This is an article dedicated to the Konkani speaking Goud Saraswath Brahmin (GSB) Family. This is written specially for the Goud Saraswath audience. If you are not a Goud Saraswath Brahmin, this post may bore you. But if you are curious to know from where this Pai’s, Kamath’s, Shenoy’s, Nayak’s… came and a little bit of their history you may like this article.
Recently I had been on a small trip to Goa which inspired me to write this long article. So what makes us visit Goa?? Most of us know what makes Goa special for our community. Anyways let me elaborate it to those who don’t have the habit of digging history of their forefathers.
There may be mistakes as there are many articles like this. I would be more than happy to hear your suggestion and rectify them. So please comment at bottom of this page if you want any editing.
It’s told that most of GSB’s lived at Sashashti (Salcette, Goa) and Tiswadi. There were about 66 settlements of GSB’s in Sashashti and 30 settlements at Tiswadi, and hence the name for these places. My ancestors lived at Kudtheri (Curtorim, Goa) as my Kuldevatha is Kudtheri Mahamaya. Every family belonged to a Kuldevatha temple around which they lived doing their work, most of the times hereditary work. Also they had the Guru of Kavle Mutt, who guided them and who lived a saint life for the spiritual prosperity of the Community. According to my source, only Kavle Mutt of Smartha Sampradaya existed in that time. Guru had the power to rule their shishya gana and it was propagated through Rayasapathra with recognition from the ruler of the Land.
For example Pais’ & Kamaths’ did farming related work; this is evident from the fact that Kudtheri even now have lot of lush green fields. And the Shenoys’ did the Accounting related works, Prabhus’ the landlords and Nayaks’ were soldiers according to legends. There was no restriction for inter-marriage except when the Gothra’s or Kuladevatha’s were same.
So this small set of 96 families, dwellers of banks of river Saraswathi, lived a peaceful life at Sashashti and Tiswadi. Those days these places were a collection of small Kingdoms. And at times there was Muslim rule but they were not as harsh as the Portuguese. It was when the Portuguese arrived at the dawn of 1500’s that this peaceful community was affected the cruelty of rulers. Portuguese had the notorious divide and rule policy by which they forcibly converted the people of places under their rule to Christianity. They gave only two options either get converted or leave the place. They destroyed all temples that were in the places they conquered and built churches in those places.
And in one such incident our beloved temples at Kudtheri was destroyed and the St. Alex church was built at the very place which still stands tall. There are remains of Ravalnath temple at Kudtheri even today.
Aftermath was disastrous. Goa had more Christians than Hindus and those left were lured to Christainity by money and land. This hugely affected the Goud Saraswath Brahmins. Many GSB people turned to Christainity, and from a source I found that first person to turn to Christainity at Kudtheri was a Pai.
A small section of Goud Saraswaths who considered preservation of their faith and culture their priority than earning wealth went on a long migration with remaining people and idols of their Kuldevatha temples to Hindu Kingdoms in Karnataka, Kerala and Maharashtra.
Just think they had to travel on foot with all that was left after the Portuguese conquest to places they never been to in a do or die mission. Yea, you may think they may have boarded ships, no, those days Brahmins were not allowed to travel by Sea, in case they travelled, they were not considered Brahmins anymore. They had to go through thick & wild forests and Muslim ruled places which were hostile towards Hindus & would have soldiers who will make them Muslim by Sunnath.
To their luck, those days Hindu rulers respected and recognized the Brahmins, even though they faced opposition from the Brahmins of those Kingdoms as Goud Saraswaths were not able to claim a Guru to be Brahmin. Due to this classification by native Brahmins, Goud Saraswaths took all kinds of jobs, but most of them managed to be close to the rulers by their intellect in foreign languages as well as accounting and warm behaviour. Rest did living with business of all kinds. They were gifted with land to live and construct temples by rulers due to their immense interest to preserve their culture and temples.
As I live in Kerala, let me tell about the Kochi Tirumala Temple. It’s one of the largest temples of our Community. And it was only due to the wish of GSB’s of Kochi the much revered Kashi Mutt as well as the Tirumala temple came into existence. That was the way Goud Saraswaths thrived in Kochi with their Business. Only during the rule of Shakthan Thampuran they faced some atrocities because he thought Goud Saraswaths were spies of British. Indeed it was. Some rich GSB turned landlords were closer to the British.
So all this same old story, what’s new in this???
Yea, I wrote this much just to reach this one paragraph. And if you won’t read the following paragraphs being a GSB you lose the essence of the whole long article.
