brahmin

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| caption2 = Four ascetic Brahmins from Gandhara, 2nd century

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| caption3 = A Brahmin family, 9th century. Prambanan, Indonesia.

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| caption4 = A Brahmin standing praying in the corner of the streets. India, 1863.

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It seems likely that Kannauj and Middle country was the place of origin of majority of migrating Brahmins throughout the medieval centuries.{{Cite book |first=André|last=Wink|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uPXvDwAAQBAJ |title=The Making of the Indo-Islamic World C.700–1800 CE|page=42|date=2020|publisher=E.J. Brill |isbn=978-1-108-41774-7 }} Coming from Kannauj is a frequent claim among Brahmins in areas distant from Madhyadesha or Ganges heartland.{{Cite book |first=Romila|last=Thapar|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jFY8wFz-Pj8C |title=Somanatha|date=2008|publisher=Penguin Books|isbn=978-93-5118-021-0 }}

File:Thai - Vessantara Jataka, Chapter 5 - The Brahmin Jujaka with his wife Amittapana - Walters 35239.jpg

The term Brahmin appears extensively in ancient and medieval Sutras and commentary texts of Buddhism and Jainism.{{cite book|author=Donald Lopez |title=Buddhist Scriptures |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6Pd-2IIzip4C |year=2004|publisher=Penguin Books |isbn=978-0-14-190937-0 |pages=xi–xv}} Modern scholars state that such usage of the term Brahmin in ancient texts does not imply a caste, but simply "masters" (experts), guardian, recluse, preacher or guide of any tradition.{{cite book|author=K N Jayatilleke|title=Early Buddhist Theory of Knowledge|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6pBTAQAAQBAJ |year=2013|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-134-54287-1|pages=141–154, 219, 241 }}{{cite book |author=Kailash Chand Jain |title=Lord Mahāvīra and His Times |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8-TxcO9dfrcC |year=1991 |publisher=Motilal Banarsidass |isbn=978-81-208-0805-8 |page=31 |access-date=10 October 2016 |archive-date=11 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230111053959/https://books.google.com/books?id=8-TxcO9dfrcC |url-status=live }} An alternate synonym for Brahmin in the Buddhist and other non-Hindu tradition is Mahano.{{cite book|author=Padmanabh S. Jaini |title=Collected Papers on Buddhist Studies |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZlyDot9RyGcC&pg=PA123 |year=2001|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass |isbn=978-81-208-1776-0 |page=123 }}

Strabo cites Megasthenes, highlighting two Indian philosophical schools Sramana and Brahmana:

{{blockquote|Megasthenes makes a different division of the philosophers, saying that they are of two kinds, one of which he calls the Brachmanes, and the other the Sarmanes...|source=Strabo XV. 1. 58-60{{cite web |url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0239&query=head%3D%23119 |title=Strabo XV.1 |publisher=Perseus.tufts.edu |access-date=2010-09-01 |archive-date=2007-12-27 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071227232800/http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0239&query=head%3D%23119 |url-status=live }}}}

Patrick Olivelle states that both Buddhist and Brahmanical literature repeatedly define "Brahmin" not in terms of family of birth, but in terms of personal qualities. These virtues and characteristics mirror the values cherished in Hinduism during the Sannyasa stage of life, or the life of renunciation for spiritual pursuits. Brahmins, states Olivelle, were the social class from which most ascetics came.Patrick Olivelle (2011), Ascetics and Brahmins: Studies in Ideologies and Institutions, Anthem, {{ISBN|978-0-85728-432-7}}, page 60 The term Brahmin in Indian texts has also signified someone who is good and virtuous, not just someone of priestly class.

The earliest inferred reference to "Brahmin" as a possible social class is in the Rigveda, occurs once, and the hymn is called Purusha Sukta.Max Müller, [https://archive.org/stream/historyofancient00mluoft#page/570/mode/2up A History of Ancient Sanskrit Literature], Oxford University Press, pages 570–571 According to a hymn in Mandala 10, Rigveda 10.90.11-2, Brahmins are described as having emerged from the mouth of Purusha, being that part of the body from which words emerge.{{cite book |title=Early India: From the Origins to AD 1300 |first=Romila |last=Thapar |author-link=Romila Thapar |publisher=University of California Press |year=2004 |isbn=9780520242258 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-5irrXX0apQC&pg=PA125 |page=125}}

