The Sompura Brahmin are a

Hindu Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism.Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...

caste Caste is a form of social stratification characterised by endogamy, hereditary transmission of a style of life which often includes an occupation, ritual status in a hierarchy, and customary social interaction and exclusion based on cultura ...

found in the state of Gujarat and Rajasthan in India. They are a sub-group of the Brahmin community.

History and origin

According to their traditions, the Sompura Brahmin are so named because they were created by the god Chandra to perform sacred ceremonies called ''Som Yajna'' for the god Shiva. They are concentrated in the town of Prabas Patan and form one of the oldest Brahmin communities in Gujarat; they speak

Gujarati Gujarati may refer to: * something of, from, or related to Gujarat, a state of India * Gujarati people, the major ethnic group of Gujarat * Gujarati language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by them * Gujarati languages, the Western Indo-Aryan sub- ...

. Skand puran gives reference for the creation of Sompura Brahmins wide its chapter 21/22/23/24 The agnihotri brahmins from chandra lok came to prabhas with hemgarbha -the chief secretary of moon god to conduct-perform a pratishtha yagya of the first temple of lord somnath and after the yagya the moon god requested these Brahmins to stay there. These Brahmins stayed near somnath so they are called Sompura brahmins. Generally the civilisations develops and moves with the source of water worldwide, but the sompura brahmin is the only class who are stable near somnath for at least 2000 years.

Present circumstances

Like other Brahmin communities, they consist of

gotra In Hindu culture, the term gotra (Sanskrit: गोत्र) is considered to be equivalent to lineage. It broadly refers to people who are descendants in an unbroken male line from a common male ancestor or patriline. Generally, the gotra fo ...

s which are exogamous. The

Sompura Sompur is a village in the Koppal district of Karnataka state, India. Demographics Per the 2011 Census of India, Sompur has a total population of 1677; of whom 860 are male and 817 female. See also *Lakkundi * Halligudi * Kuknoor *Koppal ...

s have 18 gotras. Eleven of them are spread all over Gujarat and Rajasthan and practice temple architecture with shilp-shastra. Most of the other seven gotras stay near Prabhas/Somnath; their main profession was and still is ''yajman vrutti'' (priestly services) in the temples, particularly in and around Somnath. Sompura Brahman are priest in Somnath Temple. The community is moving very highly in society in both business and education. They are strict vegetarians. People of India Gujarat Volume XXI Part Three edited by R.B Lal, P.B.S.V Padmanabham, G Krishnan & M Azeez Mohideen pages 1309-1312

References

{{Social groups of Gujarat Social groups of Gujarat Brahmin communities of Gujarat