Brahman: Naramdeo

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This article was written in 1916 when conditions were different. Even in 1916 its contents related only to Central India and did not claim to be true of all of India. It has been archived for its historical value as well as for the insights it gives into British colonial writing about the various communities of India. Indpaedia neither agrees nor disagrees with the contents of this article. Readers who wish to add fresh information can create a Part II of this article. The general rule is that if we have nothing nice to say about communities other than our own it is best to say nothing at all. Readers will be able to edit existing articles and post new articles directly on their online archival encyclopædia only after its formal launch. See examples and a tutorial.

From The Tribes And Castes Of The Central Provinces Of India

By R. V. Russell

Of The Indian Civil Service

Superintendent Of Ethnography, Central Provinces

Assisted By Rai Bahadur Hira Lal, Extra Assistant Commissioner

Macmillan And Co., Limited, London, 1916.

NOTE 1: The 'Central Provinces' have since been renamed Madhya Pradesh.

NOTE 2: While reading please keep in mind that all articles in this series have been scanned from the original book. Therefore, footnotes have got inserted into the main text of the article, interrupting the flow. Readers who spot these footnotes gone astray might like to shift them to their correct place.

Brahman: Naramdeo

A class of Brahmans who live in the Hoshangabad and Nimar Districts near the banks of the Nerbudda, from which river their name is derived. Accord- ing to their own account they belong to the Gurjara or Gujarati division, and were expelled from Gujarat by a Raja who had cut up a golden cow and wished them to accept pieces of it as presents. This they refused to do on account of the sin involved, and hence were exiled and came to the Central Provinces. A local legend about them is to the effect that they are the descendants of a famous Rishi or saint, who dwelt beside the Nerbudda, and of a Naoda or Dhlmar woman who was one of his disciples. The Naramdeo Brahmans have for the most part adopted secular occupations, though they act as village priests or astrologers. They are largely employed as village ac- countants {paiwdi'is), clerks in Government offices, and agents to landowners, that is, in very much the same capacity as the Kayasths. As land-agents they show much astute- ness, and are reputed to have enriched themselves in many cases at the expense of their masters. Hence they are unpopular with the cultivators just as the Kayasths arc, and very uncomplimentary proverbs are current about them.

Ref: ' RCismCda, ii. p. 259.