The Purusha Sukta varna verse is now generally considered to have been inserted at a later date into the Vedic text, possibly as a charter myth. Stephanie Jamison and Joel Brereton, a professor of Sanskrit and Religious studies, state, "there is no evidence in the Rigveda for an elaborate, much-subdivided and overarching caste system", and "the varna system seems to be embryonic in the Rigveda and, both then and later, a social ideal rather than a social reality".{{cite book | last=Jamison| first=Stephanie | title=The Rigveda: the earliest religious poetry of India | publisher=Oxford University Press | year=2014 | isbn=978-0-19-937018-4 |pages=57–58|display-authors=etal}}

According to Vijay Nath, in the Markandeya Purana (250 CE), there are references to Brahmins who were born into the families of Raksasas. He posits that this is an indication that some Brahmins are immigrants and some are also mixed.{{Cite journal |last=Nath |first=Vijay |date=2001 |title=From 'Brahmanism' to 'Hinduism': Negotiating the Myth of the Great Tradition |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3518337 |journal=Social Scientist |volume=29 |issue=3/4 |pages=25 |doi=10.2307/3518337 |jstor=3518337 |issn=0970-0293|url-access=subscription }}

File:(A) Bhumi Puja, yajna.jpg around fire]]

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According to Abraham Eraly, "Brahmin as a varna hardly had any presence in historical records before the Gupta Empire era" (3rd century to 6th century CE), when Buddhism dominated the land. "No Brahmin, no sacrifice, no ritualistic act of any kind ever, even once, is referred to" in any Indian texts between third century BCE and the late first century CE. He also states that "The absence of literary and material evidence, however, does not mean that Brahmanical culture did not exist at that time, but only that it had no elite patronage and was largely confined to rural folk, and therefore went unrecorded in history".Abraham Eraly (2011), The First Spring: The Golden Age of India, Penguin, {{ISBN|978-0-670-08478-4}}, page 283 Their role as priests and repository of sacred knowledge, as well as their importance in the practice of Vedic Shrauta rituals, grew during the Gupta Empire era and thereafter.

However, the knowledge about actual history of Brahmins or other varnas of Hinduism in and after the first millennium is fragmentary and preliminary, with little that is from verifiable records or archaeological evidence, and much that is constructed from ahistorical Sanskrit works and fiction. Michael Witzel writes:

{{blockquote|Current research in the area is fragmentary. The state of our knowledge of this fundamental subject is preliminary, at best. Most Sanskrit works are a-historic or, at least, not especially interested in presenting a chronological account of India's history. When we actually encounter history, such as in Rajatarangini or in the Gopalavamsavali of Nepal, the texts do not deal with brahmins in great detail.Michael Witzel (1993) [https://www.jstor.org/stable/603031 Toward a History of the Brahmins] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181001041949/https://www.jstor.org/stable/603031 |date=1 October 2018 }}, Journal of the American Oriental Society, Vol. 113, No. 2, pages 264–268}}

Image:Ram Mohan Roy.JPG, a Brahmin, who founded Brahmo Samaj]]

Many of the prominent thinkers and earliest champions of the Bhakti movement were Brahmins, a movement that encouraged a direct relationship of an individual with a personal god.Sheldon Pollock (2009), The Language of the Gods in the World of Men, University of California Press, {{ISBN|978-0520260030}}, pages 423–431 Among the many Brahmins who nurtured the Bhakti movement were Ramanuja, Nimbarka, Vallabha and Madhvacharya of Vaishnavism,{{cite book|author=Oliver Leaman|title=Eastern Philosophy: Key Readings|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vK-GAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA251|year=2002|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-134-68919-4|page=251}};
{{cite book|author=S. M. Srinivasa Chari|title=Vaiṣṇavism: Its Philosophy, Theology, and Religious Discipline|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=evmiLInyxBMC |year=1994|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass |isbn=978-81-208-1098-3|pages=32–33}} Ramananda, another devotional poet sant.Ronald McGregor (1984), Hindi literature from its beginnings to the nineteenth century, Otto Harrassowitz Verlag, {{ISBN|978-3-447-02413-6}}, pages 42–44William Pinch (1996), [https://books.google.com/books?id=B7cwDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA53 Peasants and Monks in British India], University of California Press, {{ISBN|978-0-520-20061-6}}, pages 53–89 Born in a Brahmin family,David Lorenzen, Who Invented Hinduism: Essays on Religion in History, {{ISBN|978-81-902272-6-1}}, pages 104–106 Ramananda welcomed everyone to spiritual pursuits without discriminating anyone by gender, class, caste or religion (such as Muslims).Gerald James Larson (1995), India's Agony Over Religion, State University of New York Press, {{ISBN|978-0-7914-2412-4}}, page 116Julia Leslie (1996), Myth and Mythmaking: Continuous Evolution in Indian Tradition, Routledge, {{ISBN|978-0-7007-0303-6}}, pages 117–119 He composed his spiritual message in poems, using widely spoken vernacular language rather than Sanskrit, to make it widely accessible. The Hindu tradition recognises him as the founder of the Hindu Ramanandi Sampradaya,Schomer and McLeod (1987), The Sants: Studies in a Devotional Tradition of India, Motilal Banarsidass, {{ISBN|978-81-208-0277-3}}, pages 4–6 the largest monastic renunciant community in Asia in modern times.Selva Raj and William Harman (2007), Dealing with Deities: The Ritual Vow in South Asia, State University of New York Press, {{ISBN|978-0-7914-6708-4}}, pages 165–166James G Lochtefeld (2002), The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Hinduism: N-Z, Rosen Publishing, {{ISBN|978-0-8239-3180-4}}, pages 553–554

