Divisions among Brahmins

Brahmins being the intellectuals and charged with the responsibility of preserving the national heritage – the Vedas, were given certain privileges, particularly under the criminal law. They enjoyed immunity from death sentence. As a matter of fact the whole criminal law was heavily biased in favor of the first three classes in decreasing measures. But in crimes involving moral turpitude the law was biased against them in the reverse order . For example in case of theft the Brahmin was fined four times to that of a Shudra. If a Shudra was found to have committed theft of food articles, when he was hungry he was let off without punishment. We have noticed earlier how the Varna was gradually being transformed into caste. In the middle ages the process of disintegration and division in the society was accelerated on the basis of birth, vocation, sect and custom. New castes and sub-castes were formed. Each of them was engaged in the protection of one’s own group. The overall interest of the society took a back seat and was lost sight of. For the first time the Brahmins were divided in two groups - each consisting of five sub-groups viz ; Panch Gauda and Panch Dravida. North Indian Brahmins were called Pancha Gaudas and Brahmins of the South were described Pancha Dravida. It was a territorial division. The Pancha Gaudas included Gauda, Saraswat, Kanyakubj, Maithil and Utkal (Orissa) and Pancha Dravidas included, Nagar, (Gujarat), Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tailang(Andhra Pradesh) and Dravida. Each of the ten sub-groups married within its own sub-group. In addition to the gotra and pravara now their titles Pandit, Dikshit, Dravid, Dvivedi, Trivedi, Chaturvedi, Avasthi etc. also began to be mentioned prominently. In the land grants of the Pratihara and Gahadval dynasties we find these titles of the donee Brahmans added to their names. Broad division of Brahmins is :- Kashmiri- In early medieval period Kashmiri Brahmins, who considered themselves a branch of Saraswat .Brahmins, were divided in three classes, (a) Scholars, poets etc who were patronized by Kings and worked as administrators under them. They were very rich and moved about in caparisoned vehicles befitting Kings. Anandavardhan(second half the 9th century) was the foremost among them. (b) Priests of temples and tirthas and (c) The Brahmins who lived in Agraharas i.e. villages where land was granted to Brahmins so that they concentrate on the study and teaching of the Vedas. However in course of time with increase in number of members of families, the land holdings became smaller and smaller which could hardly support them. Agrahara Brahmins though learned were generally poor. Hence, many of them moved out from the Valley in search of patrons. Bilhana, was such a Brahmana who stayed at the courts of several Rajput Kings in turn. He was responsible for preparing royal genealogies of his patrons tracing their origin to Sun and Moon. Saraswat: The Brahmins who lived on the banks of the Sarasvati river which originated at the foot of Himalaya mountain and was considered very holy comparable to the Ganga. Irrigating the land in the Punjab and Bahavalpur it finally sank and disappeared in the sands of Rajasthan. Kurushetra tank is the surviving trace of that holy river. The Vedic Rishi lived on the banks of the Sarasvati. All Brahmins of North India are the offshoots of the Saraswat Brahmins. Jetali, Jhingran,Tikha and Mohala are the most respected among the Saraswat Brahmins. Jetalis worship Jayanti or Shami tree – and belong to Gautam Gotra, Jhingans consider ram and Tikhas the banyan tree as very holy. These trees are presumably their totems. Mohyal is derived from Sanskrit Mahipal i.e. King. They are a branch of Saraswat Brahmins. Mohyals are non-priestly Brahmins. Datt, Chhibbar, Bali, Mohan, Vaid are their sub-divisions. Their ranking is very high among Sarasvat Brahmins. After partition of India they have been displaced from their original homes in Pakistan. They are now found concentrated in Delhi and districts around it. Gaud :They are found in Haryana, Delhi, West U.P. and Rajasthan. Sanadhya Brahmins are the branch of the Gauda Brahmins. Living in this region they are called Adi Gaud. There are two sub-divisions of Gaudas, viz; Deshval and Pachhad. Tewari, Mishra,Dube are their main titles . Kanyakubj: They are concentrated in the districts of central U.P. viz; Kanpur, Lucknow, Unnao, Barabanki, Raebareli, Hardoi, Shahajahanpur