Gaudas and Kunbis are aboriginal people residing in the coastal Indian state of Goa. They are believed to be the original inhabitants of Konkan. Most follow folk Hinduism, but many were converted to Catholicism by the Portuguese missionaries during the

Christianisation of Goa The indigenous population of the erstwhile Portuguese colony of Goa, Daman and Diu underwent Christianisation following the Portuguese conquest of Goa in 1510. The converts in the ''Velhas Conquistas'' (Old Conquests) to Roman Catholicism were t ...

while still keeping their folk tradition and culture alive. kunbi

Current social status

They are categorised as Scheduled Tribes by Government of India along with Velip community. Original Gaud (गौड) community is now known as Gawada (गावडा) community.

Modern organisations

Gaudas, Kunbis, Velip and another shepherding tribe called the Dhangar, have organised themselves into an aboriginal-focussed network, called ''The Gauda, Kunbi, Velip and Dhangar Federation'' (GAKUVED). Another Adivasi-rights resource center, called ''MAND'', also works for their betterment.

Shuddhi movement

In the late 1920s, prominent Goan Hindu Brahmins maliciously requested Vinayak Maharaj Masurkar, the prelate of a Vaishnava

ashram An ashram ( sa, आश्रम, ) is a spiritual hermitage or a monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or a ...

in Masur, Satara district; to actively campaign for the 're-conversion' of Catholic Gaudas to Hinduism. Masurkar accepted, and together with his disciples, subsequently toured Gauda villages singing devotional ''

bhakti ''Bhakti'' ( sa, भक्ति) literally means "attachment, participation, fondness for, homage, faith, love, devotion, worship, purity".See Monier-Williams, ''Sanskrit Dictionary'', 1899. It was originally used in Hinduism, referring to d ...

'' songs and performing '' pujas''. On 23 February 1928, many Catholic Gaudas were re-converted to Hinduism notwithstanding the opposition of the Church and the Portuguese government. The converts were given Hindu names but the Portuguese government put impediments in their way to get legal sanction to their new Hindu names. 4851 Catholics from Tiswadi, 2174 from Ponda, 250 from

Bicholim Bicholim, pronounced (), also known as Divchal and Dicholi, is a town and a municipal council in North Goa district in the state of Goa, India. It is the headquarters of the ''Concelho'' (district) of Bicholim, one of seven that make up the No ...

and 329 from Sattari Catholic Gaudas were re-converted to Hinduism after nearly 400 years. The total number of the converts to Hinduism was 7815. The existing Hindu Gauda community refused to accept these neo-Hindus back into their fold because their Catholic ancestors had not maintained caste purity, and the neo-Hindus were now alienated by their former Catholic coreligionists. These neo-Hindus developed into a separate endogamous community, and are now referred to as ''Nav-Hindu Gaudas'' (New Hindu Gaudas).

References

Works cited

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gauda And Kunbi Goan society Hinduism in Goa Indian castes Social groups of Goa