GAUDA SARASWATH BRAHMINS


I had written about Sanketi Brahmin who are found in Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu but mostly in Karnataka. They speak a dialect which is a mixture of Kannada, Tamil and Malayalam. Now I am giving about another Brahmin section of people who are smarthas
like us all, but considered lower in status among brahmins belonging to IYER and others. They are popularly known as GSBs or Gauda Saraswath Brahmin, I have also a doubt that
they derived the name from their GURU and founder , GAUDACHARYA and from the
the river Saraswathi since they came from thwe villages on the banks of this mythical river.

According to WIKIPEDIA :-

“The exact origin of the Saraswat Brahmins is difficult to ascertain. The Saraswat Brahmins are mentioned in the Vedas, the Ramayana, the Mahabharata, the Bhagavata and even in the Bhavisyottara Purana.Either they may have come from Central Asia to the Indian sub-continent through the Hindu-Kush mountains and the Khyber pass to south in about 2000-1500 B.C or they were Indigenous”

There are two different versions about their origin. According to one version they are the off-springs of Goddess SARASWATHY, the mother of Knowledge. The other one which is believed by many writers of History, is that they are Brahmins who came from villages which were on the banks of the mythical river, the Saraswathy. There are two types of Gauda Saraswath Brahmins Viz : followers of (1) GAUDACHARYA. (2) Followers of Madhwacharya.

Friends, I had written that Adi Shankara was the disciple of Govinndacharya whose Guru or Preceptor was Gaudacharya who taught monism or ADVAITHA to HH.Govindacharya who in turn taught HH. Adi Shankara. Although, we consider them inferior to us because they eat fish etc, they are the first followers of ADVAITHA preached by GAUDACHARYA, who is Adi Shankara’s preceptor’s preceptor., The first Mutt of Gaudacharya was constructed by these Gauda Saraswat Brahmins in Goa at KELOSHI which was destructed by portughese and hence they rebuilt it in another part of Goa called KAVALE MUTT which is considered as the ADI MUTT by Gauda Saraswath Brahmins. “They derived their name from either the river Saraswati or from their spiritual leader Great Sage Saraswat Muni who lived on the banks of the River Saraswati. These Brahmins were one of the Pancha Gowda Brahmin groups who lived north of the Vindhyas. They belonged to Smarta tradition and primarily worshiped the five deities: Shiva, Vishnu, Devi, Surya and Ganesha.”However, when MADHWACHARYA while returning from North India to UDUPI came via GOA and converted few of then to MADHWA CULT.
These Brahmins can be seen in KERALA especially in erstwhile North Malabar, Koshikode, Eranakulam etc. At Eranakulam, they have built a temple called THIRUMALA VEKATESWARAR TEMPLE. There is a story about this Temple
“STORY OF THE COCHIN VENKATEWARA DEITY”
“Sri Vijayindra Tirtha of Kumbakonam mutt gave this magnificent idol of Lord Venkatewara to the GSB community at Cochin.
The story
During 15th Century AD, the Vijayanagar Kingdom was ruled by a pious king Saluva Narasimha, one of the popular royal dynasties of ancient India. This king was an ardent devotee of Lord Venkateswara of Tirupati and used to visit the temple by walking up the hill for worship. When the king became old, and incapable to walk, it is said that the king's prayers were answered by the Lord.
One day a sculptor appeared before him and agreed to make an idol of the Lord for his daily worship. The king gave the sculptor the required materials for making the idol and the sculptor shut himself up in a room. As he did not come out of the room even after a reasonably long period, the room was broken open only to see the idol of the Lord, the sculptor missing. It is believed that the Lord himself came as the sculptor and the idol is considered as Swayambhu or self born. The king built a temple for the idol and he was instructed by the Lord in his dreams to consecrate the idol during the auspicious time, when the heavenly drums dundubhi would be heard. As fate would have it, some crows happened to fly over the royal drums with twigs in their beaks and the twigs accidentally dropped on the drums producing a sound, which was mistaken for the auspicious hour indicated by the Lord. The idol was duely consecrated at that hour which was inauspicious.The grief stricken king was pacified by the Lord in his dreams that He would remain with him till his death, after which he would leave for a place by name Gosripuram. After the demise of the king, a great fire broke out in the kingdom and the idol was thrown into a dilapidated well. As the legend has it, Swami Vijayendra Thirtha of Sree Kumbhakonam Mutt who happened to traverse that region during one of his tours, is said to have been led by a serpent to the well wherein the idol of the Lord was deposited. The Swamiji recovered the idol from the well and started worshipping the idol along with his other idols. Swami Vijayendra Tirtha visited Cochin and performed Chaturmasa Vrita among the Gowda Saraswat Brahmin Community of Cochin. Upon seeing the radiance of the idol, the community of Cochin under the leadership of Sri Mala Pai, requested the idol from the Swamiji. The Swamiji agreed to hand over the idol in exchange for a heap of gold coins that would immerse the idol. All the gold coins brought in by the wealthy Mala Pai could cover only the body of the idol and not its tip. It was presumed that the Lord did not want to stay at cochin as a property of an individual. Only gold coins and ornaments brought in from the home of every community member could cover the tip of the idol. Kanakabishekam, a symbolic ritual of this immersion of the idol in gold is performed to the Lord even to this day during any special occasion.”
I feel these section of GAUD SARASWATHS belong to MADHWA tradition. Who are called Vaishnava Saraswats .
In Kerala these brahmins are called കൊങ്ങിണി ചെട്ടികള്‍. ( KONGINI CHETTIKAL ), although, they are also Brahmins like us.
The following are the MUTTS OF GAUDA SARSWATH BRAHMINS in which TWO are of Gauda Saraswat Brahmins belonging to MADHWA TRADITINS AND THE OTHER TWO OF ADVAITHA TRADITION respectively ::-
(1) SRI. KASHI MUTT of Varanasi (2) GOKARNA MUTT ( Both MADHWA SAMPRADAYA )
(3) SRI CHITRAPUR MUTT AND (4) SRI GAUDA PAADAACHAARYA MUTT both
ADVAITHA SCHOOL OF THOUGHT.


