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Roman Catholic Brahmin

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Roman Catholic Brahmin(IASTBamonns/baməɳ~bamɔɳ/inRomi Konkani&KupariinBombay East Indian dialects) is a caste among theGoan,[1][2][3]Bombay East Indian[4][5][6][7][8]andMangalorean Catholics[9][10][11]who are descendants ofKonkani Brahminconverts to theLatin Church,in parts of theKonkan regionthat were annexed into thePortuguese East Indies,with the capital (metropole) atVelha Goa,while Bombay (Bom Bahia) was the largest territory (province) ofPortuguese India.They retain some of the ethno-social values and customs of their ancestors, and most of them exhibit a noticeable hybridLatino-Concanicculture.[12]They were known as theBrahminsamong the "New Christians".[13]

Origins

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InGoa,theBrahminswere engaged in the priestly occupation, but had also taken up various occupations like agriculture, trade, goldsmithing, etc.[14]The origins of this particular caste can be traced back to theChristianisationof theVelhas Conquistas(Portuguese:Old Conquests) that was undertaken by thePortugueseduring the 16th and 17th centuries. It was during this period that theJesuit,FranciscanandDominicanmissionaries converted many Brahmins to Christianity.[15]The first mass conversions took place among the Brahmins ofDivarand theKshatriyasofCarambolim.[16]

All converts from Brahmin sub-castes (Chitpavan Brahmin,Deshastha Brahmin,Karhad Brahmins,Saraswat Brahmin,Daivadnya Brahmin,etc) were unified into a single Christian caste ofBamonn.[17][18][19]Since the conversions of Brahmins of a particular area became instrumental in the conversions of members of other castes because it resulted in loss of mandir priests, such converts were highly valued and esteemed by the church and Portuguese authorities alike.[15]

They were even allowed to wear theYajnopavita(sacred threads) and other caste markings by a specialdispensationofPope Gregory XVin 1623, on the condition that these were to beblessedby a Catholic priest.[20]

TheBamonnsin general consider theirIndian caste systemto be a class form of social categorisation.[21]Since their concept is divorced from all the religious elements associated to it by their Hindu counterparts, they tend to justify their maintenance of caste as a form ofsocial stratificationsimilar to the Western class concept.[21]They are anendogamousgroup and have generally refrained frominter-marriagewith Catholics of other castes.[21][22]However, while theBamonnsnever inter-married or mingled with the lower castes, the statutes and norms of the Roman Catholic church restrained them from practisingHindu caste based discriminationagainst the latter.[23]Although most now carry Portuguese surnames, they have retained knowledge about their ancestral pre-conversion surnames, such asBhat,Kamat,Nayak,Pai,Prabhu,ShenoyandShet.[24][25]The konkanised variants of these surnames areBhôtt,Kāmot,Nāik,Poi,Porbų (Probų),Šeņai,andŠet.[25]

Mudarthais a unique surname to be found among someBamonnfamilies that hail fromUdipi districtin Karnataka.[26]Most Mangalorean CatholicBamonnfamilies trace their patrilineal descent to Goud Saraswat Brahmins.[9][10][11][27]There were a few historical instances in the Mangalorean Catholic community, wherein some ProtestantAnglo-Indianswere admitted into theBamonnfold by Catholic priests at the time of their conversion to Catholicism,[28]their descendants are known asPulputhru Bamonns(Pulpit Bamonns).[28][verification needed]

A 1976genetic analysisstudy conducted on three groups ofSaraswat Brahminsand one group of Goan CatholicBamonnsin Western India, confirmed the historical and ethnological evidence of a relationship between Goan CatholicBamonnslandChitrapur Saraswat Brahmins.[29]The study further revealed that intergroup differences between the subject groups suggested a genetic closeness, with genetic distance ranging from 0.8 to 1.5.[29]

SomeChristian Brahmins[citation needed]such as the Pinto brothersJose AntonioandFransiscofrom the famousGoan noble familyjoined the army ofBaji Rao IIinPoona (Pune),after trying to overthrow the Portuguese government in theConspiracy of the Pintos.[30][31]

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  • In her poem entitledde Souza Prabhu,the Goan poetEunice de Souzamuses about herBamonnheritage:[32]

"No, I'm not going to

delve deep down and discover,
I'm really de Souza Prabhu
even if Prabhu was no fool
and got the best of both worlds.
(Catholic Brahmin!