Other medieval era Brahmins who led spiritual movements without social or gender discrimination included Andal (9th-century female poet), Basava (12th-century Lingayatism), Dnyaneshwar (13th-century Bhakti poet), Vallabha Acharya (16th-century Vaishnava poet), Chaitanya Mahaprabhu (14th-century Vaishnava saint) were among others.John Stratton Hawley (2015), A Storm of Songs: India and the Idea of the Bhakti Movement, Harvard University Press, {{ISBN|978-0-674-18746-7}}, pages 304–310Rachel McDermott (2001), Singing to the Goddess: Poems to Kālī and Umā from Bengal, Oxford University Press, {{ISBN|978-0-19-513434-6}}, pages 8–9[http://www.orissa.gov.in/e-magazine/Orissareview/may2005/engpdf/mahima_dharma_bhima_bhoi_biswanathbaba.pdf "Mahima Dharma, Bhima Bhoi and Biswanathbaba"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070926224314/http://www.orissa.gov.in/e-magazine/Orissareview/may2005/engpdf/mahima_dharma_bhima_bhoi_biswanathbaba.pdf |date=26 September 2007 }}, An Orissa movement by Brahmin Mukunda Das (2005)

Many 18th and 19th century Brahmins are credited with religious movements that criticised idolatry. For example, the Brahmins Raja Ram Mohan Roy led Brahmo Samaj and Dayananda Saraswati led the Arya Samaj.Noel Salmond (2004), Hindu iconoclasts: Rammohun Roy, Dayananda Sarasvati and nineteenth-century polemics against idolatry, Wilfrid Laurier Univ. Press, {{ISBN|0-88920-419-5}}, pages 65–68Dorothy Figueira (2002), Aryans, Jews, Brahmins: Theorizing Authority through Myths of Identity, State University of New York Press, {{ISBN|978-0-7914-5531-9}}, pages 90–117

The Dharmasutra and Dharmashastra texts of Hinduism describe the expectations, duties and role of Brahmins.

According to Kulkarni, the Grhya-sutras state that Yajna, Adhyayana (studying the vedas and teaching), dana pratigraha (accepting and giving gifts) are the "peculiar duties and privileges of brahmins".{{cite journal |author=Kulkarni, A.R. |year=1964 |title=Social and Economic Position of Brahmins in Maharashtra in the Age of Shivaji |journal=Proceedings of the Indian History Congress |volume=26 |pages=66–67 |jstor=44140322}} John Bussanich states that the ethical precepts set for Brahmins, in ancient Indian texts, are similar to Greek virtue-ethics, that "Manu's dharmic Brahmin can be compared to Aristotle's man of practical wisdom",John Bussanich (2014), Ancient Ethics (Editors: Jörg Hardy and George Rudebusch), Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, {{ISBN|978-3-89971-629-0}}, pages 38, 33–52, Quote: "Affinities with Greek virtue ethics are also noteworthy. Manu's dharmic Brahmin can be compared to Aristotle's man of practical wisdom, who exercises moral authority because he feels the proper emotions and judges difficult situations correctly, when moral rules and maxims are unavailable". and that "the virtuous Brahmin is not unlike the Platonic-Aristotelian philosopher" with the difference that the latter was not sacerdotal.John Bussanich (2014), Ancient Ethics (Editors: Jörg Hardy and George Rudebusch), Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, {{ISBN|978-3-89971-629-0}}, pages 44–45

The Brahmins were expected to perform all six Vedic duties as opposed to other twice-borns who performed three.

