Konkani people

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Konkani people
Total population
unknown
Regions with significant populations
Primary populations in: Goa Maharashtra Karnataka Kerala Populations in: United Kingdom United States Arab States
Languages
Konkani, Marathi
Religions
Hinduism, Islam, Christianity
Related ethnic groups
Indo-Europeans, Indo-Iranians, Indo-Aryans, Dravidians

The Konkani people are an Indo-Aryan ethnic group. According to some, the word 'konkani' derives from "kum", meaning 'Mother Earth' and "Kana", meaning 'piece/part' thereby meaning a strip of land along the western Indian coast beyond the Western Ghat mountains. The relative geographical isolation from the inland communities and the close relationship with the Arabian Sea has shaped the history and communities that comprise the Konkani people.

Contents 1 Note 2 Communities 2.1 Hindus 2.1.1 Marathas 2.1.2 Chitpavan Brahmins 2.1.3 Gaud Saraswat Brahmins 2.1.4 Chitrapur Saraswat Brahmins 2.1.5 Daivadnya Brahmins 2.1.6 Bhandaris 2.1.7 Konkani Lower Castes 2.2 Muslims 2.2.1 Konkani Muslims 2.2.2 Navayath 2.3 Christians 2.3.1 Goan Catholics 2.3.2 Canarite Catholics 2.4 Others 2.4.1 Janjira Siddis 2.4.2 Yellapur Siddis 3 Eminent Konkanis 3.1 Historical 3.2 Entertainment & Culture: 3.3 Politics: 3.4 Commerce: 3.5 Journalism: 3.6 Religious: 3.7 Sports: 3.8 Medicine: 4 References 5 External links

[edit] Note

The term "Konkani" when applied to a person or a community can have two distinct but sometimes overlalping meanings

1. The Konkani speaking community
2. The people of the Konkan region comprising the Konkan administrative division of Maharashtra state and Goa.

This article takes a look at both the meanings.

[edit] Communities

Konkanis are a very diverse group of people. The diversity is reflected in the religion, geographical spread, origins and dialects. The Konkani people can be split into many categories based on their location, religion and/or origins . The follwoing are the major groups among the Konkanis:

• Hindus
  • Marathas
  • Bhandaris
  • Gaud Saraswat Brahmins
  • Chitrapur Saraswat Brahmins
  • Daivadnya Brahmins
  • Konkani Lower Castes
• Muslims
  • Kokani Muslims (Costal Maharashtra)
  • Navayath Muslims (Bhatkal, Karnataka)
• Christians
  • Goan Catholics
  • Canarite Catholics
• Others
  • Janjira Siddis
  • Yellapur Siddis

[edit] Hindus

The Marathas is the majority Hindu Konkani community. Other communities include the Saraswat Brahmins, the Chitpavan Brahmins, the Daivadnya Brahmins, the Bhandaris and other castes. Konkani Hindus are found all along the Konkan coast from Raigad to Mangalore. Some isolated pockets exist in Kerala in Cochin and Calicut. Hindu surnames include Parab, Kadam, Bhonsale, Sawant, Kamath, Naik, Nayak, Bhat, Shanbhag, Raikar, Puranik, Pai, Kini, Shenoy, Mallya, Baliga, Acharya, Prabhu, Shukla bhat, Kaushik, Shirali, Hattangady, Koppikar, Sorab, Baindoor, Aroor, etc. Some of these names are derivatives of their profession or are conferred upon them by their Swami or religious head of the community.

[edit] Marathas

The Maratha community is situated from Mumbai to Karwar. They are majorly found in Raigad, Sindhudurg, North Goa, the southern tip of South Goa and Karwar. The dialect of the Maratha community changes as per the region, although almost all of them are well-versed in Marathi which is the caste-language of the Marathas. Marathas in Raigad and Ratnagiri speak pure Marathi, while those in Sindhudurg speak the Malvani langguage, which is a creole between Marathi and Konkani. Those in Goa and Karwar speak Konkani. There are three subgroups among the Konkani Marathas - the Shahnav Kuli Marathas or the 96 Royal Clan Marathas, the Kunbi Marathas and the Gomantak Marathas.

