Nandwana Brahmins

The Nandwana Brahmins are a group of Nandimukh Brahmins who live in the states of Rajasthan and Gujarat of India. They were priests to the Yadava Dynasty and the history is published in the 1989 edition of the Nandwana samaj sampark"

Their ancestor Sukhdevji was the messenger who took the message (approx 500 years ago) from Krishna to Rukmini's parents. The current population of Nandwana Brahmins is 3500.

Introduction

The following history of the Nandwana community is based on the Nandipuran, which was published due to the great efforts of the late Shri Damoder Vithalram Parkhani and the late Shri Vajeshanker Devram Boal. Additional information was obtained from old hand written papers of the late scholar and philosopher, Shri Mayashanker Jatashanker Upadhyay. The old hand written books of the Barots have also been very useful. The information about many important events in the history of the Nandwana has been obtained from these books. I met these Barots at the Kashibai Dharmashala in Varanasi while I was returning from the Gayatri Purushcharan Yagna performed by Shri Harishanker Kalyanji Upadhyay in 1938.

Background

During Satyug the great Sage Maruti recreated the world, which has been devastated by floods. People had once again begun to live normal, pious and virtuous lives. However, some time after this Vadwanal, a strong demon king, stole the Vedas and disappeared into the ocean. This disappearance of the religious books created havoc on earth. Religion disappeared, illiteracy increased and anarchy prevailed, saddening the Devas.

Since Vadvanal had disappeared into the ocean, Lord Shiva asked Lord Vishnu to turn himself into a fish and bring back the Vedas. Killing Shankasur, Lord Vishnu brought back the Vedas and gave them to Lord Brahma. As the Vedas returned to the earth, the life of the people improved.

History

After the killing of the Vadvanal, the King of Oceans, Kshirsagar, organized a, swayamvar for his daughter Lakshmi (the goddess of wealth). Lakshmi chose Lord Vishnu as her husband at the swayamvar. At that time, all religious ceremonies such as Nandishradh, Kutuhom Yagna, and Rajsuyagna etc. were performed by the Nandimukh Brahmins, our ancestors.

After the marriage of Lord Vishnu and Lakshmi, the time came to give dakshina to the Brahmins who had performed the ceremony. At this time Lord Vishnu considered the noble nature and scholastic abilities of the Nandimukh Brahmins and felt that the priests, who had married him to the Goddess of Wealth, should never need to accept alms or dakshina. He therefore ordered Vishwakarma, the architect of the devas, to create a town with the best of amenities in a beautiful part of the earth for the Nandimukh Brahmins. For this Vishwakarma chose six yojana of land surrounded by mountains in the Kashmir Valley, equipped it in the best possible manner and handed it over to Nandimukh Brahmins to live in.

From here the Nandimukhs spread out to the other parts of northern and western India including Dwarka on the coast of Gujrat.

Nandimukh Brahmins were priests to Yadav dynasty, the dynasty of Lord Krishna. Krishana's father Vasudeva sent our ancestor Shri Sukhdevji to King Bhismak of Vidarbha. He was to ask for King Bhismak's daughter Rukhmani's hand in marriage for Lord Krishna.

King Bhismak happily accepted this offer and approved of the marriage, giving a great deal of respect to Sukhdevji. Bhismek looked after Suhkdevji well until he returned to Vasudeva at Dwarka with good news. A date was fixed for the engagement of Lord Krishna and Rukhmani. However, it emerged that Rukhmani's older brother Rukhman, was opposed to this alliance. Rukhman had already promised Rukhmani in marriage to his friend Shishupal, King of Magadh.

Rukhman's father and three brothers persuaded him to change his mind on this but Rukhman did not agree. Eventually, Rukhmani who herself wanted to marry Lord Krishna wrote to him and asked him to meet her at Goddess Parvati's temple. Lord Krishna went there along with his elder brother Balram and their forces, and carried Rukhmani away after a fierce battle with Rukhman. Krishna took her with him to Dwarka where they were married.

At this stage Nandimukh Brahmin decided to give up priesthood . Lord Krishna agreed to their request and relieved them of this responsibility. On giving up priesthood, our ancestors decided that they would no longer accept any alms or offerings with which Brahmins usually sustained them selves.

After giving up priesthood, some of our ancestors moved north (presently Uttar Pradesh). The ones that went north, settled in Uttarkhand area of U.P. Many of those who remained in Dwarka were drowned when the city was submerged in the ocean. The splitting and decimation of the clan made it smaller and more fragmented, but they still prospered in the different areas that they settled in. However, they were unable to stay in northern India for too long. It rained and snowed incessantly in northern India for a long time. The people who had settled there decided to look for a more salubrious climate to settle in. Being fed up with rain, one group of our ancestors decided to move on to an area with a very little rainfall. They moved to Barmer in Rajasthan which in those days was the Kingdom of Virani. Here they found conditions favourable for living and for business and decided to settle there.

With the hard working nature and inherent abilities and talents, the Nandimukhs soon prospered in business and also became advisors to the King. It is said that the Kingdom of Virani became very prosperous because of the Nandimukhs talents.

Many generations of our ancestors continued to advice a succession of kings, and prospered in business at the same time.

Eventually, a weak and a spineless king named Vikram Dev Parmar ascended the throne of Virani. He initially continued to respect the Nandimukh Brahmins and take their advice, like his predecessors. The courtiers who were sidelined because of Nandimukhs were unhappy with the rise of the Nadimukh Brahmins and jealous of their position. These people began to poison the king's ear against the Nandimukhs. The king did not know whom to believe and swayed in his loyalty from one group to the other.