etc.. This region was known as Brahmavarta and consider holy . Dwivedi, Trivedi, Chaturvedi are their main titles in relation to number of Vedas they studied. The fire established in the marriage was called Avastha. Brahmins were required to carry this fire with his wife and maintain it throughout his life. Aavasthik>Avasthi or Agnihotri are those Brahmins who maintained perpetual fire and offered oblations in the morning and evening . Dikshit is a Brahamana whose ancestors had performed some grand sacrifice(Yajna) such as Jyotishstoma. Vajapeyi is one whose ancestors had performed Vajapeya Yajna. Upadhyaya is one who taught part of the Vedas. Pathak is one who read out the Purana. Mishra denotes a respectable man. It was usually affixed to the names of great men and scholars. Pandeya denotes learning . Pandeya is one who endowed with the quality of discriminating the good and bad. There is some confusion about Shukla and Sukul. Some Brahmins add Shukla to their name which is a revised edition of Yajurveda. The Madhyandini shakha of Shukla Yajurveda was commonly followed by North Indians. Some Brahmins on this very ground reject this title and affix sukul to their names. In other words they claim to be Kulina of very high lineage (Kula) a claim made by a section of Maithil and Bengali Brahmins also. Sarayupari: The territory north of the Sarayu river is known as Sarava. The Brahmins living in this region are called Saravapari or Saravaria or Sarayupari Brahmins.They are the Kanyakubj Brahmins and share their titles , viz; Dwivedi, Trivedi, Chaturvedi, Upadhaya etc. Although all the Brahmins are equal, but with the passage of time, on the functional basis three main categories came into being. Of these the first category is was of those who had maintained their high lineage from the very beginning. They were called Kulina. The second category is of Dvamushyayan i.e. those who have been given in adoption to some other families and the third category is of Panktipavan, who were supposed to have studied all the four Vedas together with their six subsidiary branches Mani, Pati, Nath and Dhar are peculiar tittles of Sarayupari Brahmins. Jijhautia-Jajaakabhukti: Bhukti was a territorial unit of administration equivalent to the area of modern revenue commissioner, Jajakabhukti indicated the region around Khajuraho. The Brahmins of this region are called Jijhautia . They are a branch of Kanyakubja Brahmins. Besides learning they had also distinguished themselves as military generals and administrators as their surnames Nayak indicates . Tripuri (Tewari) - the Brahmins of the Jabalpur region are called Tewari. Pushkarna - The Brahmana of Jaiselmer region are known as Pushkarna.. Paliwal - The Brahmins of Jodhpur region are called Paliwal. Malaviya – The Brahmins of Indore Region origanaly known as Malva are called Malviya. Maithil - The Brahmins of Mithila are known as Maithil . Mithila comprised districts of Muzzaffarpur and Darbhanga. It was also called Tirabhukti or Tirhut. Mithila region has produced great scholars and philosophers. Yajnavalkya, the famous Rishi who edited Shukla Yajurveda and Vidyapati, the famous poet hailed from this region. Shrotriyas are most respected among them. Sir Kameshwar Singh, The Maharaja of Darbhanga, the biggest landlord of North India was a Shrotriya Brahmana. Jha and Mishra are most common tittles of Maithil Brahmins, some of them also have surnames as Thakur and Chowdhury, Utkala. The ancient name of Orissa. The famous temple of Jagannath at Puri is a well known holy place in Utkal. Activities of Utkal Brahmins revolve round the Jagannath Temple. Misra, Rath, Mahapatra, Panigrahi, Panda are their well known surnames. Pancha Dravida : The Nagar, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tailanga and Dravida are included among the Panch Dravidas. Nagar :The Brahmins of Gujarat are called Nagar. They are said to be divided into 84 sub-castes. The prominent among them are Vyas, Pandya, Joshi(Jyotishi), Jha (Ojha, Upadhyay), Jani (jnani), Purohit, Thakkar (Thakur), Bhatt and Pathak. Maharashtra : The Brahmins of Maharashtra were known as Dakshini Brahmins. Earlier there were no sub-castes among them and they were divided according to the Shakha of the Veda, viz; Rigveda, Samaveda, Yajurveda etc. which they studied and they married within their own Shakha. But now they are sub-divided as Chitpavan (or Konkanastha), Karad, Deshasth etc. The prominent Maharashtra Brahmins surnames are