The Roman Catholic Brahmin, also referred to as
Bamonn (Devanagari

Devanagari

Devanagari |deva]]" and "nāgarī" ), also called Nagari , is an abugida alphabet of India and Nepal...

: बामण, Kannada

Kannada script

The Kannada script is an alphasyllabary of the Brahmic family, used primarily to write the Kannada language, one of the Dravidian languages of southern India and also Sanskrit in the past. The Telugu script is derived from Old Kannada, and resembles Kannada script...

: ಬಾಮಣು; IAST

IAST

The International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration is a transliteration scheme that allows a lossless romanization of Indic scripts as employed by the Sanskrit language.-Popularity:...

: Bāmaṇ; pronounced /baməɳ ~ bamɔɳ/) in Konkani

Konkani language

KonkaniKonkani is a name given to a group of several cognate dialects spoken along the narrow strip of land called Konkan, on the west coast of India. This is, however, somewhat an over-generalisation. Geographically, Konkan is defined roughly as the area between the river Damanganga to the north...

, is a caste among the Goan

Goan Catholics

The Goan Catholics are an ethno-religious community of Roman Catholics and their descendants from the state of Goa, located on the west coast of India. They are Konkani people and speak the Konkani language...

 and Mangalorean Catholics, of modern-day descendants of Konkani Brahmin

Konkani Brahmins

Konkani Brahmins are Brahmins whose mother-tongue is Konkani; and in some cases, Marathi, two related languages spoken in western India. Konkani Brahmins hail mainly from the southern part of the Maharashtra coast, Goa and coastal Karnataka....

 converts to Roman Catholicism.

Origins

In Goa

Goa

Goa , a former Portuguese colony, is India's smallest state by area and the fourth smallest by population. Located in South West India in the region known as the Konkan, it is bounded by the state of Maharashtra to the north, and by Karnataka to the east and south, while the Arabian Sea forms its...

, 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

Velhas Conquistas

The Velhas Conquistas or “Old Conquests” are a group of four concelhos or administrative districts in Goa which were incorporated into Portuguese India in the 16th century...

 (Portuguese

Portuguese language

Portuguese is a Romance language that arose in the medieval Kingdom of Galicia, nowadays Galicia and Northern Portugal. The southern part of the Kingdom of Galicia became independent as the County of Portugal in 1095...

: Old Conquests) that was undertaken by the Portuguese

Portuguese Empire

The Portuguese Empire , also known as the Portuguese Overseas Empire or the Portuguese Colonial Empire , was the first global empire in history...

 during the 16th and 17th centuries. It was during this period that the Jesuit

Society of Jesus

The Society of Jesus is a Catholic male religious order that follows the teachings of the Catholic Church. The members are called Jesuits, and are also known colloquially as "God's Army" and as "The Company," these being references to founder Ignatius of Loyola's military background and a...

, Franciscan

Franciscan

Most Franciscans are members of Roman Catholic religious orders founded by Saint Francis of Assisi. Besides Roman Catholic communities, there are also Old Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, ecumenical and Non-denominational Franciscan communities....

 and Dominican

Dominican Order

The Order of Preachers , after the 15th century more commonly known as the Dominican Order or Dominicans, is a Catholic religious order founded by Saint Dominic and approved by Pope Honorius III on 22 December 1216 in France...

 missionaries converted many Brahmins to Christianity

Christianity

Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...

. The first mass conversions took place among the Brahmin

Brahmin

Brahmin Brahman, Brahma and Brahmin.Brahman, Brahmin and Brahma have different meanings. Brahman refers to the Supreme Self...

s of Divar, and the Kshatriya

Kshatriya

*For the Bollywood film of the same name see Kshatriya Kshatriya or Kashtriya, meaning warrior, is one of the four varnas in Hinduism...

s of Carambolim

Karmali

Karmali is a village in North Goa district, Goa, India.-External links:* *...

. In his Oriente conquistado a Jesu Christo pelos padres da Companhia de Jesus da Provincia de Goa, published in 1710, Portuguese Jesuit priest, Fr. Francisco de Sousa gives an account of the mass conversions of Brahmins in Tiswadi

Tiswadi

Tiswadi is a taluka of North Goa district of the state of Goa, India.The word Tiswadi itself means thirty settlements. It refers to the thirty settlements in which the Goud Saraswat Brahmins settled when they migrated to Goa. It is geographically an Island with the Mandovi river forming its...

