Brahmin Community Research Articles

LIVING HERITAGE APPROACH FOR THE SUSTAINABILITY OF AGRAHARAMS IN PALAKKAD, KERALA, INDIA

Palakkad is a town in the central part of Kerala. It has witnessed many historic events in the past. The reminiscence of this past is still visible in the constantly evolving fabric of the town. Agraharams, a traditional settlement where the Brahmin community resides is a physical manifestation of an exodus from Tamil Nādu, between the 14th and 15th centuries. It is a living heritage where the Brahmins still continue to live. For any heritage settlement to be sustainable, there must be considerations given to the changing needs of the community. The current policies and guidelines that govern the protection of Agraharam is limited to just one Agraharam. These policies heavily focus on authenticity of the physical fabric of the structures. This has posed major challenges for the community and its continuity. The author has used case study methodology as the larger tool to collect data. Review of literature to understand the concepts of existing conservation approaches, and existing policies for the conservation of Agraharams are done to attain inductive data. The research is exploratory and concludes if the living heritage approach, which focuses on continuity as the main criteria for preservation is appropriate for Agraharams. The research would contribute towards sensitizing people to the importance of identifying the appropriate conservation approaches for various typologies of heritage.

TAS2R38 bitter taste perception in the Koṅkaṇī Sārasvata Brahmin population.

The TAS2R38 gene carries markers for phenylthiocarbamide (PTC) sensitivity. Various studies have investigated the genotype-phenotype association pattern for bitter tasting ability and other factors in different populations. However, a paucity of such information for endogamous Indian populations is the reason behind this study. To study the association of phenylthiocarbamide (PTC) sensitivity with TAS2R38 gene variations in Koṅkaṇī Sārasvata Brahmin population. We studied the association of the alleles rs714598, rs1726866, rs10246939 with PTC sensitivity and other factors in the Koṅkaṇī Sārasvata Brahmin population. DNA was extracted from 114 individuals belonging to the Koṅkaṇī Sārasvata Brahmin community. The TAS2R38 gene was sequenced to find the genotype distribution pattern. The association between genotype and phenotype was checked using the Chi-Square test and multifactorial logistical regression. We observed a 58.8% frequency of the AVI haplotype, which is the most prevalent in European populations. A higher number of non-taster haplotypes and diplotypes were observed in Koṅkaṇī Sārasvata Brahmins, with the allele rs10246939 showing a significant association with PTC bitter taste sensitivity in both allelic (p = 8.6 × 10-4; Allele-G, OR = 3.57 [95% CI = 1.66-7.69]) and genotype-based (p = 6.9 × 10-4; genotype-AG, OR = 3.11 [95% CI = 0.73-13.20]; genotype-GG, OR = 40 [95% CI = 3.58-447.03]) tests. Our results are in line with earlier studies, which report an association between PTC sensitivity and the TAS2R38 gene in different populations. In the global context, Koṅkaṇī Sārasvata Brahmins, who are mostly distributed along the southwestern coast of India, show a PTC sensitivity pattern slightly similar to that of West Eurasian populations. Our findings suggest ancestry specific selection in TAS2R38 gene variations for taste sensitivity at global level.

RECLAIMING THE LOST PARADISE: THE JAMMU AND KASHMIR REORGANISATION ACT AND INDIA’S NEW HISTORICAL NARRATIVE ON KASHMIR

Historical narratives and collective memory are relevant to claims regarding community, territory, and identity related to the Kashmir conflict. They have been central in shaping India's national imaginary and mobilizing support for New Delhi's policies in the region. The article analyzes how the topos of "paradise on earth" has informed the trajectories of Indian state narratives on Kashmir transforming, under the Modi government, into a call to action to recover and reclaim the lost paradise. The new discursive direction has been underpinned by a renewed interest in the plight of the Kashmiri Pandits-the Brahmin community native to the Kashmir valley-whose collective identity is deeply rooted in the history and socio-cultural distinctiveness of the region. The article thus situates the renewed political and public interest in the story of the Pandits' flight from Kashmir within a broader narrative of the state underlying the current phase of India's Kashmir policy. In this way, the article provides a perspective on how the trajectory of the Indian government's historical narratives about the region has informed the dynamics of conflict, occupation, and violence in the Kashmir Valley.

