Gauda and Kunbi

Gaudas are aboriginal people residing in the coastal Indian state of Goa.

[2] Gaudas, Kunbis, Velip and another shepherding tribe called the Dhangar, have organised themselves into an aboriginal-focussed network, called The Gauda, Kunbi, Velip and Dhangar Federation (GAKUVED).

[3] In the late 1920s, prominent Goan Hindu Brahmins requested Vinayak Maharaj Masurkar, the prelate of a Vaishnava ashram in Masur, Satara district; to actively campaign for the 're-conversion' of Catholic Gaudas to Hinduism.

[4] Masurkar accepted, and together with his disciples, subsequently toured Gauda villages singing devotional bhakti songs and performing pujas.

[4] On 23 February 1928, many Catholic Gaudas were re-converted to Hinduism notwithstanding the opposition of the Church and the Portuguese government.