:
All converts from Brahmin sub-castes such as the Goud Saraswat Brahmins, Padye

Padye

Padye Brahmin community hails from Goa, commonly known as "Bhatt" ,they speak a unique dialect of Konkani known as "Bhati Bhasha".-Etymology:...

s, Daivadnya

Daivadnya

*दाते पंचांग,गोत्रावळी "Gotravali" published by "Date Panchang", Date's Almanac Pvt Ltd, Solapur,India **"Genetics of Castes and Tribes of India:Indian Population Milieu" by M. K. Bhasin, Department of Anthropology, University of Delhi, Delhi 110 007, India...

s, etc, were lumped into the Christian caste of Bamonn. They were even allowed to wear the Yajnopavita

Upanayana

Upanayana is the initiation ritual by which initiates are invested with a sacred thread, to symbolize the transference of spiritual knowledge .- Significance of the sacred thread :...

(sacred thread) and other caste markings by special dispensation

Dispensation (Catholic Church)

In the canon law of the Roman Catholic Church, a dispensation is the suspension by competent authority of general rules of law in particular cases...

 of Pope Gregory XV

Pope Gregory XV

Pope Gregory XV , born Alessandro Ludovisi, was pope from 1621, succeeding Paul V on 9 February 1621...

 in 1623. Historian Charles Ralph Boxer observed:
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

Endogamy

Endogamy is the practice of marrying within a specific ethnic group, class, or social group, rejecting others on such basis as being unsuitable for marriage or other close personal relationships. A Greek Orthodox Christian endogamist, for example, would require that a marriage be only with another...

 group and have refrained from inter-marriage

Exogamy

Exogamy is a social arrangement where marriage is allowed only outside of a social group. The social groups define the scope and extent of exogamy, and the rules and enforcement mechanisms that ensure its continuity. In social studies, exogamy is viewed as a combination of two related aspects:...

 with Catholics of other castes. However, while the Bamonns never inter-married or mingled with the low caste Sudirs (Konkani: Shudra

Shudra

Shudra is the fourth Varna, as prescribed in the Purusha Sukta of the Rig veda, which constitutes society into four varnas or Chaturvarna. The other three varnas are Brahmans - priests, Kshatriya - those with governing functions, Vaishya - agriculturalists, cattle rearers and traders...

s), Mahar

Mahar

Mahar is an important social group within the Indian state of Maharashtra and surrounding states. A grouping of related endogamous castes, the Mahar are the largest scheduled caste group in Maharashtra, in which they comprise ten percent of the population .On...

s, and Chamar

Chamar

Chamar |tanner]]"; from the Sanskrit Charmakara) is a prominent occupational caste in India, Pakistan and Nepal. Chamar is a Dalit sub-caste mainly found in the northern states, such as Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Delhi and in Nepal at least north to the Himalayas...

s, the statutes and norms of the Roman Catholic church restrained them from discriminating against the latter. Although most now carry Lusitanian surnames, they have retained knowledge about their paik (ancestral pre-conversion surnames) such as Bhat, Kamat

Kamat

Kamath or Kamat is a common surname amongst the Goud Saraswat Brahmins of the Konkan and Malabar coasts of India in the states of Goa, Karnataka, Kerala and Maharashtra. They usually speak Konkani and is considered as their mother tongue. And most often Marathi or Kannada as their secondary language...

, Nayak, Pai

Pai (surname)

Pai is a common surname amongst the Gowd Saraswat Brahmins of India. Pai is known to be a prakrit of Pati or "Lord". An unlikely source is leg or foot or one amassed wealth. Pai may have come from Appaya meaning elderbrother according to Poet B.B. Borkar.Families with the surname Pai, are...

, Prabhu

Prabhu

Prabhu means master or the supreme lord in Sanskrit and many of the Indian languages; it is a name sometimes applied to God.The term is also used by male devotees of the hindu deity Lord Krishna/Vishnu as a title and form of address. If a man sees another male devotee whom he does not know, he will...