Spectres of Caste/Contagion: Death Anxiety and Caste Anxiety in U.R. Ananthamurthy’s Samskara

The article critiques the traversal politics of caste and contagion through a critical dissection of what comes as a primarily biomedical excess of the outbreak—the dead body. It elucidates upon the becoming of the dead body into an untouchable where its “right to die with dignity” is deferred. The article reasons this stigmatisation of the deceased as a result of anxiety ensued in the living population facing the outbreak crisis. Through a close textual reading of U.R. Ananthamurthy’s novel Samskara (1965), the article elaborates on the othering discourse of outbreaks and discusses the type of socio-immune response exhibited by a casteist body politic. The novel centres its narrative around a plague-stricken Brahmin community where the contested dead body of pestilence triggers an endless debate of humanistic morals and ethics. By equipping the Derridean lens of hauntology, the article reads Samskara as an outbreak narrative which informs about the social unpreparedness and indecisiveness expressed by caste groups. The article discusses two types of anxieties expressed in such a caste-based society, namely death anxiety and caste anxiety. It mediates how these anxieties are produced in inversion, creating a unique pattern of social instability and inertia with relevance to the socio-political discourse of India. The epiphenomenon of inverted anxieties in India is presented as a subverted narrative from the global patterns of anxiety charged by microbial invasions. Finally, the article examines how the dead regains spectral agency in order to reveal the social pathology of a community doubly infected with caste and contagion.

Exploring the “Liminal” and “Sacred” Associated with Death in Hinduism through the Hindu Brahminic Death Rituals

Abstract This article aims to present the specificities associated with the Hindu liminal phase and the sacred associated with death through an ethnographic account of the death rituals of the Hindu Saryuparin Brahmin community. Through this ethnographic account, the author argues against a uniform liminal phase across different cultures by bringing to the fore aspects specific to the Hindu liminal phase in death. This aids in analyzing the Hindu cosmogenic world and the movement of the deceased’s “pret” or “ghost” within the same during the liminal phase. Building a connect between the liminal and the sacred in Hinduism, the author further discusses how the sacred is understood in terms of purity/impurity and life/death through death rituals. While exploring the sacred, the author contests the classical understanding of the sacred within the religious realm and presents its contextual nature by discussing the “context-based sacred.” This article is divided into three sections: (1) death rituals in the Hindu Brahminic tradition, (2) deconstructing the “liminal” in death in Hinduism, and (3) understanding the “sacred” associated with death in Hinduism.

Women in Wartime: Venu Chitale’s National Imaginaries as Radio Resistance on the BBC

In 1940, the Maharashtrian-born writer Venu Chitale was among the first Indian women recruited by the BBC to broadcast war propaganda programs designed to persuade British and Indian listeners to support Britain’s antifascist efforts. Given that India’s anticolonial nationalists and intelligentsia were ambivalent about supporting their colonizers in a war many felt was not theirs to fight, the BBC enlisted a group of Indian diaspora writers—whose voices listeners in India would find familiar, trustworthy, and persuasive—to present British people and culture in a positive light. This essay examines how Venu Chitale navigated her competing allegiances to Britain’s antifascist activities and India’s anticolonial nationalism when broadcasting pro-British war propaganda programs on the BBC’s Home and Eastern Services. By reading Chitale’s broadcasts through the context of Britain’s vegetarianism and animal welfare movement and her 1950 novel In Transit—which presents the nationalism of Maharashtra’s Chitpawan Brahmin community—I illuminate how Chitale integrates subversive commentary that challenges disempowering colonial stereotypes and misperceptions of Indians into her broadcasts lauding British contributions to the war effort. The immediacy and intimacy of Chitale’s broadcasts into the private homes of her listeners enabled her to position Indian women more inclusively within the national imaginaries of Britain and India. Although Chitale’s strategic performances of authentic solidarity may not appear overtly anticolonial, I contend that her refusal to erase her diasporic identity markers by Anglicizing her speech, dress, or personal values when presenting her programs forces listeners to acknowledge that her allegiance with their cause makes her a citizen equal to themselves and defines her identity as much as her embodied difference. The subversive nature of Chitale’s messaging marks the first stages of a South Asian resistance to anti-immigrant racism that would become increasingly robust in the decades following decolonization.