File:Shri Gaudapadacharya Statue.jpg, a proponent of Advaita Vedanta, was born into a Brahmin family. His disciple, Adi Shankara, is credited with unifying and establishing the main currents of thought in Hinduism.Johannes de Kruijf and Ajaya Sahoo (2014), Indian Transnationalism Online: New Perspectives on Diaspora, {{ISBN|978-1-4724-1913-2}}, page 105, Quote: "In other words, according to Adi Shankara's argument, the philosophy of Advaita Vedanta stood over and above all other forms of Hinduism and encapsulated them. This then united Hinduism; (...) Another of Adi Shankara's important undertakings which contributed to the unification of Hinduism was his founding of a number of monastic centers."Shankara, Student's Encyclopædia Britannica – India (2000), Volume 4, Encyclopædia Britannica (UK) Publishing, {{ISBN|978-0-85229-760-5}}, page 379, Quote: "Shankaracharya, philosopher and theologian, most renowned exponent of the Advaita Vedanta school of philosophy, from whose doctrines the main currents of modern Indian thought are derived."
David Crystal (2004), The Penguin Encyclopedia, Penguin Books, page 1353, Quote: "[Shankara] is the most famous exponent of Advaita Vedanta school of Hindu philosophy and the source of the main currents of modern Hindu thought."Christophe Jaffrelot (1998), The Hindu Nationalist Movement in India, Columbia University Press, {{ISBN|978-0-231-10335-0}}, page 2, Quote: "The main current of Hinduism – if not the only one – which became formalized in a way that approximates to an ecclesiastical structure was that of Shankara".]]

Historical records, state scholars, suggest that Brahmin varna was not limited to a particular status or priest and the teaching profession. Chanakya, a Brahmin born in 375 BCE, was an ancient Indian polymath who was active as a teacher, author, strategist, philosopher, economist, jurist, and royal advisor, who assisted the first Mauryan emperor Chandragupta Maurya in his rise to power and is widely credited for having played an important role in the establishment of the Maurya Empire.{{cite book |first=Thomas R. |last=Trautmann |author-link=Thomas Trautmann |title=Kauṭilya and the Arthaśāstra: a statistical investigation of the authorship and evolution of the text |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=v3iDAAAAMAAJ |year=1971 |publisher=Brill |pages=11–13}} Historical records from mid 1st millennium CE and later, suggest Brahmins were agriculturalists and warriors in medieval India, quite often instead of as exception. Donkin and other scholars state that Hoysala Empire records frequently mention Brahmin merchants who "carried on trade in horses, elephants and pearls" and transported goods throughout medieval India before the 14th-century.RA Donkin (1998), Beyond Price: Pearls and Pearl-fishing, American Philosophical Society, {{ISBN|978-0-87169-224-5}}, page 166SC Malik (1986), Determinants of Social Status in India, Indian Institute of Advanced Study, {{ISBN|978-81-208-0073-1}}, page 121

The Pāli Canon depicts Brahmins as the most prestigious and elite non-Buddhist figures. They mention them parading their learning. The Pali Canon and other Buddhist texts such as the Jataka Tales also record the livelihood of Brahmins to have included being farmers, handicraft workers and artisans such as carpentry and architecture.Stella Kramrisch (1994), Exploring India's Sacred Art, Editor: Stella Miller, Motilal Banarsidass, {{ISBN|978-81-208-1208-6}}, pages 60–64 Buddhist sources extensively attest, state Greg Bailey and Ian Mabbett, that Brahmins were "supporting themselves not by religious practice, but employment in all manner of secular occupations", in the classical period of India.Greg Bailey and Ian Mabbett (2006), The Sociology of Early Buddhism, Cambridge University Press, {{ISBN|978-0-521-02521-8}}, pages 113–115 with footnotes Some of the Brahmin occupations mentioned in the Buddhist texts such as Jatakas and Sutta Nipata are very lowly. The Dharmasutras too mention Brahmin farmers.{{cite journal | last=RITSCHL | first=Eva | title=Brahmanische Bauern. Zur Theorie und Praxis der brahmanischen Ständeordnung im alten Indien | journal=Altorientalische Forschungen | publisher=Walter de Gruyter GmbH | volume=7 | issue=JG | year=1980 | doi=10.1524/aofo.1980.7.jg.177 | pages=177–187 | s2cid=201725661 |language=de|issn=0232-8461 }}

