Goud Saraswat Brahmin

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, however many have native language proficiency in Marathi.

Parshurama with Saraswat Brahmin settlers commanding Varuna to make the seas recede to make the Konkan Region

Rituals

During the eighth month of pregnancy, a woman moves to her mother's house, especially during the birth of her first child. 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. On the 12th day, the naming and cradling ceremony is performed wherein the paternal grandmother whispers the child's name into his/her ear and a horoscope is cast. When the child turns three months old, they are taken to the temple, and thereafter the child goes to the father's abode.^[1]

Festivals

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.^[2]

Cuisine

Notables

See also

• List of Saraswats
• Rajapur Saraswat Brahmins
• Chitrapur Saraswat Brahmin

References

Further reading

• Suryanath U Kamath (1992). The origin and spread of Gauda Saraswats. 
• Venkataraya Narayan Kudva (1972). History of the Dakshinatya Saraswats. Samyukta Gauda Saraswata Sabha. 
• Ramachandra Shyama Nayak. "Saraswath Sudha". 
• Kawl, M. K. Kashmiri Pandits: Looking to the Future. 
• Bryant, Edwin (2001). The Quest for the Origins of Vedic Culture. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-513777-9. 
• Hock, Hans (1999) "Through a Glass Darkly: Modern "Racial" Interpretations vs. Textual and General Prehistoric Evidence on Arya and Dasa/Dasyu in Vedic Indo-Aryan Society." in Aryan and Non-Aryan in South Asia, ed. Bronkhorst & Deshpande, Ann Arbor.
• Shaffer, Jim G. (1995). "Cultural tradition and Palaeoethnicity in South Asian Archaeology". In George Erdosy. Indo-Aryans of Ancient South Asia. ISBN 3-11-014447-6. 
• Conlon, Frank F. (1974). "Caste by Association: The Gauda Sarasvata Brahmana Unification Movement". The Journal of Asian Studies 33 (3): 351–365. doi:10.2307/2052936. JSTOR 2052936. (subscription required (help)).