[edit] Chitpavan Brahmins

The Chitpavan Brahmins, also known as Kokanashta, are found in coastal Maharashtra. Many of them have contributed a lot to the development of a distinct Kokan-Marathi culture which distinguishes the Maharashtrian Konkanites from the Desh Marathis. The Peshwas of the Maratha Empire like Bajirao, Balaji Bajirao and Madhavrao belonged to this community. So did Bal Gangadhar Tilak and Swatantryaveer Savarkar.

[edit] Gaud Saraswat Brahmins

Gaud Saraswat Brahmins are primarily found in Goa, Karnataka & Kerala. Surnames include Kamat/h, Nayak, Bhat, Shanbhag/Shenoy, Puranik, Pai, Kini, Mallya, Baliga, Acharya and Prabhu.

[edit] Chitrapur Saraswat Brahmins

Chitrapur Saraswat Brahmins are an offshoot of the GSB community and are mainly found in Canara, the costal region of Karnataka. They have a math at Shirali, Udupi. Chitrapur saraswats have Kannadiga-styled names as compared to their Goan counterparts. Surnames include Hattangady, Shirali, Karnad, Benegal, Padukone, Shirur, Balse.

[edit] Daivadnya Brahmins

The Daivadnya community is a small brahmin community scatterd in Maharastra, Goa and coastal Karnataka. Daivadnya brahmins have their own Matha in Karki, Honnavar.

[edit] Bhandaris

The Bhandaris are the trading community, also known as Vaishyas or Wanis. They are mostly concentrated in coastal Maharashtra and Goa.

[edit] Konkani Lower Castes

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[edit] Muslims

Konkani Muslims are found int two main groups which are unrelated to each other.

[edit] Konkani Muslims

There are large Konkani Muslim communities in Mumbai, Thane, and Ratnagiri. They are both local converts and descendants of Arab traders. Konkani Muslims are heavily involved in the merchant navy, ship-building, and textile industries in India.

[edit] Navayath

'Navayath' are a Muslim community of Bhatkal of coastal Karnataka.

[edit] Christians

Christians form the largest religious group among Konkanis.They are primarily concentrated in Goa and Mangalore. Most can trace their ancestry to the first converted chrisitans from the Velhas Conquistas of Old Goa. They primarily have Lusitanian surnames although a few use their former Hindu names either in pen-names or Hyphenated-names.

[edit] Goan Catholics

The Goan Catholics were converted by the Portuguese after the conquest of Goa. They belong to diverse castes, and speak a different dialect with a nasal accent. Goan Konkani has significantly higher Portuguese loan-words.

[edit] Canarite Catholics

Canarite Catholics are descendants of Goan Catholics who fled Goa during the Portuguese-Maratha Wars and the Goan Inquisition. A few of them are descendants of local Tulu converts to Christianity who were over the time assimilated into Konkani culture. The majority of Canarite Catholics are located around Mangalore city and Mangalore archdiocese and mostly refer to themselves as Mangaloreans or Mangalorean Catholics. Catholic surnames include D'Souza, D'Costa, Lobo, Fernandes, Fernandez (Goan Variation), Pinto, D'Cruz and many others.

[edit] Others

[edit] Janjira Siddis

These Siddis are African warriors who were shipwrecked near Ratnagiri. They quickly organized themselves and gained control of the surrounding territory. the Janjira fort was occupied and held by them for a long time. They are mostly Muslims and are found around Ratnagiri.

[edit] Yellapur Siddis

The Siddis are an African tribe that arrived at Goa as slaves of the Portuguese. After the abolishment of slavery, they escaped into the neighboring jungles at Yellapur and Karwar and proceeded to lead a tribal existence while retaining the Christian faith and Lusitanian names imparted by the Portuguese.

Recent immigrations have resulted in large number of Konkanis immigrating to the United States and other Western countries, particularly the large cities. A large number of Goan Konkanis also work in the oil and service industries in the Arab Gulf States.