Women’s Land Ownership and Gender Equality in Nepal

The study is an endeavor to contribute to the impact developing social circumstances regarding land ownership among women and its relation to gender equality. The purpose of this research debunks the factors effecting women land ownership and their impact on socio-economic equality. A survey was done among 100 women of a remote village, in southern Lalitpur regarding land ownership, with relation to variables such as level of education of women, ethnicity, age, presence of legal documents, knowledge of government policies, and family structure. Factors such as occupation of women, role in household decision making, and involvement in social and political spheres were also studied in relation to their land ownership. The survey was done with purposive and proportional stratified sampling among ethnic communities of Brahmin/Chhetri and Janajati. A questionnaire survey, key informant survey, focus group discussion and in-depth case study were done. Twenty-one percent of the females interviewed had land on their own and this data also had a variation with ethnic communities. It was found that women with land feel confident in the social and economic sphere of society. Brahmin community was found to be more aware of the government policies encouraging female land ownership than the Janajati community. This study aims to add knowledge on the conversation in gender equality and its relation to land and property ownership.

Interiority of Agraharam: Traditional Houses in Temple Towns of India

The article aims to provide a multisensory reading within the multiple scales of spaces in the traditional settlement of agraharam. This multisensory reading generates layers of interiority that exist across temples, streets, and houses. Agraharam is the traditional house of the Brahmin (priest) community found in temple towns of South India. This house responds to religious beliefs, tradition, and local climatic conditions and displays a balance of sensory experiences which enrich the overall living experience. In this article, interiority is referred to as the characteristic of being ‘inward,’ where memories and practices of a specific community are associated with the spaces. It explores one's experiences of the various scales (the town, the street, and the house) of spaces through copious physical and sensory experiences, using Pallasmaa’s description of the phenomenological approach to identify the multisensory experience of the human body in space.

Dissecting the genetic history of the Roman Catholic populations of West Coast India.

Migration and admixture history of populations have always been curious and an interesting theme. The West Coast of India harbours a rich diversity, bestowing various ethno-linguistic groups, with many of them having well-documented history of migrations. The Roman Catholic is one such distinct group, whose origin was much debated. While some historians and anthropologists relating them to ancient group of Gaud Saraswat Brahmins, others relating them for being members of the Jews Lost Tribes in the first Century migration to India. Historical records suggests that this community was later forcibly converted to Christianity by the Portuguese in Goa during the Sixteenth Century. Till date, no genetic study was done on this group to infer their origin and genetic affinity. Hence, we analysed 110 Roman Catholics from three different locations of West Coast of India including Goa, Kumta and Mangalore using both uniparental and autosomal markers to understand their genetic history. We found that the Roman Catholics have close affinity with the Indo-European linguistic groups, particularly Brahmins. Additionally, we detected genetic signal of Jews in the linkage disequilibrium-based admixture analysis, which was absent in other Indo-European populations, who are inhabited in the same geographical regions. Haplotype-based analysis suggests that the Roman Catholics consist of South Asian-specific ancestry and showed high drift. Ancestry-specific historical population size estimation points to a possible bottleneck around the time of Goan inquisition (fifteenth century). Analysis of the Roman Catholics data along with ancient DNA data of Neolithic and bronze age revealed that the Roman Catholics fits well in a basic model of ancient ancestral composition, typical of most of the Indo-European caste groups of India. Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) analysis suggests that most of the Roman Catholics have aboriginal Indian maternal genetic ancestry; while the Y chromosomal DNA analysis indicates high frequency of R1a lineage, which is predominant in groups with higher ancestral North Indian (ANI) component. Therefore, we conclude that the Roman Catholics of Goa, Kumta and Mangalore regions are the remnants of very early lineages of Brahmin community of India, having Indo-Europeans genetic affinity along with cryptic Jewish admixture, which needs to be explored further.

