The River Saraswati
The Saraswath Brahmins believe themselves to be named after the Saraswati River, of which they were residents on river basin, which was thought to arise in the Himalayas and flow through the present Punjab and Rajasthan region to the Western Arabian Sea near Dwaraka in Gujarat. Saraswath Brahmins are mentioned in the Ramayana, Mahabharata and Bhavishya Purana. The Saraswati river of Rigvedic and Vedic texts has been historically identified with parts of watercourses near Lake Pushkar in Rajasthan, Sidhpur in Northern Gujarat and Somnath in Saurashtra, Gujarat. A popular belief identifies it with an underground flow at Prayag, Allahabad, emerging at the confluence of Ganga and Yamuna to form the Triveni Sangam. It has been believed that around 1000 BC, the Yamuna River breached and permanently drained the Sarwasati River, leading to migration of Saraswaths to different parts of India.
The Gowd Saraswath Brahmins
They are Saraswath Brahmins and followers of Hindu religion. Their mother tongue is konkani language. Reference to them is found in Shilaharas as well as Kadamba Copper Plate inscriptions from 2nd Century BC to 10th Century AD, found in Goa, bear testimony to their arrival in the Konkan region. Sahyadrikhanda and Mangesh Mahatmya allude to this immigration consisting of 66 families of 10 gothras who settled in 8 villages of Goa and it is believed that Lord Parashuram had brought them from north of vindhyas to perform vedic rituals to the South of Vindhyas. Popularly, a GSB is also known as “DHORKO”, which means he is of DWARAKA origin.
In Kallhana’s Rajatarangini (12th Century), they are mentioned as one of the five Pancha Gowda Brahmin Communities residing to north Vindhyas. They identify themselves as of the Saraswath section of the northern Gowd division. Their hardwork and determination to succeed gained admiration of local population and local rulers. They served in Goa and Konkan region under Kadamba, Rashtrakuta, Hoysala, Chalukya, Shilahara and Vijayanagara dynasties as administrators, village revenue collectors, financiers, landlords, priests, teachers and merchants in intra Asian trade and diplomats. It is believed that the prefix word Gowd, is also because they were followers of Shri Gowdapadacharya Guru of Gowdapadacharya Mutt, the First ever mutt of Saraswath Brahmins in Keloshi in Goa in 8th Century AD. Later in 13th Century AD vaishnava philosophy advocated by Madhwacharya, made them to embrace vaishnavism. Many of them left Goa after invasion of Malik Kaufar to the nieghbouring region and during period of religious prosecutions initiated by Portuguese rulers, to the northern Konkan, uttara Kannada, Udupi, Dakshina Kannada, Kochi and other parts of Coastal Kerala. Gowd Saraswath Brahmins have Guru Parampara, namely, Sri Kashi mutt, Varanasi, Sri Gokarna Parthagali mutt Kanakona, Goa and Sri Kavale (Kaivalya) mutt, Ponda, Bandora, Goa.
konkani Language
Spoken widely in Western Coastal region of India popularly known as KONKAN. The region consists of Coastal Maharashtra and State of Goa. Uttara Kannada, Udupi & Dakshina Kannada of Karnataka State, Kasargod, Kannur, Tellicherry, Kochi, Alaphuzha, Kottayam & Trivendrum of Kerala State also have konkani linguistic minorities who migrated from Goa region. Each region has different dialect, pronounciation style, vocabulary, tone and sometimes significant differences in grammer.
Linguists describe konkani as fusion of variety of Prakrits, which could be attributed to confluence of immigrants that the Konkan Coast has witnessed over the years. The language is rich in morphology and syntax.
Most of the stone inscriptions and copper plates of konkani found in Goa and other parts of Konkan region belonged to 2nd Century BC to 10th Century AD, mostly written in Brahmi script.
Also earliest of the known konkani words inscription is at the foot of colossal jain monolith Gomateshwara at Shravanabelagola of Hassan District of Karnataka State of 981AD, reads in a variant of Nagari script.
Historically, over a period of time, the Brahmi Script for konkani fell into disuse. Later some inscriptions were written in old Nagari. The Portuguese rule in Goa banned use of konkani language and Nagari Scripts. Another script called Kandevi or Goykandi, which resembled Hale Kannada Script, was used in Goa since times of Kadamba rulers.
Today, konkani Script is written in different scripts, popularly in Devnagari, Kannada, Roman, Malayalam and Perso Arabic.
According to 2001 census there are roughly 24.89 lakhs Konkani household speakers in India.
Post migration position of Gowd Saraswath Brahmins
The 13th Century (exodus of 1294 AD) migration from Goa, owing to certain religious disputes, made them to settle at Kingdom of King of Kochi, Kerala. Presently this settlement is known as Gosripuram.
Most families migrated during the 15th Century during Portuguese Rule in Goa, got settled in smaller town and villages of present Shimoga, Uttara Kannada, Udupi and South Kanara Districts of Karnataka State. They got patronage of Keladi or Nagar Rulers. They are the first beneficiaries of English education in 1840 AD.
Due to their ability to adapt themselves to the changed circumstances, in a short span of time they gained admiration of local population and hence they prospered in trade, agriculture etc. They constructed temples of ishtadevatha Sri Venkataramana, bhajana mandirs of Sri Ram and Sri Vitobha, wherever they settled, over period of time. However, most of the land lords, post independence lost land in land reforms policies of Government and hence, started joining employment in private banks, which were pioneered by GSB’s prominently Canara Bank, Syndicate Bank etc. However post nationalization of banks, with reduced placements in banking sector, grabbing in the opportunity of wide spread higher education especially in commerce and engineering, there came a shift from trade to employment and hence they spread across different parts of country and abroad eventhough their roots were in native were they belonged to, especially due to the worshipping Kuladevatha, Ishtadevatha, Naga idols and religious rituals in hometowns.
Today, the GSB community is proud of having highly educated number of population many of whom are successful Bankers, Educationists, Industrialists, Entrepreneurs, Engineers, Doctors, Chartered Accountants etc, you name it.