A Study on Culture of Goud Saraswat Brahmins - Special Reference on Uttar Kannada District

Abstract

Goud (also spelt as Gaud or Gawd) Saraswat Brahmins are a Hindu Brahmin community in India and a part of the larger Saraswat Brahmin community. They belong to the Pancha (five) Gauda Brahmana groups. They are popularly referred to as GSBs. They primarily speak Konkani as their mother tongue, but they tend to be fluent in language of the region they are resident in. This is evident with many of the temples of the Kuladevas being located in Goa. Over time, facing religious persecution by the Portuguese, they moved further south to coastal Karnataka and Kerala.The Konkani spoken by Karnataka Saraswats has borrowed loan words from Kannada while the Konkani spoken by Kerala Saraswats has borrowed loan words from Malayalam and speak with a Malayalam accent.GSBs celebrate almost all festivals in Hinduism, and follow the Hindu lunar calendar (Panchang in Konkani) that gives the days on which the fasts and festivals should be observed. The expecting mother also performs Ganapathi Pooja for a successful delivery and a healthy child. On the 6th day, a pen and lamp are kept near the child's head, symbolic of a wish for an intelligent child. When the child is 2 years, before he completes third year the "Jawla" (Child's first hair cut) ceremony is held. Like Barso, Munji, marriage and last rites, Jawla is one of the samskara's child will undergo being a GSB. GSB's arecremated according to Vedic rites, usually within a day of the individual's death. The death rites include a 13-day ceremony. This food can be eaten with rice or as such. Curd is a good combination with it. Due to disproportional sex ratio within the community, love marriages with other Indian communities are nowadays very common and cause a threat to the future of this community and their language.