Misplaced Pages

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NOTE

It is certainly not commendable to point out that Brahmins, in general that brahmins put forward an opposition on the growth of the dalit community. Present day brahmins trat them as equals and also treat them as equals.Moreover, they also accept the reservations for the dalits.

An acton of a few black sheep cannot be attributed to the whole community of which belong many respectable figures.
I would also like to add that Brahmins treat the Mahatma and his ideals with utmost respect, today.
       Vinay Iyer

REQUEST

NOTE:THIS ARTICLE IS ONLY MEANT TO EDUCATE THE WORLD ABOUT THE ORIGIN AND ACHIEVEMENTS OF THE BRAHMIN COMMUNITY PLEASE ENSURE THAT WHATEVER YOU CONTRIBUTE IS RELEVANT TO THE TITLE OF THE ARTICLE, AND THE SPACE IS NOT USED FOR PROPAGATING HATRED AGAINST THE COMMUNITY.HOPE EVERYONE TAKES THIS MESSAGE IN PROPER VEIN.

I have to say this because, i believe that the recent changes to article on the main page are not appropriate (particularly the views expressed about the community).

Profession

Traditionally seeking alms in the name of the God has been the profession of Brahmins.Unsolicited 11:25, 22 June 2006 (UTC)

expansion

I removed the Boston Brahmins because they are not "another meaning" - they are merely a demeaning.

expansion

I'd like to see some of the data from omnipresence added to this page. This discusses the history but none of the tenets and beliefs. Avriette 01:11, 25 Mar 2005 (UTC)

It has nothing to do with the Brahmin caste. The omnipresence in that article refers to the concept of Brahman ,'God', Allah, however he/she/it is known. arjunb.

Meaning of the word

The word Brahmin is said to literally mean "One who has realised or attempts to realise Brahman".

Wouldn't this make it like a recursive acronym? 208.57.241.56 19:04, 25 August 2005 (UTC)

No. There is a difference between brahmin and brahman(God)

wat a stupid understanding,there is a definitve difference between brahmin and brahman.

Alternate meanings

I believe this word was used in the 19th century to describe fans/followers of Johannes Brahms and his style of music - the Brahmins as opposed to the Wagnerians. 4.131.113.234 07:48, 20 September 2005 (UTC)

"code brahmin"

Worth adding that the term "code brahmin" has been applied to the very skilled and numerous programmers originating from india? or that the term has become some sort of sarcastic derogatory term applied to a person of indian descent? See: 72.254.12.134 23:47, 7 October 2005 (UTC)

Brahmins claim to have realised Brahman

"Brahmin is said to literally mean One who has realised or attempts to realise Brahman". I firmly dispute the fact that Brahmins have realised Brahman (pronounced as Brahm or GOD, though both words are similar in pronounciation. They also claim to be the priestly class of Hindus, however, there are numerous examples of other castes who are priests or purohits (mahants)of many temples including the Bhumihar and Rajput commmunity. Several castes have their own priests.

That is your opinion. Note that the word is derived from Sanskrit and the word mainly referred to the Rishis of the Vedas who HAD realized Brahman and his power. From there the word is derived. Brahmins today continue to try to realize Brahmin, as do other people of other castes.arjunb

Problematic fifth paragraph

The fifth paragraph is in serious need of editing. It is certainly not written with a NPOV; at the least, the claims about "many Brahmins" need to be elaborated and substantiated. What does "many" mean? What evidence is there for these claims, or at least, who is making the claims? I'm not saying that the claims are untrue, just that I don't think an encyclopedia article can include them without further substantiation or citations. The claim about "an increasing percentage of Brahmins" needs similar substantiation. And, the point about the media in the end, as written, seems utterly tangential to the subject of the article.

Again, I'm not taking a stand on the truth of any of these claims. But, as written, the paragraph does not seem to meet Misplaced Pages standards.

Famous Brahmins

Need to organize this section to make it more interesting. Perhaps add 2-3 words for each individual to mention the contributions. Spellings need to confirm with existing articles, most people already have articles.--ISKapoor 06:12, 12 March 2006 (UTC)

First paragraph badly written

I am not aware of the accuracy of the content of the first paragraph, but it seems to be filled with grammatical and spelling errors. Would someone who knows the topic well enough make an attempt to clean it up, please?

The first para is now accurate, I have removed the questionable word "transient". --ISKapoor 02:52, 26 May 2006 (UTC)

Gotama (caste)

This article contains the following text:

Gautam is caste of Brahmins in India. They are also known as gurjar gaur.

Leaving aside the mismatch between text and title, if this information is accurate, should it be merged with this article, or elsewhere? --Mel Etitis (Μελ Ετητης) 21:08, 5 April 2006 (UTC)

The information is correct. I have checked. --ISKapoor 02:48, 26 May 2006 (UTC)

Non Brahmin Names

In some categories (like: others), non-brahmin names (singh), mentioned. If this page describes brahmin categiry, these names of castes other than brahmin should be removed.

Basawon Singh was indeed a Bhumihar Brahmin.--ISKapoor 02:58, 26 May 2006 (UTC)

Proposal for list of brahmins

Propose to move the list of brahmins to a new list article Babub 14:24, 7 May 2006 (UTC)

Suggestions

• Panchagauda and Panchdravida should be ordered from West to East.
• Brief (1-3 words) description for each prominent brahmin.

