Pancha Gauda is one of the two major groupings of

Brahmin Brahmin (; sa, ब्राह्मण, brāhmaṇa) is a varna as well as a caste within Hindu society. The Brahmins are designated as the priestly class as they serve as priests (purohit, pandit, or pujari) and religious teachers (guru ...

s in Hinduism, of which the other is

Pancha-Dravida Pancha Dravida is one of the two major groupings of Brahmins in Hinduism, of which the other was Pancha-Gauda. In ''Rajatarangini'' Kalhana, in his ''Rajatarangini'' (c. 12th century CE), classifies the following five Brahmin communities as Pan ...

In ''Rajatarangini''

According to

Kalhana Kalhana ( sa, कल्हण, translit=kalhaṇa) was the author of ''Rajatarangini'' (''River of Kings''), an account of the history of Kashmir. He wrote the work in Sanskrit between 1148 and 1149. All information regarding his life has to be d ...

's ''

Rajatarangini ''Rajatarangini'' ("The River of Kings") is a metrical legendary and historical chronicle of the north-western part of India, particularly the kings of Kashmir. It was written in Sanskrit by Kashmiri historian Kalhana in the 12th century CE. The ...

'' (c. 12th century CE), the Pancha Gauda group includes the following five Brahmin communities, which according to the text, reside to the north of the

Vindhyas The Vindhya Range (also known as Vindhyachal) () is a complex, discontinuous chain of mountain ridges, hill ranges, highlands and plateau escarpments in west-central India. Technically, the Vindhyas do not form a single mountain range in the ...

:''Shree Scanda Puran (Sayadri Khandha)'' -Ed. Dr. Jarson D. Kunha, Marathi version Ed. By Gajanan shastri Gaytonde, published by Shree Katyani Publication, Mumbai * Saraswata *

Kanyakubja Kannauj ( Hindustani pronunciation: ənːɔːd͡ʒ is a city, administrative headquarters and a municipal board or Nagar Palika Parishad in Kannauj district in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. The city's name is a corrupted form of the class ...

* Gauda * Utkala * Maithila The

Sahyadrikhanda Sahyādrikhaṇḍa or Sahyadri Khand, written in Sanskrit, and is considered as part of Skandapurāṇa.Shastri, P. (1995) ''Introduction to the Puranas'', New Delhi: Rashtriya Sanskrit Sansthan, pp.118-20 One of its interpolated versions from 17 ...

, considered a part of the ''

Skanda Purana The ''Skanda Purana'' (IAST: Skanda Purāṇa) is the largest ''Puranas#Mahapuranas, Mukyapurana'', a genre of eighteen Hindu religious texts. The text contains over 81,000 verses, and is of Kaumaram, Kaumara literature, titled after Kartikeya ...

'', also mentions the above classification.

In the ''kaifiyat''s

The

Maratha The Marathi people (Marathi: मराठी लोक) or Marathis are an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group who are indigenous to Maharashtra in western India. They natively speak Marathi, an Indo-Aryan language. Maharashtra was formed as a M ...

-era ''

kaifiyat A ''Kaifiyat'' is a historical record, especially about a village or a town, from the Deccan region of India. Compiled in 18th and 19th centuries by village accountants, based on earlier records, the ''kaifiyats'' are a valuable source of local his ...

s'' (bureaucratic records) of

Deccan The large Deccan Plateau in South India, southern India is located between the Western Ghats and the Eastern Ghats, and is loosely defined as the peninsular region between these ranges that is south of the Narmada river. To the north, it is bou ...

, which give an account of the society in the southern Maratha country, mention the following Brahmin communities as Pancha-Gaudas * Kanoji Brahmins *

Kamrupi Brahmins Kamrupi Brahmins, also known as Kamarupi Brahmana and Kamrupi Bamon; are those brahmins who claimed their descent from the Kanauji Brahmins and Maithili Brahmins who settled in Kamarupa (present day Assam).Mani L. Bose, ''Social History of As ...

Utkala Brahmin Utkala Brahmins, also known as Utkal Brahmins, are a Brahmin community who belong to the state of Odisha, India. Utkala Brahmins are the historical caretakers of the Jagannath Temple in Puri. The Utkala Brahmins are one of the five Pancha Gouda B ...

s *

Maithil Brahmin Maithil Brahmins are a Hindu Brahmin community from the Mithila region of the Indian subcontinent that comprises Tirhut, Darbhanga, Kosi, Purnia, Munger, Bhagalpur; Bokaro in Jharkhand and Santhal Pargana divisions of India and some adjoining ...

s * Gurjara Brahmins According to the ''kaifiyat''s, the Pancha Gaudas could be either

Smarta The ''Smarta'' tradition ( sa, स्मार्त), also called Smartism, is a movement in Hinduism that developed and expanded with the Puranas genre of literature. It reflects a synthesis of four philosophical strands, namely Mimamsa, A ...

Vaishnavas Vaishnavism ( sa, वैष्णवसम्प्रदायः, Vaiṣṇavasampradāyaḥ) is one of the major Hindu denominations along with Shaivism, Shaktism, and Smartism. It is also called Vishnuism since it considers Vishnu as the ...

or Bhagavats.

References

Brahmin communities Indian castes {{India-ethno-stub