Saraswat Brahmin
[6][7][8] Writer Chandrakant Keni and former I.C.S officer V. N. Kudva says, "The majority of the Saraswats, including those in Goa, are now Vaishnavas".
They have a legend of origin related to Lord Ramachandra (not the same as Parashurama), who could not find a priest in Balochistan and applied a Tilaka on the head of some Mleccha.
Jürgen Schaflechner cites the historian Rowe who states that such "low ranking Brahmins" formed a symbiotic relationship with Vaishya castes such as Khatris, Lohanas, etc.
[13] However, Sanskrit scholar Madhav Deshpande, Indologist and Sanskrit Scholar Stephan Hillyer Levitt and historian O'Hanlon consider the portion of the Sahyādrikhaṇḍa that describes Saraswats to be corrupted and recently interpolated by Saraswats themselves in order to improve their status.
[13] According to Rosalind O'Hanlon, the core of the text was likely written around the end of the 1st millennium, it contains stories about Brahmin village settlements that have fallen from virtue.
[23] In Kalhana's Rajatarangini (12th century CE), the Saraswats are mentioned as one of the five Pancha Gauda Brahmin communities residing to the north of the Vindhyas.
[3] According to M. K. Kaw (2001), Kashmiri Pandits, a part of the larger Saraswat Brahmin community hold the highest social status in Kashmir.
[25] Philosophers like Sureśvara, the first peetadhipathi of Sringeri Sharada Peetham, Mandana Mishra, were Kashmiri Saraswat Brahmins.
[30][31][32] In Gangetic belt mainly in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, Saraswat Brahmins were landlords and priests.
Historian Sanjay Subrahmanyam states that Saraswats at "Basrur on the Kanara coast south of Goa" were a "caste of open status", which sometimes claimed to be Brahmins although they were associated with mercantile activity and called as "Chatins" from Chetti by the Portuguese.
The prominent Saraswat merchants mentioned at this time, that is, early 1600s are Govinda, Pondya as well as the Kini and Nayaks.
The rendas were on various items such as spices(pepper), cotton and silk cloths, food shops and duties on gold.
[37][38] The Saraswats also traded at the Vengurla and Raybag ports and acted as suppliers of rice and pepper that they imported from Kanara.
[44] Historically, in Maharashtra, Saraswats had served as low and medium level administrators under the Deccan Sultanates for generations.
In the 18th century, the quasi-independent Shinde and the Holkar rulers of Malwa recruited Saraswats to fill their administrative positions.
During the same period in Peshwa ruled areas, there was a continuation of filling of small number of administration post by the Saraswats.
The items from Mangalore were exported to Malabar, Goa, Surat, Bengal, Malacca, Maldives, Mecca, Aden, Congo, Hormuz and Ceylon.
[56] According to sociologist Ramesh Bairy, even in 2010, in Karnataka, "at the level of the community as a whole, Brahmins may not be incensed at the Saraswat claim to Brahminhood.
[25] Professor Frederick J. Simoons says according to some reports, Saraswat Brahmins from northern India also consume fish as part of their diet.
