Roman Catholic Brahmin

The Roman Catholic Brahmin, also referred to as Bamonn (Devanagari: बामण, Kannada: ಬಾಮಣು; IAST: Bāmaṇ; pronounced /baməɳ ~ bamɔɳ/) in Konkani, is a caste among the Goan and Mangalorean Catholics, of modern-day descendants of Konkani Brahmin converts to Roman Catholicism.

Origins

In Goa, the Brahmins were originally engaged in the priestly occupation, but had taken up various occupations like agriculture, trade, goldsmithy, etc. The origins of this particular caste can be traced back to the Christianisation of the Velhas Conquistas (Portuguese: Old Conquests) that was undertaken by the Portuguese during the 16th and 17th centuries. It was during this period that the Jesuit, Franciscan and Dominican missionaries converted many Brahmins to Christianity. The first mass conversions took place among the Brahmins of Divar, and the Kshatriyas of Carambolim. In his Oriente conquistado a Jesu Christo pelos padres da Companhia de Jesus da Provincia de Goa (1710), Portuguese Jesuit priest, Fr. Francisco de Sousa gives an account of the mass conversions of Brahmins in Divar:

While the fever of conversions was spreading all over the central part of Goa, a meeting of Brahmins was called in Divar Island off the glorious city of Goa (now Velha Goa), to consider the crisis facing them. It was decided that, it was better to accept Christianity or else leave the Island, to go and live elsewhere. Finally, a consensus was arrived at to consult God Ganapati and abide by the verdict that he would give. They selected some children for this purpose and entrusted them this task. While these children had gone to collect flowers from the riverside to offer to the god, they strayed down and were caught by the Portuguese soldiers (from the city opposite) for transgression into their territory and lodged in the Catechumen's Jail. Their parents came later to complain about their disappearance. The boys, who had been indoctrinated before, on being produced, declared that they wanted to become Christians. Later, Brother Domingos Fernandes went to Divar where, the Brahmins there said to him: "We know the aim of your visit, but you are not aware of our decision. You want us to embrace Christianity. We are ready to receive it." Thus, 1505 Brahmin souls were baptised in one session there.

All converts from Brahmin sub-castes such as the Goud Saraswat Brahmins, Padyes, Daivadnyas, etc., were lumped into the Christian caste of Bamonn. Since the conversions of Brahmins of a particular area became instrumental in the conversions of members of other castes, such converts were highly valued and esteemed by the church and Portuguese authorities alike. They were even allowed to wear the Yajnopavita (sacred thread) and other caste markings by special dispensation of Pope Gregory XV in 1623, on the condition that these were blessed by a Catholic priest. Historian Charles Ralph Boxer observed:

"The converted Brahmenes retained their pride of caste and race, and they very seldom intermarried with the Portuguese and never with their Indian social inferiors. Similarly, the lower castes who became Christians did not lose their ingrained respect for the Brahmenes, and they continued to venerate the latter as if they were still their 'twice-born' (dvija) and natural superiors."

The Bamonns in general, consider their caste system to be an Indian class form of social categorisation. Since their concept is divorced from all the religious elements associated to it by their Hindu counterparts, they tend to justify their maintenance of caste as a form of social stratification similar to the Western class concept. Traditionally, they are an endogamous group and have refrained from inter-marriage with Catholics of other castes. However, while the Bamonns never inter-married or mingled with the low caste Sudirs (Konkani: Shudras), Mahars, and Chamars, the statutes and norms of the Roman Catholic church restrained them from discriminating against the latter. Although most now carry Portuguese surnames, they have retained knowledge about their paik (ancestral pre-conversion surnames) such as Bhat, Kamat, Nayak, Pai, Prabhu, Shenoy, and Shet. The konkanised variants of these surnames are Bhôtt, Kāmot, Nāik, Poi, Porbų (Probų), Šeņai, and Šet. Mudartha is a unique surname to be found among some Bamonn families that hail from Udupi district in Karnataka. Bamonns constitute the largest caste in the Mangalorean Catholic community. Most Mangalorean Catholic Bamonn families trace their patrilineal descent to Goud Saraswat Brahmins, with a small minority to Daivadnya Brahmins. There were a few historical instances in the Mangalorean Catholic community, wherein some Anglo-Indians were admitted into the Bamonn fold by Catholic priests. Their descendants are known as Pulputhru Bamonns (Pulpit Bamonns).

A 1976 genetic analysis study conducted on three groups of Saraswat Brahmins and one group of Goan Catholic Bamonns in Western India, confirmed the historical and ethnological evidence of a relationship between Goan Catholic Bamonns and Chitrapur Saraswat Brahmins. The study further revealed that intergroup differences between the subject groups suggested a genetic closeness, with genetic distance ranging from 0.8 to 1.5.

In popular culture

• In her poem entitled de Souza Prabhu, the Goan poet Eunice de Souza muses about her Bamonn heritage:

"No, I'm not going to

delve deep down and discover,
I'm really de Souza Prabhu
even if Prabhu was no fool
and got the best of both worlds.
(Catholic Brahmin!

