Saraswat Brahmin

The Saraswats are a sub-group of Hindu Brahmins who trace their ancestry to the banks of the erstwhile river Sarasvati.

In Kalhana's Rajatarangini (12th century CE), the Saraswats are mentioned as one of the five Pancha Gauda Brahmin communities residing to the north of the Vindhyas.^[1] They were spread over a wide area in northern part of the Indian subcontinent. One group lived in coastal Sindh; this group migrated to Bombay State after the partition of India in 1947. Another group was found in pre-partition Punjab; most of these migrated away from Pakistan after 1947. A third branch, known as Goud Saraswats, are now found along the southern coast.^[2]

References

1. D. Shyam Babu and Ravindra S. Khare, ed. (2011). Caste in Life: Experiencing Inequalities. Pearson Education India. p. 168. ISBN 9788131754399.
2. James G. Lochtefeld (2002). The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Hinduism: N-Z. Rosen. pp. 490–491. ISBN 9780823931804.