According to Haidar and Sardar, unlike the Mughal Empire in Northern India, Brahmins figured prominently in the administration of Deccan sultanates. Under Golconda Sultanate Telugu Niyogi Brahmins served in many different roles such as accountants, ministers, in the revenue administration, and in the judicial service.{{cite book|last1=Haidar|first1=Navina Najat|last2=Sardar|first2=Marika|title=Sultans of Deccan Indian 1500–1700|date=2015|publisher=Museum Of Metropolitan Art |location=New Haven, CT, US|isbn=978-0-300-21110-8|pages=11–12|edition=1|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oi4nBwAAQBAJ |access-date=20 April 2016}} The Deccan sultanates also heavily recruited Marathi Brahmins at different levels of their administration.{{cite book|last1=Gordon|first1=Stewart|title=Cambridge History of India: The Marathas 1600–1818|date=1993|publisher=Cambridge University press|location=Cambridge, UK|isbn=978-0-521-26883-7|page=16|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iHK-BhVXOU4C&q=deshastha&pg=PR9}} During the days of Maratha Empire in the 17th and 18th century, the occupation of Marathi Brahmins ranged from being state administrators, being warriors to being de facto rulers as Peshwa.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SYOSHaZnBy8C&pg=PA129 |title=The Satara Raj, 1818–1848: A Study in History, Administration, and Culture – Sumitra Kulkarni |access-date=23 March 2013|isbn=978-81-7099-581-4 |year=1995 |last1=Kulkarni |first1=Sumitra |publisher=Mittal Publications }}{{cite web |url=https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/285248/India/46988/Rise-of-the-peshwas |title=India : Rise of the peshwas - Britannica Online Encyclopedia |publisher=Britannica.com |date=8 November 2011 |access-date=23 March 2013 |archive-date=26 April 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130426031917/http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/285248/India/46988/Rise-of-the-peshwas |url-status=live }}

After the collapse of Maratha empire, Brahmins in Maharashtra region were quick to take advantage of opportunities opened up by the new British rulers. They were the first community to take up Western education and therefore dominated lower level of British administration in the 19th century.{{cite book|last1=Hanlon|first1=Rosilind|title=Caste, Conflict and Ideology: Mahatma Jotirao Phule and low caste protest in nineteenth-century Western India|date=1985|publisher=Cambridge University Press.|location=Cambridge, UK|isbn=0-521-52308-7|pages=122–123|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5kMrsTj1NeYC&q=phule+vedas&pg=PR9|access-date=11 August 2016}} Similarly, the Tamil Brahmins were also quick to take up English education during British colonial rule and dominate government service and law.{{cite book|author=Anil Seal|title=The Emergence of Indian Nationalism: Competition and Collaboration in the Later Nineteenth Century|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xV84AAAAIAAJ&pg=PR13|date=2 September 1971|publisher=CUP Archive|isbn=978-0-521-09652-2|page=98}}

Eric Bellman states that during the Islamic Mughal Empire era Brahmins served as advisers to the Mughals, later to the British Raj. The East India Company also recruited sepoys (soldiers) from the Brahmin communities of Bihar and Awadh (in the present day Uttar Pradesh){{cite book|author=Gyanendra Pandey|title=The Ascendancy of the Congress in Uttar Pradesh: Class, Community and Nation in Northern India, 1920–1940|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Nxmed64K7d8C&pg=PP10|year=2002|publisher=Anthem Press|isbn=978-1-84331-057-0|page=6}} for the Bengal army.{{cite book|author=David Omissi|title=The Sepoy and the Raj: The Indian Army, 1860-1940|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=suG-DAAAQBAJ&pg=PP1|date=27 July 2016|publisher=Springer|isbn=978-1-349-14768-7|page=4}}{{cite book|last1=Groseclose|first1=Barbara|title=British sculpture and the Company Raj : church monuments and public statuary in Madras, Calcutta, and Bombay to 1858|date=1994|publisher=University of Delaware Press|location=Newark, Del.|isbn=0-87413-406-4|page=67|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dR6F_ZdieAUC&pg=PA67 |access-date=20 April 2016}} Many Brahmins, in other parts of South Asia lived like other varna, engaged in all sorts of professions. Among Nepalese Hindus, for example, Niels Gutschow and Axel Michaels report the actual observed professions of Brahmins from 18th- to early 20th-century included being temple priests, ministers, merchants, farmers, potters, masons, carpenters, coppersmiths, stone workers, barbers, and gardeners, among others.Niels Gutschow and Axel Michaels (2008), Bel-Frucht und Lendentuch: Mädchen und Jungen in Bhaktapur Nepal, Otto Harrassowitz Verlag, pages 23 (table), for context and details see 16–36

