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Shakadvipi

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Shakadvīpī (Shakadvīpī, also known as Śākaladvīpī) or Bhojaka is a class of Brahmin priests in Western India, Bihar and western Uttar Pradesh. The term Bhojaka is popular in western India and Śākadvīpī or Śākaladvīpī is in vogue in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.

This is the only division of brahmins whose origins are said to be outside India, although half of its gotra names are same as those found in native brahmins, which suggests some common origins. Wise men of the east (Magi) are believed to be Śākadvīpī brahmins.

History

The most detailed account of the origin of Śākadvīpīs or Bhojakas occurs in Bhavishya Purana (chapter 133) . According to this story, Krishna's son Sāmba built a Sun Temple and asked Rishi Gaurmukha to become its priest. But sages did not like the profession of priesthood. Then, Sun God said that no brahmin in Jambudvipa was qualified for Sun-worship and asked Sāmba to invite four categories of peoples from Śākadvīpa: Maga, Magas, Mānas and Mandaga. Sāmba invited celibates of 18 kulas (extended family) who settled in Sāmbapura on the banks of Chandrabhāgā river in western India. Of them, 8 kulas of Mandagas were Shudras or Śūdras and 10 kulas of Magas were brahmins. They were married to girls of Bhoja vamśa. Therefore, the descendants of those 18 Śākadvīpī kulas came to be known as Bhojakas.

Maga is the term applied to Zoroastrian/Mazdayasti priests. Balkh in Bactria (Afghanistan) was a major center of Zoroastrianism. Śākadvīp corresponds to regions of Afghanistan beyond the Hindukush mountains.

The 8 Mandaga kulas were married to Śaka (Saka, who were eastern Scythians, distinct from African Shaka) and their descendants were not called Mandaga, and were considered to be Śūdras.

These communities have historically served as the priests of the Sun god (Surya, Mitra in Sanskrit, Mithra in Avestan). Sanskrit word mihir is related to Sun and one Śākadvīpī gotra name is mihirāsu, which points to Persian connections (Mihr in Persian).Scholar Varahamihira is believed by some to have belonged to this community.

Bhojas (or Bhojakas) are mentioned in the inscriptions of Maurya Ashoka and Kharavela. Kadamba dynasty copperplates found in Karnataka mention Bhojakas as manages of Jain institutions.

The Shakadvipi Brahmins of Bihar are considered to be closely related to the Bhojakas. The Bhojakas are historically associated with several Jain temples in Gujarat and Rajasthan, where they serve as priests and attendants .

In Gujarat, many of the prominent theater personalities have belonged to the Bhojaka community .

Organisation

There are 74 Para (i.e., alla) among Śākadvīpīs ; endogamy within a para is forbidden .


There are 12 gotras in Śākadvīpīs:


Titles or Surnames (Padavi or Āspada):

Customs and practices

H. H. Risley, the census commissioner of India's 1901 census, wrote that Śākadvīpī brahmins practised endogamous marriage within a gotra (which is forbidden in other brahmins), but avoid para . According to Brāhmaṇa Nirṇaya, Kānyakubja (Kannaujiā) and Saryupāriya (Sarwariye) hold that Śākadvīpī should not be appointed as priests in yajña and pūjā (ritualistic worship) and are unfit for dāna (donation) ; this extreme view was related to gotra-endogamy as well as to foreign origins of Śākadvīpīs .

But A History of Brahmin Clans states that Śākadvīpī brahmins have a love for traditional (Sanskrit) knowledge and their Saṃskāras (cf. Sanskara) are like Maithil Brāhamanas, although matrimonial and other customary relations with Maithil (or other brahmins) are not in vogue .

Pt Dorilāl Śarmā Śrotiya writes : 'they wear long Yajnopavita at the age of 8 years, keep quiet while eating, like to keep beards like sages, perform agnihotra, and drink wine charmed with mantras, and were called maga because they read the Vedas in haphazard ways' . These statements actually apply to Zoroastrian priests and their recitation of Avesta, not to modern Shakadvipis.

Distinguished Shakadvipis

Notes

  1. cf. Brahman Nirnaya, page 491 : this book cites some other writers who say that Śākadvīpī reside around Banaras and Bihar.
  2. cf. next section
  3. Jāti-Bhāṣkara, p. 150 quotes Bhavishya Purana while giving an account of the origin of Śākadvīpīs.
  4. Besides Jāti-Bhāṣkara, Brāhmaṇotpatti-mārtaṇḍa also narrates this story.
  5. cf. People of India
  6. cf. Jains in the World: Religious Values and Ideology in India
  7. http://www.webindia123.com/GUJARAT/Arts/danmusic.htm
  8. A History of Brahmin Clans, p.279, 281
  9. A History of Brahmin Clans, p.281
  10. A History of Brahmin Clans ,p.279, refers to this citation of H. H. Risley. The book A History of Brahmin Clans also quotes similar opinions from another book Puṣkara Itihāsa by Pt Mahārāja Kriṣna (extra asst. commisioner of Ajmer), and Pt Bhattāchārya (Principal of Pandit College, Shāntipur, Nadiā). The author of A History of Brahmin Clans says that endogamous marriage within a gotra is forbidden in Hindu dharmaśāstras.
  11. cf. Brāhmaṇa Nirṇaya, p.491
  12. A History of Brahmin Clans, p.281
  13. A History of Brahmin Clans, p.280

References

  • Brāhmaṇa Nirṇaya by Pt. Chhote Lāl Sharmā,1916,Aligarh.
  • A History of Brahmin Clans (Brāhmaṇa Vaṃshõ kā Itihāsa) in Hindi, by Dorilāl Śarmā,published by Rāśtriya Brāhamana Mahāsabhā, Vimal Building, Jamirābād, Mitranagar, Masūdābād,Aligarh-1, 2nd ed-1998. (This Hindi book contains the most exhaustive list of Brahmana gotras and pravaras together their real and mythological histories).
  • Jāti-Bhāṣkara by Pt. Jwālā Prasād Misra, published by Khemaraj Shrikrishnadas,(1914).
  • Brāhmaṇotpatti-mārtaṇḍa Harikṛṣṇa Śāstri, (Sanskrit), 1871
  • People of India By Kumar Suresh Singh, N. N. Vyas, B. K. Lavania, Dipak Kumar Samanta, S. K. Mandal, published 1998, Popular Prakashan, ISBN 8171547699
  • Jains in the World: Religious Values and Ideology in India By John E. Cort, Published 2001,Oxford University Press, ISBN 0195132343

See also

External links

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