I can hear his fat chuckle still.)"

• The main protagonist of Mangalorean writer Richard Crasta’s erotic novel The Revised Kamasutra, is Vijay Prabhu, a small town, middle class Bamonn youth living in Mangalore during the 1970s. Filled with erotic longing and a deep desire to flee staunchly conservative Mangalore, he embarks on a sexual and spiritual odyssey that eventually lands him in the relatively liberal United States.
• The protagonists of Konkani novelist, V.J.P. Saldanha’s novels such as Balthazar from the novel, Belthangaddicho Balthazar (Balthazar of Belthangadi), Sardar Simaon and Sardar Anthon from Devache Kurpen (By the Grace of God), Salu and Dumga Peenth from Sordarachim Sinol (The sign of the Knights) are Bamonns. A few characters such as Jaculo Pai and Monna Kamath from Sordarachim Sinol, Sardar Simaon Pedru Prabhu, Sardar Anthon Paul Shet and Raphael Minguel Kamath from Devache Kurpen have evidently Brahmin surnames.
• Antonio Gomes' debut novel The Sting of Peppercorns (2010) focuses on the trials and tribulations faced by the de Albuquerques, a Bamonn family from Loutolim in Salcette. The family is headed by its patriarch Afonso de Albuquerque, a namesake of the conqueror of Goa to whom the family is linked through legend. Apart from him, it consists of his wife Dona Isabella, their two sons Paulo and Roberto, their daughter Amanda, an aunt Rosita noted for her cooking skills, ayah Carmina, and several servants who live on the de Albuquerque estate.
• Shakuntala Bharvani's novel Lost Directions (1996) features a minor Goan Bamonn character, Donna Bolvanta-Bragança. She is a fervent Catholic who takes pride in her Brahmin heritage, scornfully reprimanding the protagonist Sangeeta Chainani for mistaking her to be an Anglo-Indian. When Chainani innocently inquires as to how she can call herself a Brahmin while adhering to Roman Catholicism, her inquiry is contemptuously dismissed by the character.

Footnotes

a ^{^} In his A Konkani grammar published in Mangalore by the Basel Printing Press in 1882, Italian Jesuit and Konkani philologist Angelus Francis Xavier Maffei stated that Mangalorean Catholic Bamonn families then were still referred to by their paik surnames. In the book, Maffei also gives a Konkani language grammar exercise:

Mezār lugaţ gallāiñgī? Galtāñ.
Have you covered the table with cloth? I will!

Suriār kiteñ assā moņ, amkāñ sǎrkeñ kǎļnāñ: zipki mǎnis moņtāt, suriār sǎbār kǎtañ assāt.
We do not know properly what’s there in the moon: Learned people say that there are many spots in the moon.

Kitleañ uorānčer amiñ yēzāi? Dånparā yā sānjer.
At what time should we come? Afternoon or in the evening?

Amiñ Devā kurpā sāmbaļtāuñ moņasăr, Deu amger rāutā.
God resides at our home, as long as we keep His grace.

Pātkiānger Deu rãutãgī? Rāutā, puņ išţa bǎri niñ.
Does God stay at sinners’ home? He stays, but as a friend.

Tuzo pūtų khǎiñ assā? To seireānger assā.
Where is your son? He is at a relatives’ house.

Tūñ khǎiñčea gǎrānt assāi? Āuñ Porbuger assāñ, mozo bāu Kāmtiger, moji boiņ Nāikāger, moji māusi Šēţiger, mozo sentur Šeņǎiñger.
In whose house do you reside? I stay at the Prabhu household, my brother at the Kamath household, my sister at the Naik household, my aunty at the Shet household, my great-grandchild at the Shenoy household.

Somi Jezu Krist vāur kǎrtālo, teātz jinsār tūñ vāur kǎr ani asseñ sompūrņ zatoloi.
Everyone should live as Jesus Christ did; Live like him and you will become complete.

Zōkōņ Jezu Kristāčer sǎtmāndināñ, pātienāñ ani tātso mōg kǎrināñ, takā zǎrti zāun zǎli.
The man who does not trust, believe in, and love Jesus Christ, will be judged.

See also

• Christianisation of Goa
• Christianity in India
• Christianity in Goa
• Christianity in Karnataka
• Forward caste
• Caste system among Indian Christians
• Roman Catholicism in Goa
• Roman Catholicism in Mangalore
• Roman Catholic Kshatriya
• Padval
• Konkani people

References

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Further reading

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External links

• Only in India: A Brahmin groom for a Catholic bride — Ashley D'Mello, Times of India (16 May 2010)
• FOREIGN EXCHANGE: Teri Mary maa — Kalpana Sahni, Daily Times (9 September 2006)
• Goan Brahmans in the Land of Promise: Missionaries, Spies and Gentiles in Seventeenth and Eighteenth Century Sri Lanka (PDF, 155 KB) — Ines G. Županov (2006)