Other 20th-century surveys, such as in the state of Uttar Pradesh, recorded that the primary occupation of almost all Brahmin families surveyed was neither priestly nor Vedas-related, but like other varnas, ranged from crop farming (80 per cent of Brahmins), dairy, service, labour such as cooking, and other occupations.Ramesh Bairy (2010), Being Brahmin, Being Modern, Routledge, {{ISBN|978-0-415-58576-7}}, pages 86–89 The survey reported that the Brahmin families involved in agriculture as their primary occupation in modern times plough the land themselves, many supplementing their income by selling their labour services to other farmers.Noor Mohammad (1992), New Dimensions in Agricultural Geography, Volume 3, Concept Publishers, {{ISBN|81-7022-403-9}}, pages 45, 42–48G Shah (2004), Caste and Democratic Politics in India, Anthem, {{ISBN|978-1-84331-085-3}}, page 40

According to Kalhana's Rajatarangini (12th cent. CE) and Sahyadrikhanda (5th–13th cent. CE) of Skandapurana, Brahmins are broadly classified into two groups based on geography.{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/illustratedencyc0000loch |url-access=registration |title=The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Hinduism: N-Z |author=James G. Lochtefeld |publisher=Rosen |year=2002 |isbn=9780823931804 |page=[https://archive.org/details/illustratedencyc0000loch/page/491 491] }} The northern Pancha Gauda group comprises five Brahmin communities, as mentioned in the text, residing north of the Vindhya mountain range.{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lXyWE6KbG8oC&pg=PA168 |title=Caste in Life: Experiencing Inequalities |editor=D. Shyam Babu and Ravindra S. Khare |publisher=Pearson Education India |year=2011 |isbn=9788131754399 |page=168}} Historically, the Vindhya mountain range formed the southern boundary of the Āryāvarta, the territory of the ancient Indo-Aryan peoples, and Gauda has territorial, ethnographic and linguistic connotations.{{sfnp|Narasimhacharya|1999|p=8}} Linguistically, the term "Gauda" refers to the Sanskrit-derived languages of northern India.{{sfnp|Narasimhacharya|1999|p=8}} The Pancha Gauda Brahmins are:

• Sarasvata
• Kanyakubja
• Gauda
• Utkala
• Maithila

Subcastes of Gaur Brahmins are:

• Sanadhya{{Cite book |last=Bahadur |first=K. P. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yQHpEQ8HkRMC&dq=titles+of+sanadhya+brahmins&pg=PA28 |title=Selection From Ramachndrika Of Keshv |date=1976 |publisher=Motilal Banarsidass Publ. |isbn=978-81-208-2789-9 |language=en}}
• Paliwal{{Cite news |date=26 August 2018 |title=This community does not believe in the tradition |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/jaipur/this-community-does-not-believe-in-the-tradition/articleshow/65546929.cms |access-date=26 March 2024 |work=The Times of India |issn=0971-8257}}

Subcastes of Kanyakubja Brahmins are:

• Jujhatiya Brahmin{{Cite book |last=Sherring|first=Matthew Atmore |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iTXXAAAAMAAJ |title=Hindu Tribes and Castes Volume 1

|date=1977 |publisher=Thacker, spink and company|language=en}}

• Saryupareen Brahmin
• Bengali Kulin Brahmin
• Anavil Brahmins{{Cite book |first=André |last=Wink|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bCVyhH5VDjAC |title=Al-Hind, the Making of the Indo-Islamic World: The slave kings and the Islamic conquest, 11th–13th centuries|date=1990 |publisher=E.J. Brill|isbn=978-90-04-09249-5 }}{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WFfVAAAAMAAJ |title=Bhāratīya sāhitya, Volume 19|date=1974 |publisher=Agra University. K.M. Institute of Hindi Studies and Linguistics.}} ( Though they are generally not accepted as Brahmins)
• Khas Brahmins – Nepali Bahuns{{Cite book |last=Chaturvedi |first=Shyam lal (Rai bahadur) |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=91ACAAAAMAAJ |title=In Fraternity with Nepal, An Account of the Activities Under the Auspices of the Wider Life Movement for the Furtherance and Consolidation of the Indo-Nepalese Cultural Fellowship |page=65|date=1945|language=en}}

The Pancha Dravida Brahmins reside to the south of the Vindhya mountain range. The term "Dravida" too has territorial, linguistic and ethnological connotations, referring to southern India, the Dravidian people, and to the Dravidian languages of southern India.{{sfnp|Narasimhacharya|1999|p=8}} The Pancha Dravida Brahmins are:

