ''Saldanha-Shet'' family is one of the well known [[Mangalorean Catholics|Konkani Catholic]] families from Mangalore.<ref name="kranti">{{Citation|last=Farias|first= Kranti|title=The Christian impact in South Kanara |publisher=Church History Association of India|year=1999|pages=279}}</ref><br />
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==Historical references==<br />
*The earliest reference to the word ''Shreshthi'', in Goa are found in a [[Indian copper plate inscriptions|copper-plate inscription]], dating early 4th century mentioning certain ''Aditya Shreshthi'' of [[Shiroda, Goa]] who was a head of a guild, which was issued by the [[Bhojas of Goa|Bhoja]] king, ''Kapalivarman''.<ref name="adi">{{cite book|last1=De Souza|first1=Teotonio R. De Souza|title=Goa Through the Ages, Volume 2|date=1990|publisher=Concept Publishing Company| isbn=9788170222590|page=119}}</ref><br />
*Southern [[Shilahara]] copper-plates mention ''Durga shreshthi'', ''Babbhana shresthi'' as their ministers.<br />
*Names of many traders like ''Naga Sette,Gomo Sette,Bhaira Sette'' have been found in a copperplate dating back to 1348 AD.<ref>{{cite book|last= Pereira|first=Rui Gomes|title=Goa|year=1978|pages=179|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pMwdDpm0IoMC&q=khategrama|language=en,pt}}</ref><br />
*[[Kasarpal]] copperplate dating 1436 AD mentionis ''Rupa Sheti'' and his son ''Lakshmana Sheti'', whom a certain Brahmin ''Nagavdeva'' donated the village of Varandem (which includes Kasarpal).<ref name=kalika>{{cite book|last1=Gomes Pereira|first1=Pereira|title=Hindu temples and deities(tranlslated from the original in Portuguese by Antonio Victor Couto)|date=1978|publisher=Perera|location=Panaji|pages=121–122}}</ref><br />
*''Gana Sethi'' or ''Gana Chatim'' (as his name appears in the old [[Portugal|Portuguese]] documents) was an interpreter in [[Portugal]]'s royal court.<ref name="ReferenceA">"Gomantak Prakruti ani Sanskruti" by B.D. Satoskar, published by Shubhada Publication</ref><br />
*Ravala Sethi or ''Roulu Chatim'', a certain merchant of ''Caraim'' (name mentioned in 15th-century documents)<ref>"The Portuguese empire, 1415-1808" By A. J. R. Russell-Wood, Page 105</ref><br />
*Virupa Sethi in the 16th century who protested against the Portuguese.<ref name="Xavier 269 -295">{{Citation|last=Xavier|first=Ângela Barreto|title=Disquiet on the island: Conversion, conflicts and conformity in sixteenth-century Goa|date=September 2007|series=Indian Economic & Social History Review|volume=44|pages=269–295}}</ref><br />
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==See also==<br />
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*[[Shetty]]<br />
*[[Sheth]]<br />
*[[Sethi (disambiguation)|Sethi]]<br />
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==References==<br />
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{{reflist}}<br />
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[[Category:Social groups of India]]<br />
[[Category:Konkani]]<br />
[[Category:Religion in Goa]]<br />
[[Category:Social groups of Goa]]<br />
[[Category:Social groups of Karnataka]]<br />
[[Category:Indian surnames]]<br />
[[Category:Konkani-language surnames]]</div>imported>Kedar U Shet