Take the case of the First Generation which left everything from Goa just for the sake of preserving a small community called Goud Saraswath Brahmins. They were sacrificing their motherland for the preservation of their community and that too was not granted. They were not even sure if their community will be preserved or not. In case they would have adopted the new religion, they could have lived peacefully with more wealth than they actually had.
They didn’t!! They were determined to sacrifice their motherland for preserving their culture.
Are we preserving our culture and tradition now??
I think most of us will tell yes for this. But I personally feel we are not.
WHY???
Yea, about 80% of our traditions are still preserved due to the blessings of Gurus of all the Mutts.
But 21st Century is not all that pure as it was in 14th Century.
Our food habits changed. Most of us are ready to eat anything that tempts our taste buds. Most of us go to temples, yea but not for much spiritual refreshment. A huge chunk of youths think talking English is more fashionable than Konkani. I was shocked when I had to talk in English to Priest of a prominent GSB temple. Another group of people love segregating the people of community and use the latest abuses in English not even thinking of the meaning of those words.
Yea, I know you would point out “WHY I USED ENGLISH HERE??” . May be I am wrong. But it may get confusing and little tough to read Konkani in English script. So I felt it’s better to write in English and then convert to Konkani for those die-hard Konkani fans.
From the time I imbibed into myself the sacrifices and values of my forefathers I was able to become more traditional than I was. I felt like I insulted my forefathers whenever I used an abuse.
Whenever I talked with GSB’s, I used Konkani most of times, unless when the person doesn’t know much Konkani. I also joined the Save My Language page on facebook.com for enriching our language and volunteered actively for the enrichment of the Konkani English Dictionary at savemylanguage.org. And I became a vegetarian also. And started going frequently to most of the temples of Goud Saraswath Brahmins in most places so that I can cover almost all the temples constructed by our community. I am still inspired by the sacrifices of my forefathers. And I am trying my best to preserve the cultural heritage and Konkani.
This is my humble list of changes. I would like many more changes.
Please remember we are all indebted to our Forefathers and Gurus for what we have achieved today.
I would be blessed by Gods if at least one GSB gets inspired by the sacrifices of our forefathers and revive himself (herself) to some extent.
And I would like a United GSB which strongly works for the betterment of society and thrashes the antisocial elements.
Please don’t mistake me for a right wing communal agent. :D
I would like your suggestions as well as comments good or bad.
Please hit the like button below if you liked this post and want more GSB people read it and get inspired by the Story of Migration of our forefathers.
Recently I had been on a small trip to Goa which inspired me to write this long article. So what makes us visit Goa?? Most of us know what makes Goa special for our community. Anyways let me elaborate it to those who don’t have the habit of digging history of their forefathers.
There may be mistakes as there are many articles like this. I would be more than happy to hear your suggestion and rectify them. So please comment at bottom of this page if you want any editing.
It’s told that most of GSB’s lived at Sashashti (Salcette, Goa) and Tiswadi. There were about 66 settlements of GSB’s in Sashashti and 30 settlements at Tiswadi, and hence the name for these places. My ancestors lived at Kudtheri (Curtorim, Goa) as my Kuldevatha is Kudtheri Mahamaya. Every family belonged to a Kuldevatha temple around which they lived doing their work, most of the times hereditary work. Also they had the Guru of Kavle Mutt, who guided them and who lived a saint life for the spiritual prosperity of the Community. According to my source, only Kavle Mutt of Smartha Sampradaya existed in that time. Guru had the power to rule their shishya gana and it was propagated through Rayasapathra with recognition from the ruler of the Land.
For example Pais’ & Kamaths’ did farming related work; this is evident from the fact that Kudtheri even now have lot of lush green fields. And the Shenoys’ did the Accounting related works, Prabhus’ the landlords and Nayaks’ were soldiers according to legends. There was no restriction for inter-marriage except when the Gothra’s or Kuladevatha’s were same.
So this small set of 96 families, dwellers of banks of river Saraswathi, lived a peaceful life at Sashashti and Tiswadi. Those days these places were a collection of small Kingdoms. And at times there was Muslim rule but they were not as harsh as the Portuguese. It was when the Portuguese arrived at the dawn of 1500’s that this peaceful community was affected the cruelty of rulers. Portuguese had the notorious divide and rule policy by which they forcibly converted the people of places under their rule to Christianity. They gave only two options either get converted or leave the place. They destroyed all temples that were in the places they conquered and built churches in those places.
And in one such incident our beloved temples at Kudtheri was destroyed and the St. Alex church was built at the very place which still stands tall. There are remains of Ravalnath temple at Kudtheri even today.