, Shenoy

Shenoy

Shenoy is a common surname amongst the Goud Saraswat Brahmins and Rajapur Saraswat Brahmins. It is the most common surname among the Goud Saraswat Brahmins.-Etymology:...

, and Shet

Shett

Shett, also Shet, Sheth , meaning "Superior", is a honorific title that is common among Daivajnas in west coast of India.-Etymology:...

. The Konkanised

Konkani language

KonkaniKonkani is a name given to a group of several cognate dialects spoken along the narrow strip of land called Konkan, on the west coast of India. This is, however, somewhat an over-generalisation. Geographically, Konkan is defined roughly as the area between the river Damanganga to the north...

 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

Udupi district

Udupi district , ಉಡುಪಿ ಜಿಲ್ಲೆ) in the Karnataka state of India was created in August 1997. The three northern taluks, Udupi, Kundapur and Karkal, were separated from Dakshina Kannada District to form Udupi district. Udupi district is surrounded by Uttara Kannada district in north, Dakshina Kannada...

 in Karnataka

Karnataka

Karnataka , the land of the Kannadigas, is a state in South West India. It was created on 1 November 1956, with the passing of the States Reorganisation Act and this day is annually celebrated as Karnataka Rajyotsava...

. The Bamonns constitute the largest caste in the Mangalorean Catholic community.

In popular culture

• In her poem entitled de Souza Prabhu, the Goan poet Eunice de Souza
  Eunice De Souza
  Eunice de Souza is a contemporary Indian English language poet, literary critic and novelist. Among her notable books of poetry is Women in Dutch painting .-Early life and education:...
  
   muses about her Bamonn heritage:

• 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
  Belthangady
  Belthangady is the headquarters of Belthangady taluk of the Dakshina Kannada district of Karnataka state in India. Belthangady taluk is mostly covered by forests. Western ghats provide scenic beauty, especially during the monsoon season that usually lasts from the month of June to September...
  
  ), 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' 2010 debut novel The Sting of Peppercorns focuses on the trials and tribulations faced by the de Albuquerques, a Bamonn family from Loutolim
  Loutolim
  Loutolim or Loutulim is a small town in Salcette taluka of South Goa district in the state of Goa, India.-Geography:Loutolim is located at . It has an average elevation of 32 metres .- History :...
  
   in Salcette
  Salcette
  Salcette , is a taluka of South Goa District in the Indian state of Goa. Its administrative and economic headquarters is Margao. It is largely coterminous with a region called Sashti , which comprised, by local tradition, sixty-six villages, hence the name. However, it also includes the taluka of...
  
  . The family is headed by its patriarch Afonso de Albuquerque, a namesake of the conqueror of Goa
  Afonso de Albuquerque
  Afonso de Albuquerque[p][n] was a Portuguese fidalgo, or nobleman, an admiral whose military and administrative activities as second governor of Portuguese India conquered and established the Portuguese colonial empire in the Indian Ocean...
  
   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
  Ayah
  Ayah or Aayah is the Arabic word for sign or proof:"These are the Ayat of Allah, which We recite to you with truth...
  
  Carmina, and several servants who live on the de Albuquerque estate.

Footnotes

Suriār kiteñ assā moņ, amkāñ sǎrkeñ kǎļnāñ: zipki mǎnis moņtāt, suriār sǎbār kǎtañ assāt.

Kitleañ uorānčer amiñ yēzāi? Dånparā yā sānjer.

Amiñ Devā kurpā sāmbaļtāuñ moņasăr, Deu amger rāutā.

Pātkiānger Deu rãutãgī? Rāutā, puņ išţa bǎri niñ.

Tuzo pūtų khǎiñ assā? To seireānger assā.

Tūñ khǎiñčea gǎrānt assāi? Āuñ Porbuger assāñ, mozo bāu Kāmtiger, moji boiņ Nāikāger, moji māusi Šēţiger, mozo sentur Šeņǎiñger.

Somi Jezu Krist vāur kǎrtālo, teātz jinsār tūñ vāur kǎr ani asseñ sompūrņ zatoloi.

Zōkōņ Jezu Kristāčer sǎtmāndināñ, pātienāñ ani tātso mōg kǎrināñ, takā zǎrti zāun zǎli.

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