Saturday, August 20, 2011

History of bramins

According to mythology,the Brahmin community started from Brahma creation, husband of Brahmani, the supreme Hindu Goddess of knowledge and education in ancient Indian mythology and adopted in their religion (Vedic religion of early Hinduism, now often referred to by Hindus as Sanatana Dharma). The Vedas are said to be the primary source of knowledge for Brahmin practices. Most sampradayas (sects) of modern Brahmins claim to take inspiration from the Vedas. According to orthodox Hindu tradition, the Vedas are apauruṣeya and anādi (beginning-less), and are revealed truths of eternal validity.
The Vedas are considered Śruti ("that which is heard") and are the paramount source on which modern Brahmin tradition claims to be based. Shruti includes not only the four Vedas (the Rigveda, the Yajurveda, the Samaveda and the Atharvaveda), but also their respective Brahmanas, Aranyakas and Upanishads.
Brahmins are considered by the European Indologists of the 19th century, to have been part of the Aryan migrants from Iran, eastern Eurasia or central Asia, who, around 2600 BCE, drove the native population towards the south. The Aryans followed a division of labour and specialisation among different groups called castes, granting Brahmins the highest reverence. This, according to the European scholars, is the root of the caste system and what they described as the superstitious religious practices of the Hindus, still surviving to the modern day and age.
In 1931, Brahmins accounted for 9% of the total population. In Andhra Pradesh, they formed less than 2%; in Tamil Nadu they formed less than 3%. In Kerala, Nambudiri Brahmins make up 0.7% of the population. In West Bengal too the figures stand the same.

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