I can hear his fat chuckle still.) "

  • The main protagonist of Mangalorean writerRichard Crasta's erotic novelThe Revised Kamasutrais Vijay Prabhu, a small-town, middle-classBamonnyouth living in Mangalore during the 1970s.[33]Filled with erotic longing and a deep desire to flee staunchly conservative Mangalore, he embarks on a sexual and spiritual odyssey that eventually lands him in the relatively liberal United States.
  • The protagonists of Konkani novellistV.J.P. Saldanha's novels such as Balthazar from the novelBelthangaddicho Balthazar(Balthazar ofBelthangadi), Sardar Simaon and Sardar Anthon fromDevache Kurpen(By the Grace of God), Salu and Dumga Peenth fromSordarachim Sinol(The sign of the Knights) areBamonns.A few characters such as Jaculo Pai and Monna Kamath fromSordarachim Sinol,[34]Sardar Simaon Pedru Prabhu, Sardar Anthon Paul Shet and Raphael Minguel Kamath fromDevache Kurpenhave evidently Brahmin surnames.[35]
  • Antonio Gomes' debut novelThe Sting of Peppercorns(2010) focuses on the trials and tribulations faced by the de Albuquerques, aBamonnfamily fromLoutoliminSalcette.The family is headed by its patriarch Afonso de Albuquerque, a namesake of theconqueror of Goato whom the family is linked through legend. Apart from him, it consists of his wife Dona Isabella, their two sons Paulo and Roberto, their daughter Amanda, an aunt Rosita noted for her cooking skills,ayahCarmina, and several servants who live on the de Albuquerque estate.[36]
  • Shakuntala Bharvani's novelLost Directions(1996) features a minor GoanBamonncharacter, Donna Bolvanta-Bragança. She is a fervent Catholic who takes pride in her Brahmin heritage, scornfully reprimanding the protagonist Sangeeta Chainani for mistaking her to be an Anglo-Indian.[37]When Chainani innocently inquires as to how she can call herself a Brahmin while adhering to Roman Catholicism, her inquiry is contemptuously dismissed by the character.[38]

Notable persons

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Footnotes

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a^In hisA Konkani grammarpublished inMangaloreby the Basel Printing Press in 1882, Italian Jesuit and Konkani philologist Angelus Francis Xavier Maffei stated that Mangalorean CatholicBamonnfamilies then were still referred to by theirpaiksurnames.[25]In the book, Maffei also gives a Konkani language grammar exercise:

Mezār lugaţ gallāiñgī? Galtāñ.
Have you covered the table with cloth? I will!

Suriār kiteñ assā moņ, amkāñ sǎrkeñ kǎļnāñ: zipki mǎnis moņtāt, suriār sǎbār kǎtañ assāt.
We do not know properly what’s there in the moon: Learned people say that there are many spots in the moon.

Kitleañ uorānčer amiñ yēzāi? Dånparā yā sānjer.
At what time should we come? Afternoon or in the evening?

Amiñ Devā kurpā sāmbaļtāuñ moņasăr, Deu amger rāutā.
God resides at our home, as long as we keep His grace.

Pātkiānger Deu rãutãgī? Rāutā, puņ išţa bǎri niñ.
Does God stay at sinners' home? He stays, but as a friend.

Tuzo pūtų khǎiñ assā? To seireānger assā.
Where is your son? He is at a relatives' house.

Tūñ khǎiñčea gǎrānt assāi? Āuñ Porbuger assāñ, mozo bāu Kāmtiger, moji boiņ Nāikāger, moji māusi Šēţiger, mozo sentur Šeņǎiñger.
In whose house do you reside? I stay at the Prabhu household, my brother at the Kamath household, my sister at the Naik household, my aunty at the Shet household, my great-grandchild at the Shenoy household.