Territorial mobility in traditional societies of Bhojpur, Majhkirant

Territorial mobility is an inherent element for survival and it is a common feature of rural area. It reflects the whole life style and livelihood pattern of a community. Therefore, territorial mobility could be an important aspect of living and coping with external world particularly in the traditional communities of rural Nepal. This paper seeks to explore the changing territorial mobility among the Rai people from Sampang area of Bhojpur district in Majhkirant region. The mixed method, both quantitative and qualitative is adopted for data collection. The formal instruments such as household survey, focus group discussion, mobility register, and the folk sources such as folk songs, local sayings, proverbs, local events were used to generate the data together with the observation method as well. Findings indicate that all forms of mobility of Majhkirant people in which they participate can be summarized into two categories i.e. basai sarai and ghumphir. The long-term moves such as Muglan bhasine, Madhesh jharne, ghar khana jane, desh nikala hune are the specific types of basai sarai. On the other hand all types of short-term mobility normally of short distance are part of ghumphir which are common forms of movement among the people of this area. The feature and frequency of various types of moves vary among Rai and non-Rai community and it also differs over time and space. For example, pitri garna jane, nwagi garna jane, mang garna jane, kaliya jane are more noticeable among Rai community while tirthayatra, chardham jane, astu selauna jane, puranma jane, katha sunna jane are commonly found among non-Rai (Brahmin community). Similarly, moves such as, Lahur jane, phukna jane, ghar banauna jane are associated with Rai people whereas moves like jajamani garna jane, puranma jane, katha bhanna jane are primarily confined to Brahmin community. Many other forms of localized moves were also noticed and all of them had their linkages with participation in socio-cultural, professional, political and economic spheres of rural life. Some moves associated with kinship and neighborhood network as well as obligatory are commonly found in all community. In addition, many of these move are age-sex specific, others are associated with occupation of the person and with changing aspiration of people including changing geography of development activities.

A Portrayal of Inter-caste Marriage in Chetan Bhagat’s Novel ‘2 States: The Story of My Marriage’

The aim of this paper is to understand the varied cultures and traditions existing in contemporary India which create impediments in inter-caste marriages for a young generation. Chetan Bhagat’s novels are emblems of the true thoughts of contemporary young India. 2 States: The Story of My Marriage is a love story of Krish, a Punjabi boy and Ananya, a Tamilian girl, and their attempts to convert their love into marriage with the endorsement of their parents. Author humorously delineates cultural aspects of Tamil Brahmin and Punjabi communities which are in sharp contrast to each other. The paper helps us to understand the cultural and social barriers between North-India and South-India and their impact on inter-caste marriages.

"Resituating the role of Prof KKS Namboothiri in streamlining social transformation of Yogakshema Sabha and the Malayala Brahmin community of Kerala "

"Resituating the role of Prof KKS Namboothiri in streamlining social transformation of Yogakshema Sabha and the Malayala Brahmin community of Kerala "

Dasa Sahitya

Dasa Sahitya is a literary genre in Kannada, first seen in the late fifteenth century. Making its mark both in literature and in Indian classical music, Dasa Sahitya attracted the attention of missionaries and other colonial functionaries, and was one of the first genres to be edited and published in Kannada in the mid-nineteenth century. Very soon, native editors and publishers started working on the genre. Usually classified under bhakti literature in the literary historiography of Kannada literature, Dasa Sahitya was published by individuals of varying interests. This article makes a survey of some of the early publications of the genre, and notes varying concerns and interests with which they were produced. We refrain from classifying these works as either 'colonial' or 'nationalist', while noting that the genre and the associated works were inextricably linked to the brahmin community from the days of the early publications, even as this community projected it as part of 'Kannada' culture. We also note evidence of cultural opposition to the change from manuscript to print.

