List of Brahmins

This is a list of people who belong to the Brahmin caste.

Actors

• Vasundhara Das^[1]
• Gemini Ganesan^[2]
• Hema Malini^[3]
• Radhika Pandit^[4]

India independence activists

• Mangal Pandey, associated with the 1857 rebellion^[5]
• Gopal Krishna Gokhale, political guru of Mahatma Gandhi^[6]
• Bal Gangadhar Tilak, a member of the Indian National Congress^[6]
• C. Rajagopalachari, the last Governor-General of India; former Chief Minister of Madras State^[7]

Intellectuals

• Shakuntala Devi^[8]

Military

• Param Veer Chakra: Somnath Sharma- First recipient of India's highest gallantry award

Musicians

• Thyagaraja, composer^[9]
• Bhimsen Joshi, singer^[10]
• Bharathwaj, composer^[11]
• Shankar Mahadevan, singer^[12]

Politicians

Pre Independence (British Raj)

Peshwas (Appointed as ministers by Maratha Kings)

• Baji Rao I - Appointed as minister by Chhatrapati Shahu
• Nanasaheb Peshwa
• Madhavrao I
• Narayanrao Peshwa
• Raghunathrao
• Madhavrao II
• Baji Rao II

MPs and MLAs

• Mokshagundam Visvesvarayya- engineer, Diwan of Mysore^[13]
• Pramod Mahajan, minister in the government of Vajpayee^[14]

Chief Ministers

Photo	Name	Born	Death	Brahmin Sub-Cast	Notes
	Manohar Joshi [15]	2 December 1937			Chief Minister of Maharashtra (1995–99), Speaker of Loksabha (2002–04)
	Tanguturi Prakasam	23 August 1872	20 May 1957	Telugu Brahmin	Chief Minister of Madras Presidency (1946–47), Chief Minister of Andhra state (1953–54)
	E. M. S. Namboodiripad	13 June 1909	19 March 1998	Nambudiri Brahmin	Chief Minister of Kerala (1957–59 & 1967–69)
	Jayalalithaa Jayaraman	24 February 1948		Iyengar	Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu (1991–96, May 2001-Sept 2001, 2002–06, 2011–present)
	Mamata Banerjee	5 January 1955		Bengali Brahmin	Chief Minister of West Bengal (2011-present)
	Vijay Bahuguna	28 February 1947			Chief Minister of Uttarakhand (2012-14)
	Govind Ballabh Pant	10 September 1887	7 March 1961		Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh (1950-54)

Presidents of India

Photo	Name	Born	Death	Brahmin Sub-Cast	In Office
	Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan[16]	5 September 1888	17 April 1975	Telugu Brahmin	Second President (13 May 1962 – 13 May 1967)
	Shankar Dayal Sharma	19 August 1918	26 December 1999	Gaur Brahmin	Ninth President (25 June 1992 – 25 July 1997)

Prime Ministers of India

Photo	Name	Born	Death	Brahmin Sub-Cast	In Office
	Morarji Desai	29 February 1896	10 April 1995		Fourth PM (24 March 1977 – 28 July 1979)

Social service

• Bharat Ratna: Vinoba Bhave, social service (Bhudan Movement)

Spiritual people

• Dayanand Saraswati^[17]
• Swaminarayan^[18]
• Tulsidas
• Swami Ramanand
• Gopalanand Swami
• Akhandanand
• Eknath, according to legend^[19]
• Dayananda Saraswati
• Madhvacharya
• Lokenath Brahmachari
• Vasudevanand Saraswati
• Brahmananda Saraswati
• Hariharananda Giri
• Gnanananda Giri
• Swami Lakshmanananda
• Lahiri Mahasaya
• Raghavendra Swami
• Ramakrishna
• Ramana Maharshi
• Ram Mohan Roy, co-founder of the Brahmo Samaj movement in 1828^[20]
• Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar, a social reformer who promoted widow remarriage^[21]
• Swami Rama
• Samarth Ramdas
• Vallabha Acharya^[22]
• Upasni Maharaj
• Ramprasad Sen

Sportspeople

• Murali Kartik^[23]

Writers and poets

• Chanakya, managed the first Maurya emperor Chandragupta's rise to power; author of Arthasastra^[24]
• Chilakamarthi Lakshmi Narasimham, playwright
• D. R. Bendre^[25]
• Masti Venkatesha Iyengar^[26]
• Rabindranath Tagore, winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature

See also

• List of Maithil Brahmin
• List of Kashmiri Pandits
• List of Goud Saraswat Brahmins
• List of Deshastha Brahmins
• List of Iyengars
• List of Iyers
• List of Saraswats

References

1. "Sify Movies – Vasundhara Das Interview". Sify.com. Retrieved 2015-08-03.
2. "Gemini Ganesan is no more". The Economic Times. PTI. 22 March 2005. Retrieved 2015-08-03.
3. India Today International. Living Media International Limited. 2004. p. 23.
   "I'm a pukka Iyengar Brahmin...".
4. "I’m not religious: Radhika Pandit". The New Indian Express. 27 August 2010. Retrieved 2015-08-03.
5. D'Souza, Shanthie Mariet. "Mangal Pandey: Indian soldier". Encyclopaedia Britannica. Retrieved 2015-08-03.
6. Khan, Mohammad Shabbir (1992). Tilak and Gokhale: A Comparative Study of Their Socio-politico-economic Programmes of Reconstruction. APH Publishing. p. 8. ISBN 978-8-17024-478-3.
7. Copley, Antony R. H. (October 2008). "Rajagopalachari, Chakravarti (1878–1972)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press. Retrieved 2015-08-03.(subscription or UK public library membership required)
8. "Science: Numbers Game". Time. 14 July 1952. (subscription required (help)).
9. "Tiruvaiyaru gears up". The Hindu. 6 January 2006. Retrieved 2015-08-03.
10. Fox, Margalit (5 February 2011). "Pandit Bhimsen Joshi Dies at 88; Indian Classical Singer". The New York Times. Retrieved 2015-08-03.
11. Movie Buzz. "Bharadwaj". Sify. Retrieved 2015-08-03.
12. Mahadevan, Shankar (8 September 2013). I am a Malayali grew up in Mumbai: Shankar Mahadevan. Interview with John Brittas. 0:38. Kairali TV. Retrieved 4 January 2010 – via Kairali Archive on YouTube. Interviewer: You have some connection with Kerala in fact, your family migrated from Palakkad or something like that. Shankar Mahadevan: Yes, I am an Iyer from Palakkad actually
13. Nath, Pandri (1987). Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya: life and work. Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan. p. 47.
14. French, Patrick (2011). India: A Portrait (Reprinted ed.). Penguin UK. ISBN 978-0-14194-700-6.
15. Joshi, Manohar (18 November 2012). "Balasaheb Thackeray stood behind his men like a mountain". Hindustan Times. Retrieved 2015-08-03.
16. Gopal, Sarvepalli (1989). Radhakrishnan: a biography. Unwin Hyman. p. 11. ISBN 0-04-440449-2.
17. Rinehart, Robin (ed.). "Introduction: Historical Background". Contemporary Hinduism: Ritual, Culture, and Practice. p. 58.
18. Williams, Raymond (2001). Introduction to Swaminarayan Hinduism. Cambridge University Press. p. 13. ISBN 978-0-52165-422-7.
19. Novetzke, Christian Lee (2013). Religion and Public Memory: A Cultural History of Saint Namdev in India. Columbia University Press. pp. 141–142. ISBN 978-0-23151-256-5.
20. Matthew, H. C. G.; Harrison, B. (2004). "The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography". doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/47673.
21. "Visit to Vidyasagar". Gospels of Sri Ramakrishna by M, translated by Swami Nikhilananda. p. 37.
22. Prasoon, Shrikant (2009). Indian Saints & Sages. Pustak Mahal. p. 114. ISBN 978-8-12231-062-7.
23. D'Cruz, Caroline (31 December 2011). "Murali Karthik wanted to be a genetic engineer". The Times of India. Retrieved 2015-08-03.
24. Saran, Renu. Chanakya. Diamond Pocket Books. p. 4. ISBN 978-93-5083-482-4.
25. Datta, Amaresh (1987). Encyclopaedia of Indian Literature: A-Devo Volume 1 of Encyclopaedia of Indian literature. Sahitya Akademi. p. 413. ISBN 978-8-12601-803-1.
26. Iyengar, Masti Venkatesha (2004). Masti. Katha. p. 11. ISBN 978-8-18764-950-2.