Kudaldeshkar Gaud Brahmin (Devnagri:कुडाळदेशकर गौड ब्राह्मण), is a community hailing from the western coast of India, residing in the Konkan division of Maharashtra, Goa and some parts of coastal and central Karnataka. This community is also known as Kudaldeshkar Aadya Gaud Brahman (कुडाळदेशकर आद्य गौड ब्राह्मण) and sometimes Kudalkar Brahmans (कुडाळकार in local Konkani dialects). They speak dialects of Marathi, Malwani and Konkani.
Divisions of Maharashtra. The red region is an approximate indication of Konkan, the coastal region of Maharashtra and the ancestral home of Kudaldeshkars
History
kudaldeshkar gaud Brahmins were once natives of a region called 'gaud bengal' in Bengal. People staying in the Gud province of 'uttarkuru' province of Bengal were later addressed as 'Gaud'. Tired of the constant peevishness of Muslim rulers and other Avedic activities in this region ,this group of Brahmins crossed Vindhyachal Parvat and descended into the Sahyadri Parvat in early 7th century BC until 12th BC, and settled in Dakshin Konkan created by Parashuram. Legend has it that they were a group of 8,000 clansmen. These folks were hardworking and were interested in agriculture. The then ruling Chalukya king was impressed with them, and granted them portions of land, ranging from Devgad to Phonda. These came to be known as the 14 Agraharas or Bhumikas.These 14 Agraharas are as follows: Valavali, Dhamapur, Nerur, Paat, Parule, Mhapan, Khanoli, Ajgaon, Golvan, Kelus, Vetore, Dabholi, Tendoli and Tirvade.[1] History says that these people have exceptional leadership skills, and hence the Kadamba king donated four more Agraharas to a learned priest from the community named Devsharma in 1020 AD. The names of these four Agraharas are as follows: Kochare, Masade, Chendvan and Malgaon. These 18 Agraharas came to be known as Kudal Desh, and hence its patrons were called as Kudaldeshkars.[1]
Religion
Kudaldeshkar Brahmans follow Shankaracharya's Advait school of philosophy, and have their own three centuries old Math in Dabholi village in the Indian state of Maharashtra. Gsb(Gaud Saraswat Brahman) who settled in kudal prefer to be called as kudaldeskars rather than gsb. The first pontiff of the Shreemat Purnanand Swamiji[2] was initiated into Sanyasa by HH Vishwananda Swamiji. The present 20th pontiff of the Math is HH Shreemat Pradyumnanand Swamiji.[3]Kuldevatas
They worship following deities as their Kuldevtas:- Shree LakshmiNarayan
- Adinarayan
- Vetoba
- Ravalnath
- Mahadev
- Sateri
- Purushottam
- Bhadrakali
- Devi Mauli,Pat
- Sadyawarchi Mauli
- Taradevi
- Shri Devi Chamundeshvari
- Shri Devi Sateri - Mhapan, Kudal, Vetora of Sindhudurga, Maharashtra.
Culture
They abide by all the Shodasha Samskaras and other Brahminical rituals, but are not so orthodox, and are highly educated, cultured, and flexible.Kudaldeshkars are Brahman Warriors, also called "Brahmakshatriyas". This Brahman Warriors or 'Brahmakshatiyas' cult is unique and very rare within the Hindus. Many of them were Governors (rulers) of the Agraharas (Prabhu Walavalkar, Prabhu Tendolkar, Prabhu Khanolkar,...), administrators of the Agraharas (Desai, Samant, Patil, Naik..), a few of them were priests and Sanskrit scholars (Mahajan, Pandit,..) plus traders and farmers (Dhond,..). Today Kudaldeshkars are 100 percent educated and most of them are engaged in different white collar jobs and business.[1]
Language
The original language of Kudaldeshkars is Malwani dialect. The Malwani dialects of Konkani (also referred to as a creoles between Konkani and Marathi). Today Malwani is more significantly identified as the principal language of Kudaldeshkars and also of the natives of the Sindhudurg district. There is no special script or text characters for Malwani and it is generally written in Marathi. They also speak Marathi in Maharashtra, and Konkani in Goa, and Karnataka. Malwani is also called Kudali, originally known as Kudwali. Kudwal is the ancient name for Kudal.Historians say[who?] that the period of migration of Kudalkars and the Daivajnas from the northern part of India occurred at the same, and they settled in Goa in the same period. For this reason, members of both the communities speak the same dialect of Konkani in Goa.[4]
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