Unveiling the Relationship between Cultural Practices & Well-Being among Brahmin Students

The present paper reports a study entitled ‘Cultural Practices and Well-being among Tamil Brahmin Students’. India has a rich culture and heritage. That too the Vedic culture of India is something note worthy. The aims of the research include unfolding the rich cultural heritage of Vedic Brahmins belonging to Tamil community and to see how this rich tradition influences their general well-being and intelligence. Culture represents the cumulative deposit of knowledge, experience, beliefs, values, attitudes, meanings, hierarchies, religion, notions of time, roles, spatial relations, concepts of the universe and material objects and possessions acquired by a group of people in the course of generations through individual and group striving (Hofstede,1997). Culture is the backbone of every society. Culture has either a direct or indirect influence on all the activities of the society. It ranges from day to day activities to deeper traits. The practices, rituals and even habits of the society are largely dependent upon the culture. The subjects of the study, Tamil Brahmins stay in separate settlements called AGRAHARAMS and follow a typical lifestyle. Some of them still follow a socially secluded life, restricting themselves within the walls of their cultural practices. The sample consists of 90 subjects, belonging to Tamil Brahmin community and it is divided into three groups 1) 30 people with regular practices 2) 30 people with occasional practices and 3) 30 people with no practice at all. The following tools are used to collect the data 1) cultural practices checklist (prepared by the researchers) 2) PGI General Wellbeing Measure by R.Anitha and P. Sareena. The parametric statistics was applied to analyze the obtained data. Well-being is generally considered as a subjective feeling of contentment, happiness, and satisfaction with life’s experiences. The results show that there is a significant correlation between the cultural practices existing among Tamil Brahmins and their well-being. The study throws light upon the influence of various cultural practices on well-being. It also helps to know how much cultural practices decide the wellbeing of persons living in the particular society. The study reminds us of our rich cultural practices and how the learning of Vedas could be embedded into the present education system to improve the general well-being of the students. The paper thus presents not just psychological perspectives, but anthropological and sociological factors as well.

EVOLUTION OF THE MAHALAKSHMI LADIES DRAMA GROUP 1989-2015

Bombay Gnanam (Gnanam Balasubramanian) started the all-women Mahalakshmi Ladies Drama Group (MLDG) in 1989. It hasn’t been easy for the women to take time from family responsibilities, but they make the time because the troupe provides a space for them to talk about their issues with other women as well as a creative outlet through which they can act on stage. The MLDG has made a niche for itself in the male-oriented sabha theatre scene in Chennai, gaining acceptance as well as praise from even respected male Hindu religious leaders. I discuss the story of the MLDG and argue that their own identities as educated, affluent middle-class Brahmin women along with strategic storytelling and staging methods has allowed them to not only avoid censure but to become popular with the conservative, traditional Brahmin community in Chennai while bringing controversial topics to the stage. They have developed strategies over the years that range from basic cross-dressing to criticizing the actions and attitudes of other women, presenting all perspectives to an issue, leaving the plays without resolution so that audiences can insert their own values, and recently allowing male voices onto the stage through recordings.

Variation of Abnormal Hemoglobins Concentrated in Durg, Chhattisgarh: A Brief Note Based on Cross-Sectional Study

