Gaud Saraswat Brahmin

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Gaud Saraswat Brahmins (GSB) (also Goud or Gawd), also known as Shenvis, are a Hindu community of contested caste status and identity. They primarily speak Konkani and its various dialects as their mother tongue. They claim to be Saraswat Brahmins who initially migrated to Konkan from Gaud, per Puranic accounts. Upon moving out of Goa during Portuguese occupation, their claims of Brahminhood were rejected both to the north of Goa, by the Deshastha, Chitpavan and Karhade Brahmins of Maharashtra, and to the south, by the Nambudiri Brahmins of Kerala. The GSBs were traditionally traders and even as early as the 1400s they conducted commerce across the Indian Ocean. In the Maratha empire, they also served as administrators.

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