Christian Brahmins

Roman Catholic Brahmin (IAST ''Bamonns'' in Romi Konkani, ''ಬಾಮಣು'' in Canara Konkani& '' Kupari'' in Bombay East Indian dialects) is a caste among the Goan, Bombay East Indian and Mangalorean Catholics who are patrilineal descendants of Konkani Brahmin converts to the Latin Catholic Church, in parts of the Konkan region that were annexed into the Portuguese East Indies, with the capital ( metropole) at '' Velha Goa'', while Bombay ('' Bom Bahia'') was the largest territory ( province). They retain some of the ethno-social values and customs of their ancestors, and most of them exhibit a noticeable hybrid Latino- Concanic culture. They were known as the ''Brahmins'' among the " New Christians".

Origins

In Goa, the Brahmins were engaged in the priestly occupation, but had also taken up various occupations like agriculture, trade, goldsmith, etc. The origins of this particular caste can be traced back to the Christianisation of the Velhas Conquistas ( pt, Old Conquests) that was undertaken by the Portuguese during the 16th and 17th centuries. It was during this period that the Jesuit, Franciscan and Dominican missionaries converted many Brahmins to Christianity. The first mass conversions took place among the Brahmins of Divar, and the Kshatriyas of Carambolim.

All converts from Brahmin sub-castes (Gowd Saraswat Brahmin, Daivadnya Brahmin, etc) were unified into a single Christian caste of ''Bamonn''. 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 temple priests, such converts were highly valued and esteemed by the church and Portuguese authorities alike. They were even allowed to wear the '' Yajnopavita'' (sacred threads) and other caste markings by a special dispensation of Pope Gregory XV in 1623, on the condition that these were to be blessed by a Catholic priest.

The ''Bamonns'' in general, consider their Indian caste system to be a class form of social categorisation. 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 of social stratification similar to the Western class concept. They are an endogamous group and have generally refrained from inter-marriage with Catholics of other castes. However, while the ''Bamonns'' never inter-married or mingled with the lower castes, the statutes and norms of the Roman Catholic church restrained them from practising Hindu caste based discrimination against the latter. Although most now carry Portuguese surnames, they have retained knowledge about their ancestral pre-conversion surnames, such as Bhat, Kamat, Nayak, Pai, Prabhu, Shenoy, and Shet. The konkanised variants of these surnames are ''Bhôtt'', ''Kāmot'', ''Nāik'', ''Poi'', ''Porbų (Probų)'', ''Šeņai'', and ''Šet''.

Mudartha is a unique surname to be found among some ''Bamonn'' families that hail from Udipi district in Karnataka. There is also a population of ''Saarodi'' (Christian Cxatrias), but ''Bamonns'' constitute the largest caste in the Mangalorean Catholic community. Most Mangalorean Catholic ''Bamonn'' families trace their patrilineal descent to Goud Saraswat Brahmins. There were a few historical instances in the Mangalorean Catholic community, wherein some Protestant Anglo-Indians were admitted into the ''Bamonn'' fold by Catholic priests at the time of their conversion to Catholicism, their descendants are known as ''Pulputhru Bamonns'' (Pulpit Bamonns).

A 1976 genetic analysis study conducted on three groups of Saraswat Brahmins and one group of Goan Catholic ''Bamonns'' in Western India, confirmed the historical and ethnological evidence of a relationship between Goan Catholic ''Bamonns'' and Chitrapur Saraswat Brahmins. 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.

In popular culture

* In her poem entitled ''de Souza Prabhu'', the Goan poet Eunice de Souza muses about her ''Bamonn'' heritage:

* The main protagonist of Mangalorean writer Richard Crasta’s erotic novel ''The Revised Kamasutra'', is Vijay Prabhu, a small town, middle class ''Bamonn'' youth living in Mangalore during the 1970s. (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." 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 novelist, V.J.P. Saldanha’s novels such as Balthazar from the novel, ''Belthangaddicho Balthazar'' (Balthazar of Belthangadi), Sardar Simaon and Sardar Anthon from ''Devache Kurpen'' (By the Grace of God), Salu and Dumga Peenth from ''Sordarachim Sinol'' (The sign of the Knights) are ''Bamonns''. A few characters such as Jaculo Pai and Monna Kamath from ''Sordarachim Sinol'', Sardar Simaon Pedru Prabhu, Sardar Anthon Paul Shet and Raphael Minguel Kamath from ''Devache Kurpen'' have evidently Brahmin surnames.
* Antonio Gomes' debut novel ''The Sting of Peppercorns'' (2010) focuses on the trials and tribulations faced by the de Albuquerques, a ''Bamonn'' family from Loutolim in Salcette. The family is headed by its patriarch Afonso de Albuquerque, a namesake of the conqueror of Goa to 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, '' ayah'' Carmina, and several servants who live on the de Albuquerque estate.
* Shakuntala Bharvani's novel ''Lost Directions'' (1996) features a minor Goan ''Bamonn'' character, 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. "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 Negritic Nirad Chaudhuri who calls Goans half-caste Meztizos, may his body and soul burn in hell-fire!'" 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. "'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 the Novenas at the Mahim Church on 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? Has Belial been 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!'"

Notable persons

*Joseph da Cunha
* Gerson da Cunha
* Sebastião Rodolfo Dalgado

Footnotes

: a In his ''A Konkani grammar'' published in Mangalore by the Basel Printing Press in 1882, Italian Jesuit and Konkani philologist Angelus Francis Xavier Maffei stated that Mangalorean Catholic ''Bamonn'' families then were still referred to by their ''paik'' surnames. In the book, Maffei also gives a Konkani language grammar exercise:

See also

*Christianisation of Goa
*Christianity in India
*Christianity in Goa
*Christianity in Karnataka
* Christianity in Maharashtra
* Forward caste
*Caste system among Indian Christians
*Latin Church in India
* Christianity in Pakistan
* Padval
*Konkani people
*Koli Christian
*Gauda and Kunbi
* Roman Catholic Kshatriya

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Roman Catholic Brahmin
Goan society
Mangalorean society
Christian communities of India
Social groups of Goa
Social groups of Karnataka
Social groups of Maharashtra