One day King Vikram Dev decided to hold a Saptachandi Yagna. As a part of the yagna, a feast for all the 84 sects of Brahmins was held. The Nandimukh Brahmins were also invited to this feast. However, since becoming ayachak ( not accepting alms or dakshina) the Nandimukhs had stopped taking part in these kind of feasts and informed the king about this. This gave the jealous courtiers an opportunity to turn the king against the Nandimukhs. They told the king that with prosperity, the Nandimukh Brahmins had become too arrogant, and even though they were Brahmins they refused to eat with other Brahmins. They said that this was an insult to the King. The King got carried away and proclaimed that "whoever disrespected the invitation of the brahmbhojan despite being a Brahmin will be expelled from the Kingdom".

Our proud ancestors wound up their business and without creating any fuss left the kingdom before the yagna. However some of them stayed back on the condition that they would partake in the bhojana but will not accept any dakshina. It soon became apparent that the prosperity of the Virani Kingdom was in large part due to the intellegence and abilities of the Nandimukhs. After most of them left the kingdom, the prosperity of the Virani Kingdom vained. The later Parmar kings tried to woo our ancestors back but the Nandimukhs were too proud to go back.

This annoyed the then king of Virani and he decided to take revenge on the Nandimukhs. He incited the kings of Sadadi and Jodhpur, where many Nandimukhs had moved from Virani, to hold a brambhojan for all the 84 sects of Brahmins and to invite the Nandimukhs to the feast. Our ancestors once explained to the kings their inability to eat at this bhojan and to accept dakshina. The kings did not accept this explanantion and merely said that they will pay a heavy price for insulting the kingdom. Sensing the wrath of the kings, our ancestors left the area once again and moved to settle in Gujrat near Ahmedabad. Again, some of the Vandimukhs stayed back on the condition that they would take part in the bhojana but would not accept dakshina. This incident is supposed to have taken place around 1209 AD.

An Event that Changed the Course

A continuing story in the books of Barots of Rajashtan about the Nandimukhs goes as follows.

The multi-millionaire Shri Devchand Upadhyay arranged a Maharudra Yagna. The entire Nandwana community was invited. Doodh Pak was the main dish at the feast. During the cooking of this dish, a cat fell into the vessel full of doodh pak. The cat was pulled out alive but died later. The cooks kept this incident a secret because they did not want to cancel the feast and waste the food as people had come from far and wide to partake in it. However, the story could not be kept hidden for long and the truth emerged. The people involved in the cooking of the food as well as those who had helped to hide the incident were thrown out of the caste. These people and their close relatives moved to Gujrat and began trading goods between Kutch and Saurashtra. Evenually, they also settled in Kutch and Saurashtra, inviting other relatives from Rajasthan to join them. At this time, there might have been about 350 Nandwana families living in this part of Gujrat.

The Recent Past

Over the course of time it became evident that the spendthrift Nandwana community could not continue to grow and prosper in the industrially underdeveloped areas of Kutch and Saurashtra. Some of them then moved to the newly developing industrial zones in the coal belt of Bihar State. The first person to move to Bihar was Shri Kanji Monji Vankani in the year 1831 AD. After this, a large number of Nandwanas moved to Bihar.

Initially they worked as employees in the coal industry. Soon they took over as contractors and later began to buy the coal mines. Once again the community prospered and grew as more relatives joined them in this part of India.

In the late 1960s and early 1970s the Government of India nationalised the coal industry and suddenly the community lost the source of income which was supporting over half its members. However, true to their entrepreneurial spirit, many Nandwanas moved on to the other parts of India and abroad and established them selves. Today by the grace of God and blessings of Ma Vakrangi they continue to do well and prosper wherever they are.

Little More About the History

The history of the Nandwanas becomes more traceable since the birth of Lord Krishna at the end of Dwaperyug. According to Hindu scholars, Lord Krishna was born on the 8th day of the waning moon of Shravan. According to the Occidental calendar this might be approximately 5124 years ago or in 3126 BC.

The fact that the Nandwana community existed even before the birth of Lord Krishna can be found in the Agnipuran. However, it is impossible to establish a chronological order for some events in Tretayug and Dwaperyuog. Some of these facts are supposed to be recorded in the Vahnipuran. However, this Puran is not available. Therefore most of the supporting facts have been obtained from the Agnipuran. There is also and opinion that the Vahnipuran and the Agnipuran are the same.

Movements & Settlements of the Nandwanas

In Satyug the Nandwana Brahmins , which had 42 gotras and 3,500 families, lived in Nandipur. In different eras, this place was known under different names. What was known as Nandipur in the Satyug came to be known as Vidhyayagnalaya in the Tretayug. In Dwaperyug it was known as Shukhgupta and in Kaliyug as Krutapur. There is also evidence to show that Nandimukhs lived in other places as well. One of these is a place called Nandwana Nagar where the Nandi Raja's arrow is supposed to have fallen. In the Himalayas, there is still a place called Nandigram which is on the route of the Badrinath pilgrimage. Members of the Nandwana community are said to have lived in this place too. Another Nandigram is located in U.P. near Ayodhya where Lord Rama's brother Bharat carried out penance.

Near the Vindhyachal mountains in central India, there was a town called Nandwana Nivas where also Nandwanas are supposed to have resided. In Kaliyuga, which is in the most recent past, they lived in Kashmir, Gokul, Mathura and Dwarka. Nanadwanas also lived in Uttarkhand, in the heart of the Himalayas. In Kashmir, a sizable part of the community owned saffron and fruit orchards and conducted business with neighboring countries.

References