[edit] Eminent Konkanis

[edit] Historical

• Peshwa Bajirao - The prime minister of the Maratha Empire
• Bal Gangadhar Tilak - Father of the Indian Independence Movement
• Vinayak Damodar Savarkar - Founder of Hindutva

[edit] Entertainment & Culture:

• Lata Mangeshkar - famous cine Singer.^{[citation needed]}
• Leena Chandavarkar - former Indian actress.
• Mukri- Indian filmstar
• Shafi Inamdar-actor
• Reita Faria - first Indian woman to win the Miss World title
• Guru Dutt - Indian actor and filmmaker
• Nadeem Saifi- Music Director
• Dev Benegal - Indian filmmaker
• Shyam Benegal - Indian filmmaker
• Girish Karnad - noted actor, director, playwright
• Uday Benegal - member of Indian rock band Indus Creed
• Shankar Nag - Indian actor and filmmaker
• Anant Nag - Indian actor, politician
• Francis Newton Souza - Indian modernist painter
• Shenoy Vaman Raghunath Vardhe Valavalikar - also known as "Shenoy Goembab", noted scholar considered to be the father of modern Konkani literature^[1]
• Remo Fernandes - Indian Pop icon and singer
• Isha Koppikar - Bollywood actress
• Amrita Rao - Bollywood actress and model
• Deepika Padukone - Indian Actress
• Saratchandra Shenoi- Sahitya Akademi Award Winning Konkani Poet
• Jaywant Dalvi Author, palywright
• P.L.Deshpande Author, Actor, Playwright, Music director
• Madhu Mangesh Karnik Author
• Ratnakar Matkari Playwright
• M. Govinda Pai Rashtra Kavi - Kannada writer

[edit] Politics:

• Abdul Rehman Antulay - MP. Former CM, Maharashtra
• George Fernandes - Indian Union leader and former Defence Minister
• T. M. A. Pai - Educationist, Banker, Huminatarian, Founder of Manipal
• Suresh Prabhu - MP. Former Power Minister of India
• Narayan Rane - Former CM, Maharashtra
• Pratapsinh Rane - CM, Goa
• Colonel Sawant - MP from Sawantwadi
• Keith Vaz - British politician and Member of Parliament
• Barristor Nath Pai - MP, Freedom fighter, Socialist labour leader
• U. Srinivas Mallya - Indian politician and Member of Parliament
• Benegal Narasing Rao - Member of the Constitution Committee. Wrote the Constitution of India.
• T.A. Pai - Banker, Former CMD Syndicate Bank, Former Chairman LIC, Former MP- Minister for Heavy Industry.[1]

[edit] Commerce:

• Benegal Rama Rau - First Governor of the Reserve Bank of India
• K. V. Kamath - CEO, ICICI Bank.
• Nandan Nilekani - CEO, Infosys, Indian technology giant
• Victor Menezes - banker and Vice-Chairman of Citigroup
• Dr. Vijay Mallya - Chairman, United Breweries/ Kingfisher Airlines

[edit] Journalism:

• Gerard Da Cunha - Indian architect.
• Fareed Zakaria - editor, Newsweek magazine.
• Dom Moraes - celebrated Indian poet, writer and journalist
• T. V. R. Shenoy - Indian journalist and columnist
• M. V. Kamath - Indian Journalist, Editor and Columnist
• P.R.Behere - Editor, Navshakti
• P.V.Gadgil - Editor, Navakal, Navshakti
• C.V.Bawadekar - Editor Aalamgeer Weekly

[edit] Religious:

• Abbe Faria - pioneer in the study of hypnotism and auto-suggestion
• Joseph Vaz - Apostle of Ceylon

[edit] Sports:

• Prakash Padukone - Indian Badminton Player; Gold medalist winner, Commonwealth Games, 1978; Winner, All-England Badminton Championship, 1980
• Ijaz Fakih- Test Cricketer

[edit] Medicine:

• Dr Ajith Benedict Royan Vice-President of HOSMAT HOSPITAL
• Dr. Ramadas M. Pai - Medicine, Education [2]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Rajapur Saraswat Brahmin Website
• Konkani Catholics of Goa, Karwar, Mangalore
• The Kanara Saraswat Association - A vital social link for uniting the scattered units of the Konkani speaking Chitrapur Saraswat Community
• Mangalorean and Goan Konkani Catholic Discussion Group
• About the roots of the Konkani speaking Saraswat Brahmin community
• Goan and Mangalorean Konkani Catholics Blog
• History of Mangalorean Konkani Christians
• A Welfare organisation of Konkani Muslim or Kokni Muslim in the Gulf
• Discussion Forum for Konkani Youth
• CommunityWhitePages.NET – Community White Pages is a database of all Indians across the globe categorized by Language, Community and Geographical location. The goal of this listing is to Connect All Indians. Also we would like to have a large Konkani Community listing before the Konkani Convention, July 2008, to be held near San Francisco, CA, USA.
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