--ISKapoor 02:46, 26 May 2006 (UTC)

Brahmins in poverty

I strongly dispute the statement that "In the modern democratic India, the Brahmins are still not only poverty stricken, but also shunted out of every opportunity". This seems deliberately an anti-Brahmin statement without any factual basis. Why would there be any need for reservations for OBCs if this was true. R

From the contents of the Brahmins redirect

Classification of Brahmins

The first classification of Brahmins might have felt during the Vedic age itself. Consequently, the concept of Gotra came into existence. The gotra concept was probably propounded during the later Vedic period. It’s a system of classification and identification of various families and indicating common descent mainly from eight ‘root’ rishis.

Then as the 'Aryanization' and “Sanskritization’ of the ‘Indian sub-continent’ procedded, it might have felt that the whole Brahmin community (by then spread almost over the whole sub-continent) should be further subdivided. Thus the Brahmins were divided into two main regional sub-groups. Brahmins residing north of Vindhyachal- Satpura mountain range (this mountain range roughly divides the north-south expansion of Indian sub-continent) were called as ‘Gaur’ Brahmins whereas the inhabitants of south of the range were known as ‘Dravida’ Brahmins. Sanskrit was still considered as the main language of literary and administrative activities during those times. It was the main language of the courts of the kings and the primary mode of communication among the literates throughout the sub-continent. Most of the literary works in astronomy, astrology, mathematics, economics, political science, literature and general used to be written in this language. However, a few other languages like Prakrit. Pali etc., in the north and Tamil (old) in the south existed side-by-side. Yet those languages seemed to be considered as the languages of masses.

As the devlopment of languages (and / or dialects) in different regions of the sub-continent shaped, Sanskit started being replaced as the language of courts and literary activities. That further prompted the classification of Brahmins. Thus another division among Brahmin communties on geographical and linguistic basis took place.

(1) ‘Pancha-Gaur’, i.e., five main sub-groups of Brahmins stemming from the erstwhile “Gaur’ sub-group. Considering west, north-west to east, these were:

• Saraswat Brahmins
• Gaur Brahmins
• Kanyakubja Brahmins
• Maithili Brahmins
• Utkal Brahmins

The ‘Gaur Brahmins’ group mentioned here appears to be the remnants after other groups parted away from the primary ‘Gaur’ group. It is to be noted that 'Gaur' not 'Gauda' was the first parent sub-group of Brahmins in the north and still many Brahmin families continue to be identified under 'Gaur' group.

(2) ‘Pancha-Dravida’, i.e., five main sub-groups of Brahmins originating from the earlier mentioned “Dravida’ sub-group. These sub-groups seem to be reckon with regional languages.

• Maharashtrian Brahmins
• Kannada Brahmins
• Telgu Brahmins
• Tamil Brahmins
• Malayali Brahmins

But the parting away of Brahmin families from their parent sub-group (Sub-groups under Pancha-Gaur and Panch-Dravida) continued and the process generated scores of sub-castes mainly on the possible grounds:

(1) Since Vedic times, most Brahmins had been leading simple and ascetic lives. Thus their sustenance of livelihood and intellectual pursuits depended mainly on contributions or help provided by the kings, big landlords etc. That’s why, they had much mobility also. But some Brahmin families remained confined to smaller geographical locations because they might have availed the financial assistance for long time at those places. In some cases, their locational existence confined to even a couple of districts. Such Brahmins, however, originally belonging to a particular parent sub-group, might have thought of identifying themselves separately from the other members of the parent sub-group.

(2) Some Brahmin families moved to totally different geographical area from the bounds of their parent sub-group and accordingly might have classified themselves separately from the other members of the parent sub-group.

(3) Many lines of descent from the root rishis were grouped separately. Accordingly, the root gotras were divided into ganas (subdivisions) and each gana was further divided into group of some families, known as sub-gana. Since then the term gotra have frequently been applied to the ganas and sub-ganas.. Some Brahmin families, having ganas and sub-ganas as their gotras stemming only from one root rishi, might have classified themselves separately from the other members of the parent sub-group.

(4) Some Brahmins families paid their adherence mainly to only one God, say, Shiva or Vishnu. So such families might have thought of identifying themselves separately from the other members of the parent sub-group.

--Geopgeop 07:27, 24 June 2006 (UTC)

About the division:

karNaaTakaashcha tailaMgaa draaviDaa mahaaraashhTrakaaH, gurjaraashcheti pa~nchaiva draaviDaa vindhyadakshiNe || saarasvataaH kaanyakubjaa gauDaa utkalamaithilaaH, panchagauDaa iti khyaataa vindhsyottaravaasinaH ||

Definition of Gauda:

brahmakshetraM guDaaraNyaM matsyapaa~nchaalamaathuraaH eshha brahmarshhi desho vai brahmaavarta samambaram.h || brahmakshetraM kurukshetraM brahmadeshaH prakathyate aadigaudarshhideshaantaM haryaaraNyamihochyate ||

--ISKapoor 23:50, 8 July 2006 (UTC)

Badly written article

The article appears to be politically motivated.It is provocative. It will spread hatred among various communities. It has bad spellings (iit) and it appears to be of chat quality. Looks like wikipedia accepts all kind of matter for & from brahmins w/o checking. In spite of having three brahmin Prime ministers (Nehru, Indira gandhi, A.B. Vajpayee) and many many brahmin chief ministers & many brahmin bureaucrats it is a paradox that it is written here that they are suffering. Misplaced Pages plz get ur act right make it factual & NPOV. Adv. Dont allow brahmins to edit this article. --Anirudh777 07:01, 10 July 2006 (UTC)