Naramdev Brahmin

Naramdevs

Narmdiya Brahmins also transliterated Naramdev are descendants of the priests of the Somnath temple who were forced to migrate from Gujarat to Madhyapradesh are settled along the bank of the Narmada River. Their migration owes to the forays and desecration of the Somnath temple by the cruel Islamic invader Mahmud Ghazni. Its members regard themselves as Manasputra of river Narmada. Naramdevs are considered as Panchdravida Brahmin. They belong to around 40 gotras and are followers of Shukla Yajurveda, of Madhyandini, a sub-branch, under Vajsaneyi branch. Most of them are concentrated in five districts of Madhya Pradesh i.e. Harda, Khandwa, Barwani, Dhar and Khargone. On the basis of regional affiliation naramdevs are divided as Bhuvanaya(Harda, Hoshangabad), Nimadi(Khandwa, Khargone, Badwani, Dhar) and Malwi. Naramdevs generally refrain themselves to establish any nuptial ties with peoples of other regions i.e. bhuvanya with nimadi or malwis or its vice-versa, although they are not endogamous. Statistics reveals few peoples transcends his regional limit.

Guru of Adi guru Shankaracharya Sri Govind Acharya claim to belonged to Naramdev Community. Govindacharya Acharya initiated Shankar on the bank of river Narmada at Omkareshwar.

Naramdevs on the Internet

Every Naramdev Brahmin can join the Naramdevs Yahoo Group (groups.yahoo.com/group/naramdevs/ ) whose primary aim is to connect each and every Naramdev across the globe. One needs to send a blank mail to : ndmoderators at the rate gmail dot com. The group has been formed in 2005 and has 1200+ members currently with a strong policy as below :

• No Head, No tail.
• Zero Fund.
• No politics.

There are other Naramdev communities prevalent on Facebook and Orkut specifically for Naramdevs :

• Narmadiya Yuva Shakti
• Naramdeo Interact
• Naramdeo r the best
• Narmadiya Brahmins

Gothras and Pravaras

Each Naramdev male (or unmarried female) is identified by his/her respective paternal family name. A married female adopts her husband's family name. Each family is affiliated to a Gothra and Pravara. The Gothra name demonstrates the family's traditional style of knowledge acquisition and expertise in ancient theories. Based on the fact that cross-breeding of excellent but different species yields better quality, marriage from a family belonging to the same Gothra was and is still banned for Naramdevs. Looking from another angle, Naramdevs believe that marriage from the same Gothra has a better chance of generating mentally retarded or physically handicapped children or at least children of less intellectual capacity. Each Gothra has several sub-classes known as Pravara.

Common Gothra (and their Pravara in brackets) among Naramdevs are Kashyap or kashiv (Vatsaranya, Naidhruv, Kashyap), Koushik ( Viswaamithra, devrat), Vaatsa ( Bhaargava,Purodhas), Vats( Jaamadagnyam, Bhaargava, Chyavan, aurav, alpwan), Maunas( Bhargava, savev, Maunas), Shandilya ( Aasit, deval), Chandrayan ( Kuts, Kutseti), Atre (Gavishter, Purvtithya), Vashishtha ( Mitra, Varun, Koandilya), Gargava ( Shankaradevi, Brahaspati), Markendeya ( Jamdagni, Bhargava, Chyavan, Aurv), Katyayni ( Vishwamitra, Aaghmarshan), Bharadwaj ( Aangiras, Brahaspati), Parashar ( Shakti, vashishtha) etc.

Eminent Naramdevs

• Hargovind IRS- Former Chief Commissioner of Income Tax New Delhi.
• Jaideep Govind IAS- First and only direct recruit IAS. Belongs to the Madhya Pradesh Cadre.
• Abha Govind Gynecologist-MBBS from Lady Harding Medical College, New Delhi, DGO from Maulana Azad New Delhi, FRCOG Royal College of Gynae and Obs, London
• Late Shri Shiv Narayan Sharma Civil Surgeon ,Dist.Datia Madhya Pradesh.
• Late Shri Raghunandan Sharma- Consultant, Ministry of Chemical and fertilizers- United State of America.
• Janardan Negi- Eminent Geo-Scientist NGRI, Hyderabad.
• Ashish Kashiv- Vice-President, Finance ICICI,Mumbai.
• Late Shri Ramnarain Upadhyay- Litrerary Figure and Authority on Nimar Folks and culture.
• Abhas Joshi- Participant and Anchor of "Voice of India" a popular TV show.
• R.P Joshi- Founder of Green Field Public School, Vivek vihar, New-Delhi.
• Late Shri Bansidhar Parashar- Ex-MLA,Member central committee of Indian Railways, Founder of Salkanpur Mandir Trust, Rehti near Bhopal.
• Madhu Gargav- Ex- Mayor, Bhopal.
• Pt Raghupati Gopal Retired in 1945 as SE (Ele),Delhi, he was one of the first naramdeo to get admission at Roorkee engineering college now IIT
• Late Shri Vinaykumarji ParasharEx- MP (Rajya Sabha)from Akola. Also Mayor of Akola.
• P. C. Sharma (Ex – MLA) Bhopal
• Smt Akanksha Pare Kashiv Journalist, Poet and Short Story Writer. Recipient of awards like Outstanding journalist from MP & prestigious Ramakant katha Smriti Puruskar(National), A citation by Heidelberg University, Germany. National school of drama, delhi adapted her story 'Palash ke phool' in a play featured in 'SHRUTI', a monthly literary forum.

References

• Matsyapuran
• Markandeya Puran
• Vivahik Vidhi Aur Sanskar by Kashinath Amlathe
• Lectures of Shree Ramnarain Upadhyay