A History of the Mahrattas v1.c25.11

v1.c25.11

¹ [The Shēnvīs, who come from Goa and the south Konkan, are a sect of Brahmans who have played a considerable part in the history of Bombay. During the later years of the Pēshwā's rule they were subjected to some amount of persecution, and were reduced to the position of Tri Karmis, or those permitted to perform only three out of the six Vedic rites. They subsequently styled themselves Gāud Brahmans (of Tirhūt), and still more recently Gāud Sarasvats, i.e. residents on the Sarasvatī river in the Panjāb. Unlike other sects of Brahmans they are fish-eaters. The name of the caste may be connected with sena (Kanarese), ‘a village revenue official.’ (B.G., xv. pt. i. 139, and xviii. 175.) See also Wilson, Indian Caste (1877), ii. 29, 30, who suggests that the name may be a corruption of Kanarese shānbhōg, a village-accountant. Crooke (Fryer's Travels (Hakluyt), i. 199) gives a derivation of the name ‘from Mahr, chhiā-navē, “ninety-six,” probably from the number of their sections.’ The former derivation from sena, or perhaps shānbhōg, seems more probable. See note, p. 343, ante.]