• Karnataka (Karnataka Brahmins)
• Tailanga (Telugu Brahmins)
• Dravida (Brahmins of Tamil Nadu and Kerala)
• Maharashtraka (Maharashtrian Brahmins)
• Gurjara (Gujarati){{cite book|title=Abu in Bombay State: A Scientific Study of the Problem|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BM8BAAAAMAAJ&q=pancha+dravida+gurjara+rajasthan|quote=It is interesting to note here that the Brahmin groups of Marwar and Mewar belong to the Gurjara group of the Pancha Dravida division|first=A V|last=Pandya|publisher=Charutar Vidya Mandal|year=1952|page=29}}

{{further|Hinduism in Southeast Asia}}

File:COLLECTIE TROPENMUSEUM Een pedanda istri (preisteres) met offergereedschap Bali TMnr 10001214.jpg, Indonesia, Brahmins are called Pedandas.Martin Ramstedt (2003), Hinduism in Modern Indonesia, Routledge, {{ISBN|978-0-7007-1533-6}}, page 256 The role of Brahmin priests, called Sulinggih,Martin Ramstedt (2003), Hinduism in Modern Indonesia, Routledge, {{ISBN|978-0-7007-1533-6}}, page 80 has been open to both genders since medieval times. A Hindu Brahmin priestess is shown above.]]

Some Brahmins formed an influential group in Burmese Buddhist kingdoms in 18th- and 19th-century. The court Brahmins were locally called Punna. During the Konbaung dynasty, Buddhist kings relied on their court Brahmins to consecrate them to kingship in elaborate ceremonies, and to help resolve political questions.{{cite journal |last=Leider |first=Jacques P. |year= 2005|title=Specialists for Ritual, Magic and Devotion: The Court Brahmins of the Konbaung Kings |journal=The Journal of Burma Studies |volume=10 |pages=159–180 |doi=10.1353/jbs.2005.0004|s2cid=162305789 }} This role of Hindu Brahmins in a Buddhist kingdom, states Leider, may have been because Hindu texts provide guidelines for such social rituals and political ceremonies, while Buddhist texts do not.

The Brahmins were also consulted in the transmission, development and maintenance of law and justice system outside India. Hindu Dharmasastras, particularly Manusmriti written by the Prajapati Manu, states Anthony Reid, were "greatly honored in Burma (Myanmar), Siam (Thailand), Cambodia and Java-Bali (Indonesia) as the defining documents of law and order, which kings were obliged to uphold. They were copied, translated and incorporated into local law code, with strict adherence to the original text in Burma and Siam, and a stronger tendency to adapt to local needs in Java (Indonesia)".Anthony Reid (1988), Southeast Asia in the Age of Commerce, 1450–1680: The lands below the winds, Yale University Press, {{ISBN|978-0-300-04750-9}}, pages 137–138Victor Lieberman (2014), Burmese Administrative Cycles, Princeton University Press, {{ISBN|978-0-691-61281-2}}, pages 66–68; Also see discussion of 13th century Wagaru Dhamma-sattha / 11th century Manu Dhammathat manuscripts discussionOn Laws of Manu in 14th century Thailand's Ayuthia kingdom named after Ayodhya, see David Wyatt (2003), Thailand: A Short History, Yale University Press, {{ISBN|978-0-300-08475-7}}, page 61;
Robert Lingat (1973), The Classical Law of India, University of California Press, {{ISBN|978-0-520-01898-3}}, pages 269–272

The mythical origins of Cambodia are credited to a Brahmin prince named Kaundinya, who arrived by sea, married a Naga princess living in the flooded lands.Jonathan Lee and Kathleen Nadeau (2010), Encyclopedia of Asian American Folklore and Folklife, Volume 1, ABC, {{ISBN|978-0-313-35066-5}}, page 1223 Kaudinya founded Kambuja-desa, or Kambuja (transliterated to Kampuchea or Cambodia). Kaundinya introduced Hinduism, particularly Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva and Harihara (half Vishnu, half Shiva), and these ideas grew in southeast Asia in the 1st millennium CE.Trevor Ranges (2010), Cambodia, National Geographic, {{ISBN|978-1-4262-0520-0}}, page 48

The Chams Balamon (Hindu Brahmin Chams) form a majority of the Cham population in Vietnam.Champa and the archaeology of Mỹ Sơn (Vietnam) By Andrew Hardy, Mauro Cucarzi, Patrizia Zolese p.105