Aftermath was disastrous. Goa had more Christians than Hindus and those left were lured to Christainity by money and land. This hugely affected the Goud Saraswath Brahmins. Many GSB people turned to Christainity, and from a source I found that first person to turn to Christainity at Kudtheri was a Pai.
A small section of Goud Saraswaths who considered preservation of their faith and culture their priority than earning wealth went on a long migration with remaining people and idols of their Kuldevatha temples to Hindu Kingdoms in Karnataka, Kerala and Maharashtra.
Just think they had to travel on foot with all that was left after the Portuguese conquest to places they never been to in a do or die mission. Yea, you may think they may have boarded ships, no, those days Brahmins were not allowed to travel by Sea, in case they travelled, they were not considered Brahmins anymore. They had to go through thick & wild forests and Muslim ruled places which were hostile towards Hindus & would have soldiers who will make them Muslim by Sunnath.
To their luck, those days Hindu rulers respected and recognized the Brahmins, even though they faced opposition from the Brahmins of those Kingdoms as Goud Saraswaths were not able to claim a Guru to be Brahmin. Due to this classification by native Brahmins, Goud Saraswaths took all kinds of jobs, but most of them managed to be close to the rulers by their intellect in foreign languages as well as accounting and warm behaviour. Rest did living with business of all kinds. They were gifted with land to live and construct temples by rulers due to their immense interest to preserve their culture and temples.
As I live in Kerala, let me tell about the Kochi Tirumala Temple. It’s one of the largest temples of our Community. And it was only due to the wish of GSB’s of Kochi the much revered Kashi Mutt as well as the Tirumala temple came into existence. That was the way Goud Saraswaths thrived in Kochi with their Business. Only during the rule of Shakthan Thampuran they faced some atrocities because he thought Goud Saraswaths were spies of British. Indeed it was. Some rich GSB turned landlords were closer to the British.
So all this same old story, what’s new in this???
Yea, I wrote this much just to reach this one paragraph. And if you won’t read the following paragraphs being a GSB you lose the essence of the whole long article.
Take the case of the First Generation which left everything from Goa just for the sake of preserving a small community called Goud Saraswath Brahmins. They were sacrificing their motherland for the preservation of their community and that too was not granted. They were not even sure if their community will be preserved or not. In case they would have adopted the new religion, they could have lived peacefully with more wealth than they actually had.
They didn’t!! They were determined to sacrifice their motherland for preserving their culture.
Are we preserving our culture and tradition now??
I think most of us will tell yes for this. But I personally feel we are not.
WHY???
Yea, about 80% of our traditions are still preserved due to the blessings of Gurus of all the Mutts.
But 21st Century is not all that pure as it was in 14th Century.
Our food habits changed. Most of us are ready to eat anything that tempts our taste buds. Most of us go to temples, yea but not for much spiritual refreshment. A huge chunk of youths think talking English is more fashionable than Konkani. I was shocked when I had to talk in English to Priest of a prominent GSB temple. Another group of people love segregating the people of community and use the latest abuses in English not even thinking of the meaning of those words.
Yea, I know you would point out “WHY I USED ENGLISH HERE??” . May be I am wrong. But it may get confusing and little tough to read Konkani in English script. So I felt it’s better to write in English and then convert to Konkani for those die-hard Konkani fans.
From the time I imbibed into myself the sacrifices and values of my forefathers I was able to become more traditional than I was. I felt like I insulted my forefathers whenever I used an abuse.
Whenever I talked with GSB’s, I used Konkani most of times, unless when the person doesn’t know much Konkani. I also joined the Save My Language page on facebook.com for enriching our language and volunteered actively for the enrichment of the Konkani English Dictionary at savemylanguage.org. And I became a vegetarian also. And started going frequently to most of the temples of Goud Saraswath Brahmins in most places so that I can cover almost all the temples constructed by our community. I am still inspired by the sacrifices of my forefathers. And I am trying my best to preserve the cultural heritage and Konkani.
This is my humble list of changes. I would like many more changes.
Please remember we are all indebted to our Forefathers and Gurus for what we have achieved today.
I would be blessed by Gods if at least one GSB gets inspired by the sacrifices of our forefathers and revive himself (herself) to some extent.
And I would like a United GSB which strongly works for the betterment of society and thrashes the antisocial elements.
Please don’t mistake me for a right wing communal agent. :D
I would like your suggestions as well as comments good or bad.
Please hit the like button below if you liked this post and want more GSB people read it and get inspired by the Story of Migration of our forefathers.
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