Namaskaar fellow GSB's,

The Gowda Saraswath Brahmin Diaspora is a small

community of Konkani speaking people based in the
states of Goa, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Kerala.
A microcosm of the vast macrocosm of the fabric of
communities that make up India. Displaced from
Goa during the brutal Portuguese Inquisition, which
saw forced conversions, killing of our ancestors who
resisted and the destruction of our temples, all in the
name of an alien loving and peaceful god, our
ancestors were forced to migrate to the neighbouring
states to preserve our faith and culture. The GSB
community has flourished wherever the migrating
families had settled and the rich tradition preserved
and handed down the ages.
As a community, we are complete, meaning to say,
we don't have to borrow customs from others nor do
we have to consult any scholars from any other
community on any spiritual or worldly matters. Our
completeness is elaborated below:
U V Kini

1. We have our own Matha(s) and Swamijis for each

as our Spiritual Head(s) for all our metaphysical,
spiritual and related matters to guide us.

2. We have our own temples. GSB temples are

unique in their design and a similar layout is not
found anywhere else in India. This is described in
detail in my Free ebook: (available at the following
link)
https://www.scribd.com/doc/4890397/GSB-Temples-Their-uniqueness#scribd

or just google ->

GSB Temples- Their uniqueness / Scribd

Garbha gudi of Tirumala

Tatha Sri LakshmiNarasimha
Temple, Ullal, Karnataka.

U V Kini

3. Our Kuladevatas and deities in our temples are

also distinctive. (viz. Veera Venkatesh, Sri Ramanath,
Sri Damodar, Sri Kamakshi, Shri Shanteri, Pisso
Ravalnath and so on.)

Sri Shanteri
Kamakshi
Ramanath

Sri Mahalasa

Sri Damodar

(all three pics of GSB kuladevatas (family deities) in temples situated in Goa.

3. We have our own dishes. We have an unending (?)

list of breakfast items, curries, desserts, snacks and
sweetmeats which we can call our own, (i.e., not
borrowed from any other community.)
4. Our jewellery is unique in its design.
5. We have our own language.

U V Kini

6. We have our own customs and traditions. eg.

choodi pooja is performed only by GSB's.

One more thing. Two, actually.

1. The mangalsutra of the GSB is
different from that of other Indian
communities.

The mangalsutra of the other Indian

communities, popularised in Bollywood
movies, is the GSB dhaare-maNi or
kari-maNi or kaaLe maNe' kanTi.
2. The khichiDi of the rest of Indians is
like a type of rice pulav (or bisi bELe
baath), but the khichiDi of the GSB is a
sweet Dessert.
When we think of the eminent persons of our
community, the following stanza from the poem A
Psalm of Life by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow comes
to mind:
U V Kini

Lives of great men all remind us

We can make our lives sublime,
And, departing, leave behind us
Footprints on the sands of time
We have had great scholars of Vedanta in our
community. H H Sri Govinda Bhagavatpadacharya,
the second Swamiji of Sri Kaivalya Matha was the
Guru of Adi Shankara. The present Mathadhipathi
of Sri Kashi Matha, H H Sri SudhindraTeertha
Swamiji is a great Sanskrit scholar who has
composed many Sanskrit stotras in chaste Sanskrit.
Our community can boast of many eminent persons
who have left their mark in Banking, Manufacturing,
Teaching, Administration, Literature etc.
We all can take inspiration from these great souls
and leave our own footprints on the sands of time.

Be proud to be a GSB.
U V KINI

Pics of Dharemani and Mangalsutra taken from a GSB website http://www.adyargopal.com

Other pics from the Internet.

U V Kini