Saraswat Brahmin: Difference between revisions

Saraswats Brahmins fall under the [[Pancha Gauda|Pancha Gauda Brahmin]] classification of the Brahmin community in India.  

In [[Karnataka]] and [[Kerala]], Majority of Gaud Saraswat Brahmins are followers of [[Madhvacharya]], while the Chitrapur Saraswat Brahmins are Smarthas, followers of [[Adi Shankara]].<ref>{{cite book|title=South Indians in Kolkata: History of Kannadigas, Konkanis, Malayalees, Tamilians, Telugus, South Indian Dishes, and Tippoo Sultan's Heirs in Calcutta|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=swNuAAAAMAAJ|page=93|author=P. Thankappan Nair|publisher=Punthi Pustak|year=2004|isbn = 9788186791509|quote=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.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Karnataka State Gazetteer: South Kanara|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jooBAAAAMAAJ|page=111|publisher=Director of Print., Stationery and Publications at the Government Press|year=1973|quote=The Gauda Saraswats are the Madhva Vaishnavite Saraswat Brahmins, while the Saraswats [Chitrapur] have continued to be Smarthas.}}</ref><ref name="S. Anees Siraj 2012 189">{{cite book|title=Karnataka State: Udupi District|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LGiex76a5-kC&q=madhva|author=S. Anees Siraj|publisher=Government of Karnataka, Karnataka Gazetteer Department|year=2012|page=189}}</ref> Writer [[Chandrakant Keni]] and former [[Indian Civil Service|I.C.S]] officer V. N. Kudva says, "The majority of the Saraswats, including those in [[Goa]], are now [[Vaishnava]]s".<ref>{{cite book|title=Saraswats in Goa and Beyond|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=B0NuAAAAMAAJ|author=Chandrakant Keni|publisher=Murgaon Mutt Sankul Samiti|year=1998|page=62|quote=The majority of the Saraswats , including those in Goa , are now Vaishnavas}}</ref><ref name="archive.org">{{cite book|title=The Illustrated Weekly of India, Volume 91, Part 2|url=https://archive.org/details/dli.bengal.10689.12084|publisher=Published for the proprietors, Bennett, Coleman & Company, Limited, at the Times of India Press|year=1970|page=[https://archive.org/details/dli.bengal.10689.12084/page/n411 63]|quote=The Saraswats are largely a vegetarian community, whose coconut- based cuisine is famed for its variety.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=History of the Dakshinatya Saraswats|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=x0NuAAAAMAAJ|page=154|author=Venkataraya Narayan Kudva|publisher=Samyukta Gowda Saraswata Sabha|year=1972|quote=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.}}</ref>

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]].<ref name="Pearson Education India"/> They were spread over a wide area in northern part of the Indian subcontinent. One group lived in coastal [[Sindh]] and [[Gujarat]], this group migrated to [[Bombay State]] after the [[partition of India]] in 1947. One group was found in [[Punjab, British India|pre-partition Punjab]] and [[Kashmir]] most of these migrated away from Pakistan after 1947. Another branch known as Dakshinatraya Saraswat Brahmin are now found along the [[Konkan coast|western coast of India]].<ref name="JGL_2002">{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/illustratedencyc0000loch |url-access=registration |title=The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Hinduism: N-Z |author=James G. Lochtefeld |publisher=Rosen |year=2002 |isbn=9780823931804 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/illustratedencyc0000loch/page/490 490]–491}}</ref><ref>Dakshinatya Sarasvats: Tale of an Enterprising Community,page 6</ref>

Saraswats have contributed to the fields of Sanskrit, Konkani, Marathi and Kannada literature and philosophy. All the mathadhipathi's of [[Kashi Math]], [[Gokarna Math]], [[Kavale Math]] and [[Chitrapur Math]] without a single exception are from the Saraswat Brahmin community.{{Sfn|Sharma|2000|p=474}}{{Sfn|Sharma|2000|p=577}} The 17th century Madhva Saraswat scholar, Sagara Ramacharya, the author of ''Konkanabhyudhaya'',{{Sfn|Sharma|2000|p=580}} the 19th century Konkani scholar [[Shenoi Goembab]],<ref>{{cite book|title=Goa|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rl9uAAAAMAAJ|page=176|author=Olivinho Gomes|publisher=National Book Trust, India|year=2004|isbn = 9788123741390|quote=Shennoy Goembab , the great Konkani writer and scholar , himself a Saraswat Brahmin by caste ,}}</ref> and the 20th century multi-faceted [[Marathi language|Marathi]] scholar [[Purushottam Laxman Deshpande]]<ref>{{cite journal|title=Economic and Political Weekly, Volume 14|page=1519|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NauwAAAAIAAJ&q=deshpande&pg=PA1519|quote=Deshpande a college graduate from a progressive Gaud Saraswat Brahmin community..|publisher=Sameeksha Trust|year=1979}}</ref> are some of the prominent scholars from the Saraswat Brahmin community.