Somi Jezu Krist vāur kǎrtālo, teātz jinsār tūñ vāur kǎr ani asseñ sompūrņ zatoloi.
Everyone should live asJesusChrist did; Live like him and you will become complete.

Zōkōņ Jezu Kristāčer sǎtmāndināñ, pātienāñ ani tātso mōg kǎrināñ, takā zǎrti zāun zǎli.
The man who does not trust, believe in, and love Jesus Christ, will be judged.

See also

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Citations

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  1. ^Centre national de la recherche scientifique (France) & Comissão Nacional para as Comemorações dos Descobrimentos Portugueses 2001,p.638
  2. ^Risley & Crooke 1915,p.80
  3. ^Rao 1963,p. 45
  4. ^"Bulletin of the Deccan College Research Institute".1939.
  5. ^"The Journal of the Anthropological Society of Bombay".1968.
  6. ^Baptista, Elsie Wilhelmina (1967)."The East Indians: Catholic Community of Bombay, Salsette and Bassein".
  7. ^Baptista, Elsie Wilhelmina (1967)."The East Indians: Catholic Community of Bombay, Salsette and Bassein".
  8. ^Congress, Indian History (1972)."Proceedings".
  9. ^abSilva & Fuchs 1965,p. 6
  10. ^abPrabhu 1999,p. XV
  11. ^abFernandes 1969,p. 246
  12. ^Rathore, Ashok (16 February 2017).Impact of Christianity on Indian and Australian Societies.ISBN9781514494615.
  13. ^"The Connecticut Evangelical Magazine: And Religious Intelligencer".1808.
  14. ^Gomes 2004,p. 176
  15. ^abde Mendonça 2002,pp. 39–40
  16. ^Gomes 1987,p. 64
  17. ^Gune & Goa, Daman and Diu (India). Gazetteer Dept 1979,p. 238
  18. ^Gomes 1987,p. 77
  19. ^Shashi 1996,p. 117
  20. ^Manrique & Collis 1995,p.47
  21. ^abcWestin et al. 2010,pp.227
  22. ^Silva & Fuchs 1965,p. 15
  23. ^Sinha 2002,p. 74
  24. ^Pinto 1999,p. 168
  25. ^abcMaffei 1882,p. 217
  26. ^D'Souza 2009
  27. ^D'sa 1965,pp. 71–72
  28. ^abD'Souza 1996,p. 58
  29. ^abBhatia et al. 1976
  30. ^https:// thegoan.net/global-goenkar/noted-goans-during-peshwe-era-in-pune3-2-goans-follow-illustrious-kin/91809.html
  31. ^https:// thegoan.net/global-goenkar/goan-colonel-decorated-in-the-maratha-army/91527.html
  32. ^Mehrotra 1992,p. 119
  33. ^Crasta 1992,p. 12 (Stream of consciousness narration by the protagonist) "When I was born, many years later, there was the problem of naming me, a Christian descendant of Brahmins – and earlier of colonizing Aryans from South-eastern Europe."
  34. ^D'Souza 2004,p. 64
  35. ^D'Souza 2004,p.52
  36. ^Gomes
  37. ^Bharvani 1996,p. 50 "She hissed aloud, 'I'm no Anglo! I'm Donna Bolvanta-Bragança and I'm a Catholic Brahmin from Goa. That infidel lick-spittle of the British, that toad, that nanoid NegriticNirad Chaudhuriwho calls Goans half-casteMeztizos,may his body and soul burn in hell-fire!' "
  38. ^Bharvani 1996,p. 50 "'I studied at a Convent in Bombay,' said Sangeeta, in an attempt to calm the eyes pouring forth fire and brimstone, 'and I have the greatest respect for the Catholic community. I go to Church quite often – sometimes even to theNovenasat theMahim Churchon Wednesdays. But how is it, I don't quite understand, since you are a Catholic, can you still call yourself a Brahmin? I thought only we Hindus were plagued by this shameful caste system?'... Miss Bolvanta-Bragança wiggled a snake-like finger threateningly at her. 'Has somebody put you up to this, my girl? HasBelialbeen at it again? I'm a Brahmin Goan and I'm not here to listen to any of your nonsense, Miss whatever-your-name-is!' "

References

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Further reading

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