https://indianpedia.org/index.php?action=history&feed=atom&title=Gayawal_BrahminGayawal Brahmin - Revision history2026-07-31T13:37:47ZRevision history for this page on the wikiMediaWiki 1.45.4https://indianpedia.org/index.php?title=Gayawal_Brahmin&diff=203735&oldid=prev>MRRaja001 at 01:18, 20 November 20202020-11-20T01:18:30Z<p></p>
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{{short description|Class of Hindu Brahmin in Bihar}}<br />
'''Gayawal Brahmins''' (also known as '''Brahma Kalpit Brahmins''' or '''Gayawal Pandas''' or '''Pandas of Gaya''' or '''Gayawal Tirth Purohits''') are a Hindu Brahmin subcaste mainly from the Indian state of [[Bihar]] whose members follow the [[Dvaita]] philosophy propounded by [[Madhvacharya]] and are followers of [[Uttaradi Math]].<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HtrfCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA88|title=The Structure of Indian Society: Then and Now|author=A. M. Shah|publisher=Routledge|accessdate=6 December 2012|page=88}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Religion in India|author=T. N. Madan|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=1992|quote=A third religious leader who has had a tremendous influence on the Gayawal is Madhavacharya who flourished during the twelfth-century ad. The Gayawal caste as a whole is a follower of the Madhava Vaishnava sect, and, as we have noted earlier, the Madhva math is a living religious center that wields a powerful influence on Gayawal.}}</ref> The Gayawal are the main temple priests at the great pilgrimage center of [[Gaya, India|Gaya]].<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0yqV1Ux0oGIC&pg=PA438|title=State and Society in India|author=A.R. Desai|publisher=Popular Prakashan|year=1975|page=438}}</ref><br />
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Among the sacred specialists of [[Gaya, India|Gaya]], they are the most specialized group of priests, who hold a traditional monopoly over the performance of shraddha rituals on the Ghats of [[Gaya, India|Gaya]].<ref>{{cite book|title=Journal of Social Research, Volume 17|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JuUKAAAAIAAJ|page=3|publisher=Council of Social and Cultural Research, Bihar|year=1974}}</ref> The Gayawala thrive on the highest ladder of the caste hierarchy, and even the Brahmins of the highest rank worship their feet when they come to perform the shraddha ceremony of their fathers and forefathers.<ref>{{cite book|title=Society in India|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GNcEAAAAMAAJ|author1=A. Aiyappan|author2=L. K. Bala Ratnam|publisher=Social Sciences Association|year=1956|page=228}}</ref><br />
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==Etymology==<br />
The word "Gayawal" means "inhabitant of Gaya," but it is only used to denote a particular Gayawal Brahmin community.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Prasad|first=Narbadeshwar|date=1952|title=The Gayawals of Bihar|url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/663940|journal=American Anthropologist|volume=54|issue=2|page=279|issn=0002-7294}}</ref><br />
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==References==<br />
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{{Ancient India and Central Asia}}<br />
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[[Category: Brahmin communities of Bihar]]<br />
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{{Bihar-stub}}</div>>MRRaja001