Recently I got access to a dataset about costal karnataka brahmins. Here are some interesting findings.

There are mainly five types of brahmins that I’ve analyzed.

  • Kandavara Smartha
  • Kota Smartha
  • Koteshwara Madhwa
  • Shivalli Smartha
  • Shivalli Madhwa

Kandavara Smartha

N=22 These are brahmins who settled in Kandavara. (near Kundapura) They are followers of Adi Shankaracharya.

Vishwamitra is the most common gotra among them: Kandavara Smartha Gotras

Kuladevaru:

  • Bharadwaja - Anantheshwara, Udupi
  • Jamadagni - Kunjarugiri
  • Kashyapa - Ulluru Subramanya
  • Viswamitra - Ulluru Subramanya
  • Haritasa - Anatheshwara & Ulluru

Kota Smartha

N=234 These are brahmins who settled in Kota. (Saligrama) They are also followers of Adi Shankaracharya (i.e. Smartha)

Vishwamitra is the most common gotra here as well: Kota Smartha Gotras

Koundinya N=1, Haritasa N=2 are probably inaccuracies in the data and not gotras that are present in the community.

All people from vishwamitra gotra have pravara as Madhushchanda / Dhananjaya. Devarata / Oudala pravara is not seen in Kota smartha brahmins.

Kuladevaru:

  • Guru Narasimha, Saligrama for all gotras.

Koteshwara Madhwa

N=107 These are brahmins who settled in Koteshwara. (Kundapura) They are followers of Madhwacharya.

More than half of the population have gotra as Vishwamitra: Koteshwara Madhwa Gotras

Kuladevaru:

  • Angirasa - Guru Narasimha, Saligrama
  • Vashishta - Guru Narasimha, Saligrama
  • Vishwamitra - Mix of mainly Saligrama (60%) & Neelavara (23%)

Shivalli Brahmins

There are mainly two categories:

  • Shivalli Smartha
  • Shivalli Madhwa

Shivalli Madhwa comprise majority of the population: Shivalli Split

Smartha are kannada speaking and Madhwa are Tulu speaking. There are a few N=6 Shivalli Madhwa kannada speaking brahmins. These are most likely people who lost the ability to speak tulu.

Shivalli Madhwa

N=925 These brahmins settled in a place called Shivalli near Udupi. They are followers of Madhwacharya.

Unlike most other cases we have seen so far, Angirasa is the most common gotra! Shivalli Madhwa Gotra

Kuladevaru:

  • Angirasa
    • Alevooru Vishnumoorthy (41%)
    • Kodangala Vishnumoorthy (15%)
  • Bhargava
    • Inna Muddannu, Mundkur (86%)
  • Vishwamitra
    • Neelavara Mahishamardhini (45%)
    • Ulluru Subramanya (39%)

Vishwamitra Gotra has mainly 2 pravaras. Devarata/Audala for whom the Kuladevaru is Mahishamardhini, Neelavara and Dhananjaya/Madhuschanda for whom the Kuladevaru is Ulluru Subramanya.

Shivalli Smartha

N=230 These brahmins continued to remain followers of Adi Shankaracharya ever after Madhwacharya rose to prominence in the area.

There is no major bias seen in the gotra wise distribution: Shivalli Smartha Gotra

Kuladevaru:

  • Vishwamitra
    • Ulluru Subramanya (57%)
    • Neelavara Mahishamardhini (15%)
  • Haritasa
    • Udupi Anantheshwara (59%)
    • Kunjargiri Durgaparameshwari (13%)
    • Alevoor Vishnumoorthy (9%)
    • Others (19%)
  • Bharadwaja
    • Udupi Anantheshwara (58%)
    • Shri. Shankaranarayana (10%)


Data used is from a Shivalli brahmin focused matrimony service. An anonymized version of the dataset for public consumption can be found here.