Deshastha Brahmin - Classification

Classification

The Hindu caste system is first mentioned in the ancient Hindu scriptures like the Vedas and the Upanishads. Various sub-classifications of the caste system exist, many based on the geographical origin of the caste.

Deshastha Brahmins fall under the Pancha Dravida Brahmin classification of the Brahmin community in India. Other Brahmin sub-castes in the region are Karhade Brahmin, Devrukhe, Konkanastha and Goud Saraswat Brahmin, but these sub-castes only have a regional significance. Goud Saraswat Brahmins fall under the Pancha Gauda Brahmin classification, i.e. North Indian Brahmins. The Vedas are the world's oldest texts that are still used in worship and they are the oldest literature of India. Four Vedas exists of which the Rig Veda is the oldest. They were handed down from one generation of Brahmins to the next verbally and memorised by each generation. They were written down sometime around 400 BC. Other Vedas include the Yajur Veda, the Atharva Veda and the Sama Veda. Two different versions of the Yajur Veda exist, the White (Shukla in Sanskrit) and the black or (Krishna in Sanskrit). The Shukla Yajur Veda has a two different branches (Shakha in Sanakrit) called the Kanva and the Madhyandin. Deshastha Brahmins are further classified in two major sub-sects, the Deshashatha Rigvedi and the Deshastha Yajurvedi, based on the Veda they follow. The Yajurvedis are further classified into two groups called the Madhyandins and the Kanavas. The Madhyandins follow the Madhyandin branch of the Shukla Yajur Veda. The word Madhyandin is a fusion of two words Madhya and din which mean middle and day respectively. They are so called because they perform Sandhya Vandana at noon. Almost without exception, the several regional groups of the Madhyandin Brahmins are indistinguishable from the Kshatriya Marathas due to similar physical features. A similar study of four groups that have been resident in Mumbai and surrounding areas for generations, using blood group markers, found the Deshastha Rigvedi and the Marathas to be genetically closer to each other than to the Gujarati Patel and the Parsi communities. Kannav Brahmins were traditionally located in and around Nasik, and they call themselves Prathamshakhis or followers of the first branch of the White Yajurved. The Madhyandin Yajurvedis arrived in the Nashik district of Maharashtra from Gujarat about 500 years ago.

Recently, the Yajurvedi Madhyandin and Yajurvedi Kannava Brahmins have been colloquially being referred to as Deshastha Yajurvedi Madhyandin and Deshastha Yajurvedi Kannava, although not all have traditionally lived or belonged to the Desh.

The Deshastha Rigvedi Brahmins are treated as a separate and distinct caste from the Yajurvedi Madhyandina and Kannavas Brhamins by several authors, including Malhotra, Karve and Wilson.

There is a significant Deshashta population in the state of Karnataka, and here, the sub-classification of Deshastha Brahmins is based on the type of Hindu philosophical system they follow. These are the Deshastha Madhva Brahmins who follow the teachings of Madhvacharya and the Deshastha Smartha Brahmins who follow the teachings of Adi Shankaracharya. The surnames of these North Kanataka based, Kannada speaking Deshastha Brahmins, can be identical to those of Maharashtrian Deshastha Brahmins, for example, they have last names like Kulkarni, Deshpande and Joshi. Intermarriages are allowed between the Karnatak Brahmans and the Deshasthas and so the classification of the Southern India Brahmans into the Maharashtra, the Andhra (Telugu) and the Karnatic are in this respect, more of a provincial or linguistic character than an ethnographic one.