Shenoy is a surname from coastal Karnataka and Goa in India. [1] It is found among Hindus of the Goud Saraswat Brahmin community following Smartha Sampradaya of Kavale Matha or Madhva Sampradaya of either Gokarna Matha or Kashi Matha. [2]
Some Brahmin Christian families of South Canara have reverted to their pre-conversion surnames like Shenoy. [3]
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There are two theories about the origin of Shenoy or Shenvi.
The Shenoys were generally involved in administration of the city. The word 'Shenoy' itself means a writer. [3] GSBs were administrators of the temples. The word 'Shenoy' is also interchangeable with its counterpart 'Shanbhag'
The Saraswats migrated from Goa during the Muslim and Christian conquests during 1600, and carried their surname with them.Shenoy is derived from old Konkani word šeṇəy.Thus the word 'शणै' is transliterated in Latin script as Shenoy in Karnataka and as Xennai, Shenoi, Shenai, Shenvi or even Sinai in Goa. [3] Xennoi is less commonly used in the erstwhile Portuguese Goa and Damaon, but nowadays it has given way to Xennai today. [5]
It was common in Goa for Shenoys and other Saraswats to add the name of their ancestral village or title after Shenoy to denote their origin. [6]
The
Konkani is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Konkani people, primarily in the Konkan region, along the western coast of India. It is one of the 22 scheduled languages mentioned in the Indian Constitution, and the official language of the Indian state of Goa. It is also spoken in Karnataka, Maharashtra, Kerala, Gujarat as well as Damaon, Diu & Silvassa.
Saraswat Brahmins are spread over widely separated regions spanning from Kashmir and Punjab in North India to Konkan in West India to Kanara and Kerala in South India. In places such as western and southern India, the claim of Brahminhood of some communities who claim to be Saraswat Brahmins is disputed. The word Saraswat is derived from the Rigvedic Sarasvati River.
Mallya is a surname from coastal Karnataka in India. It is found among Hindus of the Goud Saraswat Brahmin community, especially of Madhva Section following Gokarna Math and Kashi Math.
Kamat or Kamath is a surname from Goa, Maharashtra and coastal Karnataka in India. It is found among Hindus of the Goud Saraswat Brahmin, Saraswat and Rajapur Saraswat Brahmin communities following Madhva Sampradaya of either Gokarna Matha or Kashi Matha.
Gaud Saraswat Brahmins (GSB), 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.
Mangalorean Catholics are an ethno-religious community of Latin Christians from the Diocese of Mangalore and the erstwhile South Canara area, by the southwestern coast of present-day Karnataka, India.
The caste system in Goa consists of various Jātis or sub-castes found among Hindus belonging to the four varnas, as well as those outside of them. A variation of the traditional Hindu caste system was also retained by the Goan Catholic community.
Pai is a surname from coastal Karnataka, Kerala and Goa in India. It is found among Hindus of the Goud Saraswat Brahmin community, especially of Madhwa Section following either Kashi Math or Gokarna Matha.
The Daivadnya,, is a community from Goa and Karnataka, who claim to have descended from Vishwakarma. Although they claim themselves to be Brahmin, but these claims are not accepted by others including local Brahmin castes. They are native to the Konkan and are mainly found in the states of Goa and Damaon, Canara, coastal Maharashtra, and Kerala. Daivadnyas in the state of Karnataka are classified by National Commission for Backward Classes as an Other Backward Class.
Sri Vijayadurga is a Hindu Goddess of varying importance in Indian culture and tradition. She is said to have intervened in a battle between Shiva and Vishnuthem, and gone to Shankwali to kill the demons harassing the Brahmins there. When she destroyed all the demons in sancoale she earned the name of Vijaya and was given the name as Vijayadurga. The deity is thus a form of the Goddess Durga. The Vijayadurga temple was once located in close proximity to Shri Shankleshwari Shantadurga and Shri Lakshminarsimha in Sancoale but had to be shifted to Kerim, Ponda Taluka - Goa.
Chitrapur is a village in Bhatkal Taluka, Uttar Kannada District, Karnataka, India. The religious headquarters of the Chitrapur Saraswat Brahmins, is in this town. The town, initially a small village was improved upon under the guidance of the Saraswat swamis. The small village of Chitrapur was built according to the idea of town-planning with a road in the middle and houses and gardens on both sides. It became a miniature municipality with street lamps lit during the night and roads swept clean. The mathadhipatis also constructed the Shiv-Ganga Sarovar at Chitrapur, the erection of a storeyed building at Panchavati, starting of schools for boys and girls. They helped build a post office with quarters for the post-master and a vegetable market at Chitrapur. The Chitrapur Math has many ancient Hindu statues in a museum.
Roman Catholic Brahmin is a caste among the Goan, Bombay East Indian and Mangalorean Catholics who are descendants of Konkani Brahmin converts to the Latin Catholic Church, in parts of the Konkan region that were annexed into the Portuguese East Indies, with the capital (metropole) at Velha Goa, while Bombay was the largest territory (province) of Portuguese India. They retain some of the ethno-social values and customs of their ancestors, and most of them exhibit a noticeable hybrid Latino-Concanic culture. They were known as the Brahmins among the "New Christians".
Mangalorean Catholic names and surnames encompass the different naming conventions of the Mangalorean Catholic community. Historically, many of them had names of Christian saints, while Portuguese-language surnames were most commonly found. A formal Mangalorean Catholic name consists of a given name, a middle name, and a surname.
Mangaloreans are a collection of diverse ethnic groups that hail from the historical locales of South Canara (Tulunaad) on the south western coast of Karnataka, India, particularly the residents native to Mangaluru.
Mudartha is a family name and title held by some Mangalorean Catholic Bamonn clans hailing from Udupi district in Karnataka.
Canarese Konkani are a set of dialects spoken by minority Konkani people of the Canara sub-region of Karnataka, and also in Kassergode of Kerala that was part of South Canara.
Konkani is a southern Indo-Aryan language belonging to the Indo-European family of languages spoken in the Konkan coastal region of India. It has approximately 3.6 million speakers.
The Konkani language agitations were a series of protests in India, concerning the uncertain future of the Konkani language. They were held by Goans in the former territory of Goa, Damaon & Diu; then under the administration of the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP). The protests involved citizen journalism, student activism & political demonstrations. The civil unrest ceased when premier official status for Konkani in the Devnagari script was granted. Mahratti was declared an associate official language of Goa.
Tergaonkar is a surname found in Karnataka and Maharashtra states in India. It is found among Hindus of the Goud Saraswat Brahmin community.
Madhva Brahmins, are Hindu Brahmin communities in India, who follow Sadh Vaishnavism and Dvaita philosophy propounded by Madhvacharya. They are found mostly in the Indian states of Karnataka, Maharashtra, Goa, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.