Prevalence of different abnormal hemoglobins (Hb) in Indian tribal and nontribal population groups is well established. Sickle cell hemoglobin (HbS) is mostly concentrated in Central and South Indian states, whereas HbD and Hb E is mostly found in North-North-West and North-North-East states respectively. HbJ, an alpha globin gene variant, is earlier reported in North India whereas; its presence in the tribal Chhattisgarh state is not well understood. HbE, a beta-globin gene variant was earlier reported in North Eastern states of India. Prevalence of both these abnormal hemoglobins in the Central India specifically in Durg, Chattisgarh is incompletely understood. In this study attempts were made to analyze the presence of abnormal hemoglobins during screening for sickle cell anemia. Briefly, blood samples (N=44) were analyzed for sickle cell anemia screening and confirmatory tests by solubility tests and cellulose acetate membrane electrophoresis at alkaline pH. Two samples showed an abnormal pattern of separation on cellulose acetate membrane other than HbS. Out of total 44 tested samples, five were sickle cell carriers (HbAS), one was heterozygous HbAJ and the another one was homozygous for HbE while remaining other were normal genotypes i.e. HbAA. In brief, a case of homozygous Hemoglobin E from Kurmi caste of other backward community (OBC) and a different heterozygote pattern, i.e. Hb AJ from Brahmin community is reported from Durg, Chattisgarh, Central India. This study provides possible indication of variation of different abnormal hemoglobins, other than HbS, present in the tribal state of Chhattisgarh.

A Biometric Approach for Personal Identification Using 2-D Lip Images of Brahmin & Baniya Communities

Personal identification is an important fact in Forensic investigation. Identification through biometric systems is motivated by real life criminal and Forensic applications. Present study was to determine any differences in lip patterns and lip measurements between two communities and to ascertain whether this behold the potential for determination of sex of an individual. A total of 80 subjects of both Brahmin and Baniya community of Bundelkhand region of 20–40 years were taken. Lip measurements were taken along with the lip images and classified according to Tsuchihashi's classification. Statistical analysis indicated that there were significant differences between sexes of both communities. There is correlation of photographic length and width ratio to actual dimension of lips in both the sexes. The overall accuracy for sex determination in Brahmin community is found to be 47.1875%, whereas in Baniya community it was 38.125%. Hence, the percentage of determining the differences in lip images of males and females in both communities was 42.65%. This study can provide a preliminary idea about the use of lip images and measurements along with lip pattern as a biometric system in sex determination among both communities.

Changing Food Habits in a South Indian Hindu Brahmin Community: A Case of Transitioning Gender Roles and Family Dynamics

This study was conducted to explore the perceptions of 20 South Indian Hindu Brahmin women on the factors influencing their food habits upon immigrating to America. The competing demands of juggling a new career and managing their family’s nutritional needs at the same time, all without the support of extended family members, played an important role in steering these women away from cooking traditional healthy meals, and resorting to fast foods instead. Intervention strategies should be directed toward improving the barriers to eating healthy that were specifically identified within the confines of shifting gender roles and limited family support networks.

Pregnancy Complications among the North-Indian Population: A Community-Based Study

Pregnancy is one of the important events affecting the health of a woman, especially in developing countries like India. India is a land of diverse communities. Hence, the occurrence of pregnancy complications is also varied in different communities. These complications may be routine, serious or even potentially fatal in nature. To know about the occurrence of pregnancy complications in communities, we collected 455 samples from Smt. Sucheta Kriplani Hospital, New Delhi, from October 2006 to August 2010. It was only a database analysis. The analyses were carried out on 455 cases. It revealed that pregnancy-induced hypertension complications were the highest among all the complications and that intrauterine growth retardation cases were found only in the Brahmin community. It is suggested that the occurrence of pregnancy complications varies in different communities in North-Indian populations.

Comparitive Study of Facial Index of Pushkarna Brahmin Community of Bikaner District of Rajasthan and Other Communities and Races

The facial index is length of the face from root of nose to the bottom of the chin, expressed as a percentage of the greatest breadth across the cheek bones. Racial differences are much more marked in relation to face than elsewhere, so it is very useful anthropologically. For this 100 males from Pushkarna Brahmin community between the age group of eighteen to thirty-five years were taken and their facial index was calculated.The result indicated that average facial index in Pushkarna Brahmin individuals was 95.86. Mostly they were hyperleptoprosopic. The average facial index of Pushkarna Brahmin individuals was not comparable to any other Indian groups studied so far. But it was very close to North European and Nigerian population.