Chitale, Chiplunkar, Athavale, Joglekar, Chapekar, Pendase, Bhagavat Vaishnav Kunte, Gore, Kale, Kane, Bhiede, Vaishampa yana, Bhave, Sathe, Sohani, Sahasrabuddhe, Khare, Patavardhan, Joshi, Nene, Paranjape, Limaye, Mahendale, Velankar, Sukhathankar, Ranade, Gokhale, Vaidya, Karve,Kelkar, Barve, Godbole, Jog, Lele, Khadilkar, Bapat, Dandekar, Savarkar, Gadgil etc. Karnataka : The Brahmins of Karnataka are subdivided as Saraswat and Smarta. Saraswatas are believed to have migrated from Kashmir and Punjab. Tailanga (Andhra Pradesh) The region comprising the whole of Andhra Pradesh was called Tilanga hence Tailanga . They are roughly divided into priestly and non-priestly classes. The latter are called Niyogi Brahmins, Sir S. Radhakrishnan, T. Prakasham, Prof Nilakantha Sastri and Narasimha Rao were prominent among Niyogi Brahmins. Dravid (Tamil) - There are two main divisions of Tamil Brahmins. They are – Aiyer and Iyengar. Of these Aiyers are Shaivites and Aiyengars are Vaishnavites. Besides these there is another group known as Acharya ( Chari) , Shri Chakravarti Rajagopalachari, the first Indian Governor General of India belonged to this group. Tamil Brahmins are ordinarily fair skinned and handsome. They are highly educated and were first to pick up the English language under the East India Company. They have distinguished as scientists and Administrators. Sir C V Raman the nobel lauriate , Ramanujan, the great mathematician and Sir C. P. Ramaswamy Aiyer were great Tamilians. Parvatiya Brahmins are found in Uttarkhand and Himachal Pradesh. In Uttarkhand they are divided as Gadhavali and Kumauni Brahmins. Gadhavali Brahmins ordinarly bear surnames after the name of village of their ancestors . Prominent among them are ; Nautiyal, Raturi, Gairola, Thapaliyal, Budhana, Dangaval, Barthaval, Dhasmana, Notiyal, Dhani, Payal, Panauli, Badola etc. . They are Gaud Brahmana. Dobhal, Sukulani, Naithani are Kanyakubj Brahmana. Joshi, Kala, Bhatt, Gurrani,Panthari are Nagar Brahmins from Gujarat. There are some Maithil (Uniyal),Dravida, (Kukreti) Brahmins also found among the Pahadi Brahmins . Kumauni Brahmins are a class by themselves. Kumaun (Almora) with its picturesque landscape has attracted Brahmins from every part of India. These Brahmins have produced great teachers, administrators, poets, and astrologers. Pant, Pandey, Joshi, Bhatt, Upreti, Pathak are their surnames. These Brahmins consider themselves superior to other Brahmins of Gadhaval and they do not enter in marriage relations with them. For marriage purposes they are fully endogamous. Most of the Pahari Brahmins claim that their ancestors came here on pilgrimage and the local kings being impressed by their learning and high moral character patronized them and persuaded them to settle down on the lands given by them. They adorned their courts and held high offices in their kingdoms. Shrimali -The area around Abu Mountain in Rajasthan is known as Shrimala. Brahmins of Shrimala are known as Shrimali. Besides the Brahmins, Vaishyas – Oswals, Porwals, living in that locality are also known as Shrimali. Shrimali Brahmins are also found in Bhinwal, Jodhpur district and Kachchh in Gujarat. They are divided according to the Veda which they studied. Bengali: In Bengal there are two divisions of the Brahmins, viz Rarhi and Varendra. Rarha comprised of south-west Bengal , while Varendra comprised Malda, Rajashahi-Bogra region. Radhi Brahmins claim superiority over others. Bandopadhyay(Bannerji), Mukhopadhyaya (Mukherjee), Chattopadhyay(Chatterji) Gangopadhyay (Ganguli), Ghoshal. Putitunda,Kanjilal and Kundagrami Brahmins are considered Kulina Brahmins and are migrants from Kanauj in U.P.. There is another classification also which prevails among the Brahmins, viz priestly and non-priestly. From early times a class of Brahmins gave up accepting dana – gifts and Dakshina – fees for their priestly services and teaching and they became Trikarma or Apratigrahi. References to such Brahmins are found in Mahabharata and other Sanskrit books. Normally the Brahmins acted as ministers to kings. But after the fall of the Mauryan empire, on its ruins Brahmins established their own empires. The Shunga, Kanva, Vakatakaka, Pallava, Kadambas were Brahmins. Such non-priestly Brahmins are known as Karkun(official) in Kashmir, Niyogi (Officials) in Andhra Pradesh, Mahiyala in Punjab and N.W.F.P. (in Pakistan), Anavils in Gujarat, Chitpavans in Maharashtra, Tyagi in West UP, Bhumihar ( land lord) , Paschima amd Babhan in Bihar and East U.P.