Pushkarna Brahmin

Pushkarna is a Hindu Brahmin community originating in Rajasthan.^[1]

Pushkarana is one of the Brahmin communities in India & Tharparkar Sindh, Pakistan. The Pushkarnas primarily hail from Sindh. Most of the Pushkarana Brahmins migrated from erstwhile Bharatvarsh to Jaisalmer, Pokhran and other parts of India. Pushkarana belongs to Sanatan Vedic Dharma, the oldest religion of the world. It is firm belief about this Dharma that it came into being right from the inception of humanity on this planet and will last upto its end i-e Mahaparlya. It is based on Vedas, which are the oldest literature in the world. Vedas are known as Shruties, i-e which was heard by our ancient Maharishies, when they were in meditation or Samadhi directly communicated with god. Rig Ved the first one and the oldest one, which was composed on the banks of Indus River. Pushkarna supposedely lived on both sides of sindhu(Indus) river.Hence the community is also referred to as sindhuvarni Brahmins. They are branch of Dravad Brahmans and Dravadian civilization and Indus Valley civilization are mostly contemporary as testified by excavations of mohen Jo Daro. Pushkarna revere the famous Maa Ushtrvahini (or the one who rides on a camel) as their Kul Devi.

Origin

Brahmans the first and foremost caste of Hindu Society and its Caste System is the most talented intellectual class. They were known as Maharishies in the ancient times, who led a very austric life in the meditation, the dhyan yoga and tapasya. They gave Vedas and Upanishads and other ancient religious or spiritual literature. Brahmans are the descendents of these Maha-rishies, who are their gotras and parvars. The Caste System is often criticised by some without going deep in its merits and demerits. It is actually based on the principle of Division of Labour. Considering the society as a whole just like human body. Brahmans being intellectual class occupy the place of head or brain with their higher intellect, knowledge and understanding. Khatries as arm which is meant for protection of the body. Vaish or Merchant class are just like stomach, which receives food, digests and transforms into blood and circulates it throughout the entire body. They are supposed to bring the every day use commodities from their place of origin, where they are produced and supplied to the society with reasonable price including costs and theirs normal profit. The Shudras are not un-touchable, But labourers, a very important class responsible for production in the Country. They are thus compared with legs upon which the entire structure of the society stands. The caste is determined by two factors Birth and Action or Karam after Birth to maintain it. Theory of Karma or Transmigration of Soul clearly shows that caste in which Jiva gets birth is determined by the Prarbadh Karams, which mature at the time of his birth. Jivatma gets birth due to his past good deeds and as a Brahman he still needs much more good deeds or Karmas. Only individual souls with best past record of good karmas can get birth as Brahmans. After birth the second and the most important factor is the action or Karma performed by the individual. By combination of two completes the determination of Varans or caste of individual.

As pointed out in chapter 1, Shlok 8 of Brahman Utpatti Martand, in the beginning all Brahmans were of only one kind. Subsequently, those who resided on the northern side of Vindhyachal Mountain were known as Goads and those residing in the South as Dravidians who were mostly of black colour, but in them too those who were descendents of Maha rishi Vashishtha and other fair colour rishies were of fair colour. Historians in some cases have not done full justice with Dravidians in naming them, as Unaryans. Dravidians were actually most civilized as they were connected with ancient civilization of Mohen Jo Daro and Indus Valley civilization. Thereafter five classes of each goad and dravads came into being, named as:

1. Sarswat
2. Kanyakubja
3. Goad
4. Utakal
5. Maithali

from goads and

1. Karnataka
2. Tailang
3. Dravid
4. Maharashtra
5. Gurjars

from dravads.

From these 10 kinds of both Goad and dravads so many classes of Brahmans emerged. Some say the 84 classes, while others say that number was still more. Some even claim that 84 classes pertain to only Gurjar Brahmans of Dravads, But classification shows that it includes Darvads as well as Goads also. Pushkarna Brahmans were originally Sindh or Sindhwarni Brahmans included in the S.No.5 Gurjar of Dravads. These Sindh or Sindhwarni Brahmans are very old ones and were settled on the banks of Indus river who subsequently earned the blessings of Durga Devi and were named as Pushtikar or Pushkarna Brahmans (Those who strengthen the religion) on Shranwan Shukla Tryodashi. The day is still being celebrated by Pushkarnas as Pushtikar or Pushkarna day every year. Word Pushkarna emerged from Pishtikar. They were settled in Sindh right from Multan, Bahawalpur upper Sindh Shikarpur, up to Hyderabad, Karachi and Thatta.

Classification

From the main 10 classes of Brahmans more than 108 kinds of Brahmans came into being which are found in various parts of Indian Sub-continent. They are:

1. ↑ http://www.pushkarnasandesh.org/