Brahmins have been part of the Royal tradition of Thailand, particularly for the consecration and to mark annual land fertility rituals of Buddhist kings. A small Brahmanical temple Devasathan, established in 1784 by King Rama I of Thailand, has been managed by ethnically Thai Brahmins ever since. The temple hosts Phra Phikhanesuan (Ganesha), Phra Narai (Narayana, Vishnu), Phra Itsuan (Shiva), Uma, Brahma, Indra (Sakka) and other Hindu deities.HG Quadritch Wales (1992), [https://archive.org/stream/siamesestatecere030661mbp#page/n73/mode/2up Siamese State Ceremonies], Curzon Press, {{ISBN|978-0-7007-0269-5}}, pages 54–63 The tradition asserts that the Thai Brahmins have roots in Hindu holy city of Varanasi and southern state of Tamil Nadu, go by the title Pandita, and the various annual rites and state ceremonies they conduct has been a blend of Buddhist and Hindu rituals. The coronation ceremony of the Thai king is almost entirely conducted by the royal Brahmins.Boreth Ly (2011), Early Interactions Between South and Southeast Asia (Editors: Pierre-Yves Manguin, A. Mani, Geoff Wade), Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, {{ISBN|978-981-4311-16-8}}, pages 461–475

File:Brahmin population distribution.svg

The last caste census, conducted by the government of British Raj, was in the year 1931.{{Cite web |date=2025-05-01 |title=The last caste census was in 1931. A look back at its findings |url=https://indianexpress.com/article/political-pulse/modi-govt-caste-census-exercise-1931-9974935/ |access-date=2025-05-08 |website=The Indian Express |language=en}} Out of the total population 27 crores (270 millions) of the undivided India, Brahmins were over 1.5 crores (15 millions) in population.

According to 2007 reports, Brahmins in India are about 5% of its total population, and back then were numbering 56 million.{{cite news |last1=Bellman |first1=Eric |title=Reversal of Fortune Isolates India's Brahmins |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB119889387595256961 |access-date=21 June 2022 |newspaper=Wall Street Journal |date=30 December 2007 |archive-date=10 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220610055905/https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB119889387595256961 |url-status=live }}{{cite magazine|url=http://www.outlookindia.com/article/brahmins-in-india/234783 |title=Brahmins In India |magazine=Outlook India |date=4 June 2007 |access-date=21 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140531222946/https://www.outlookindia.com/article/brahmins-in-india/234783 |archive-date=31 May 2014}}

The Himalayan states of Uttarakhand (20%) and Himachal Pradesh (14%) have the highest percentage of Brahmin population relative to respective state's total Hindus, followed by Delhi (12%), Jammu and Kashmir (11%), Uttar Pradesh (10%), in other states the Brahmins being less than 10% of the population, the lowest being in the southern states of Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Kerala, where they form 1%.

According to the Center for the Study of Developing Societies, in 2004 about 65% of Brahmin households in India earned less than $100 a month compared to 89% of Scheduled Tribes, 91% of Scheduled Castes and 86% of Muslims.

{{Div col}}

• Viswa Brahman Diwas
• Vedic priesthood
• Brahmavarta
• List of Brahmins
• List of Brahmin dynasties and states
• 1st Brahman Regiment and 3rd Brahman Regiment
• Brahmin Tamil
• Historical Vedic religion

{{div col end}}

{{Reflist|30em}}

{{refbegin}}

• {{cite book | last =Narasimhacharya | first =Ramanujapuram | year =1999 | title =The Buddha-Dhamma, Or, the Life and Teachings of the Buddha | publisher =Asian Educational Services}}

{{refend}}

• Baldev Upadhyaya, Kashi Ki Panditya Parampara, Sharda Sansthan, Varanasi, 1985.
• Christopher Alan Bayly, Rulers, Townsmen, and Bazaars: North Indian Society in the Age of British Expansion, 1770–1870, Cambridge University Press, 1983.
• Anand A. Yang, Bazaar India: Markets, Society, and the Colonial State in Bihar, University of California Press, 1999.
• M. N. Srinivas, Social Change in Modern India, Orient Longman, Delhi, 1995.

{{Commons category|Brahmins}}

{{Wikiquote}}

• [https://archive.org/stream/brahminspariahsa00londrich#page/n3/mode/2up Brahmins and Pariah], An appeal and record of colonial era conflict in Bengal
• [https://archive.org/stream/wisdombrahminad00rcgoog#page/n14/mode/2up The wisdom of the Brahmin], Friedrich Ruckert (translated from German by Charles Brooks)

{{Brahmin communities}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:Brahmins

Category:Priestly castes

Category:Varnas in Hinduism

Category:Indian castes

Category:Sects that require vegetarianism

Category:Historical Vedic religion