The subects in Gauda Saraswath Brahmins are VENSARKAR, ASGAONKAR,SHIRODKAR,GAVASKAR,TENDULKAR,WAGLE, RAJADYAKSHA MALLAYAS, SHENOYS, PAIS, KAMATHS, KINIS, NAYAK, BALIGAS, BHATTS, ACHARYAS, VAADYARS, PUROHITS, PRABHUS Etc.

Among Gauda Saraswath Brahmins, we see some wearing one NAMA in Red Sindhoor vertically and some others wearing Bhasma in parallel. three rows on their foreheads. . This must be because some adhered to their original SMARTHA TRADITION and others converted to MADHA TRADITION. Friends, among tamil Brahmins also we see in Palakkad some wearing one red Nama and others wearing Bhasma. In west Village of Pallassana most of the Brahmins wear GOPI CHANDANA on their forehead.

Friends, a peculiarity with Gauda Sarasath Brahmins is that some of them adopted their surnames as the village of origin and others their profession..

They all belong to one or the other Gothra as we all belong such as Bharadwaja, Kausika,
Srivatsa. Kaundinya, Kashapa, Atri, Vasishta, Viswamithra, Garga , Bhargava etc.

They also conduct UPANAYANAM like us which they call MUNJI ( Probably a KONKINI derivation for Upanayanam ) to boys when they attain 8 years of age. They have also KULADAIVAM like us.

The SMARTHA GAUDA SARASWATH BRAHMINS believe in MANGESH TEMPLE which is in Goa dedicated to Lord Shiva. I have gone to this old temple which they say is 400 years old. They, in general believe in Five deities in the form of Shiva, Vishnu, Durga, Surya and Ganapati. ( PANCHAYATHA}.like us ( आदित्य्मंबिकां विष्णुं गणनाथं महॆश्वरं ) SHIVA PANCHAYATHANA POOJA.

Just like we brahmins, they also perform marriage by performing VARA POOJA, Naandi NISCHITHAMBOOLAM Etc.

They do not give or take girls from their own GOTHRA as we brahmins follow. Some of the Gothras to which they belong are given below :- (1) BHARDWAJA (2) KAUSIKA (3) SREEVATSA (4) KASHYAPA (5) KAUNDINYA (6) ATHRI (7) VASISHTA (8) GAUTHAMA etc. They perform Thrikala Sandhya Vandana like us

The death ceremony is also for 13 days like us and they also cremate the body.In short, they also follow all the rituals which we perform . It is unfortunate that they are not treated at par with all brahims although there are mention about them in our VEDAS, SHASTRAS etc.
______________________________