Advaita saints such as [[Gaudapada]], grand-teacher of the philosopher [[Adi Shankara|Shankaracharya]], [[Sureśvara]], the first peetadhipathi of [[Sringeri Sharada Peetham]], [[Mandana Mishra]],<ref>{{cite book|title=South Indians in Kolkata: History of Kannadigas, Konkanis, Malayalees, Tamilians, Telugus, South Indian Dishes, and Tippoo Sultan's Heirs in Calcutta|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=swNuAAAAMAAJ|author=P. Thankappan Nair|publisher=Punthi Pustak|year=2004|page=93|isbn = 9788186791509|quote=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 ...}}</ref> and [[Parijnanashram I]], the first peetadhipathi of [[Chitrapur Math]]; the Vaishnava saints such as [[Surdas]],<ref>{{cite book|title=Medieval Indian Literature, an Anthology: Selections (Gujarati - Konkani)|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=M81jAAAAMAAJ|page=457|publisher=Sahitya Akademi|year=1997|quote=SURDAS ( Sürdās , 1488 - 1591 ) was born in the village of Sihi, near Delhi, as the son of Ram Das, a Saraswat Brahmin.}}</ref> Narayana Tirtha,{{Sfn|Sharma|2000|p=578}} the first peetadhipathi of [[Gokarna Math]] and Yadavendra Tirtha,{{Sfn|Sharma|2000|p=578}} the first peetadhipathi of [[Kashi Math]], are some of the prominent saints from the Saraswat Brahmin community.

Historically, in Maharashtra, Saraswats had served as low and medium level administrators under the [[Deccan Sultanates]] for generations. In 18th century, the quasi-independent [[Shinde]] and the [[Holkar]] rulers of [[Malwa]] 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.<ref>{{Cite book|title= The Marathas 1600-1818, Volume 2|last=Gordon|first=Stewart|publisher=Cambridge university press|date=2017|pages=130–145|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iHK-BhVXOU4C&q=Saraswat+&pg=PA109|isbn=9780521033169}}</ref> During the rule of the [[Chitpavan]] Brahmin [[Maratha Peshwa and Generals from Bhat Family|Peshwas]] in the 18th century, Saraswat Brahmins was one of the communities against whom the Chitpavans conducted a social war which led to [[Gramanya]] (inter-caste dispute).<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Chitpwans |last=Gokhale|first=Sandhya|publisher=Shubhi Publications|date=2008|pages=204|quote=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.}}</ref>

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)  

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.<ref>http://www.michaelwitzel.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/KashmiriBrahmins1.pdf</ref>

Anthropologist Karen Michaelson states that even after Independence, Saraswats of Bombay, are not considered{{By whom|date=January 2021}} part of the Brahmin community and thus ritually lower than the Brahmins. She gives that as the reason for the Brahmins to not eat cooked food from the Saraswat household.<ref name="Michaelson1973">{{cite book|author=Karen L. Michaelson|title=Class, Caste, and Network in Suburban Bombay: Adaptive Strategies Among the Middle Class|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QOXHAAAAMAAJ|year=1973|page=132|publisher=University of Wisconsin, Madison|quote=A pure Brahmin woman frequently sent plates of batata wada to a Maratha couple upstairs for their morning tea. The Maratha woman filled the plate with sweets on returning it .A Saraswat woman frequently had tea at a pure Brahmin's apartment [....]Although the pure Brahmin occasionally had tea at the Saraswat household , I never saw her eat anything but sweets. In both these cases , and many others , the higher caste gave cooked food ( which carries pollution easily ) to the lower caste .  The lower caste individual provided sweets which usually are ritually neutral .}}</ref>

In [[Karnataka]], Saraswat Brahmins are mainly concentrated in the coastal [[Kanara]] region. The sub-groups among Saraswats are [[Gaud Saraswat Brahmins]], [[Chitrapur Saraswat Brahmins]] and [[Rajapur Saraswat Brahmins]] are largely vegetarians.<ref name="S. Anees Siraj 2012 189"/><ref name="archive.org"/>