Sanadhya Brahmin

Sanadya Brahmin (or Sanadh/Sanah) are a community of Brahmins, living prominently in Western Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh area of India. In the 19th and 20th national convention of Kanyakubja Brahmins by Kanyakubja Mahati Sabha, in 1926 and 1927 respectively, Kanyakubja Brahmins whose different branches included Sanadhya, Pahadi, Jujhoutia, Saryupareen Brahmins, Chattisgadhi, Bhumihar Brahmins and different Bengali Brahmins.^[1]

History and origin

Sanadhya Samhita gives an account of the origin of the Sanadhya community. Lord Ramachandra of Ayodhya invited some Adi Gauda brahmins to conduct a yajna. As dakshina he gave villages to 750 of them, who came to be called Sanadhya. They were engaged in tapa, thus came to be called Sanadhya^[2]:

सच्छब्देन तपो ग्राह्यं तेनाध्या ये द्विजोत्तमाः||

An alternative theory is that since they worship Lord Sun (or 'Surya') (Skt san), they are called Sanadhya. Sikh Guru Gobind Singh has mentioned that his ancestors once lived in the Sanadh region, this may have been the region from where the Sanadhya originated.

There have been genuine attempts to show the unity of Brahmins, but it was always to show that all the Brahmins were migrated and bifurcated from a "particular Brahmin". The point is missed that Brahmins as such were one original class which moved towards the East. It was a strict practice to safeguard the purity of the blood of the East-advancing front of Brahmins by taking girls from the west so that the East advancing front does not mingle up with the Nagas and other races which were pushed further east. Brahmins remember this practice even today to marry their daughters to the east and take girls from the west, and by doing so they preserved the purity throughout the Indo-Gangetic plains also called Gaudadesh. Later, when advancement to the east eventually completed, sticking up with locality was forced to check the continuous flux of Brahmins from the west. This was a wise step to control possibility of over-populating the firtile lands of the Ganges eastward.But, sadly, it resulted in a rigid and foolhardy localisation and division of the great width of Brahmins. They became almost myopic and lost their strength.

Sanadhya word carries two very ancient Sanskrit roots, in fact, of vedic antiquity. Sanah for a specific 'sacrifice'(Sanatana from the same root ~synonym) and aadhiyah or aarurha means 'incessantly engaged in', and also 'full of opulence' or 'rich in' or 'firmly walking (or mounted) foremost and ahead' on the path of penance. Hence those who possess opulence of Sanah sacrifice, or 'ahead in austerities'or 'mounted firmly, foremost and ahead of all, on the Tapascharya' were called sanadhyas in comparison to the Purohitas and Priest who lived in cities or villages.The term is non-local, and independent of region. It is associated with the Aaranyaka brahmins, the forest dwellers, and therefore the much later classification into regional subclass into Panch Gauda and Panch Dravid does not include the forest dwellers. It is true that every brahmin, wherever he may belong to,the glorious Saraswat of Kashmir, the matchless and graceful Kanyakubja, the pious and proud Sarayuparain, the brilliant and mystic Maithil, the holy and lofty Gauda or the one from great descent of panch Dravidas, has been a descendent of the original clans of Forest dwellers/or those engaged in austerities and penance.

The first story cited from the so called Sanadhya Samhita does not seem to be consistent. The composition of the Samhita does not seem to have any remote date in the history.During Rama's time, by any rate going prior to 600 BC, the time when division into subclasses as we presently know them, had not taken place. No question, then, arises for calling them to be a group of Adi gauda's participated in the yajna.However, the ground reality is that they remain non-distinct from Adi Gauda and do consider themselves the ascetic branch of Adi Gauda. In Rama's time there were only three occupations of Brahmins priests, Purohitas and Aranyaka brahmins,some of them elevated to the level of Rishi. The Samahita seems to be quite recent or post-classification era, far down in time from the Valmiki Ramayana. Rama did meet Aranyaka brahmins in the Valmiki Ramayana, and he did call them to be always engaged in Tapa and therefore were the brahmins worthy of 'high reverence'. That is all.

The second hypothesis related to Guru Gobind Singh Sahib's ancestral village Sanadh, it again does not prove to be native place for sanadhyas and the name sanadhyas to be after this village.The opposite may be a possibility that the place came to be called Sanadh after the Sanadhyas.

Sanadhyas are a dominant section of north Indian brahmins, most numerous in Gangetic 'Doaba' region and they touch the Kanaujias on the north west extending over central Rohilkhand, and the part of the upper central duab from Pilibhit to Gwalior. The boundary line runs from the northwest angle of Rampur through Richa, Jahanabad, Nawabganj, Barielly, Faridpur to the Ramganga, thence through Samilpur and the borders of Mehrabad, thence down the Ganges to the borders of Kanauj, thence up the Kali nadi to the western border of Alipurpatti, through Bhavgaon, Sij, Bibamau and down the Janumna to the junction of Chambel.[4]

Sanadhya Brahmins make a triumvarate along with kanyakubj brahmins and Bengali brahimns in practicing the doctroine of nobility ; like biswa system of kanyakubj brahmins and kuleen system of Bengali brahmins, the sanadhyas rigourusly practice the 'allh' system to jeaously safeguard the purity of their blood. They are branch of Adi Gauda brahmins, Rtviz of ashwmegh yajna performed by Lord Sri Rama and have matrimonial relations in their own fold and Adi Gauda brahmins.[5] They have matrimonial relations with kanyakubj brahmins as well.[6][7]

Migration and infiltration of Sanadhya brahmins into central India from the north took place after the fall of Marathas. In the beginning of the 19th century by 1820 AD families of Sanadhyas started to migrate to the Narmada valley extending from Mandla to Hoshangabad and so also into the Malwa from Vidisha to Ujjain and Indore. This migration was mostly from Bhind-Gwalior-Murena-Agra region where extensive Gully-Ravines were forming and penetrating into agriculture lands and converting these lands of Chambal-Yamuna belt into so called Badland Topography. The north-western MP i.e. Ratlam and Mansaur regions were infiltrated from southern Rajasthan. This migration may be corelateable with the deterioration of lands and family partitions. Those who opted to move to the fertile lands of MP were sufferers of family division and got ravenous part of the parental land on property divisions. The mass migration was accompanied by other people also belonging to Rajputs ( Chouhans and Sisodias), Kauravas, Jats, Gujjars, yadavas etc. Narsinghpur district. of Narmada valley has a good population of this assembly which is a facsimile representative of the Vraja-mandala includung part of Dhaulpur-Bharatpur and Gwalior region, wherefrom the migration had triggered. Remarkably, the Narmada valley was freed from Pindaries'Pindari' by 1820 by the Narmada Protection Force and from Thugs by 1842 by the great British officer Col. Sleeman. Thus Narmada valley became a safe and favourite place for settlement with its fertile soils. Apart from the Narmada region, migration took place from Gwalior-Jhansi-Urai area to the Sagar region of MP.

Famous Sanadhyas

• Keshavdas (1555–1617), author of Rasikpriya etc. of Orchha, classical Hindi poet^[3]
• Pandit Totaram Sanadhya who lived in Fiji^[4]
• Hon'ble Shankar Dayal Sharma,former President of India
• Mahrashi Sandeepan, Guru of Lord Srikrishana
• Ved-Vyas, author of Mahabharat
• Pandit Gopal Swarup Pathak former Vice President of India
• Pandit Ayodhya Singh Upadhyaya "Hariodh", Famous Hindi Poet
• Shri J.P.Sharma, Industralist, Chairman of JP Group of Industries
• Govardhan Lal Ojha. former Supreme Court Judge
• Indian environmentalist R K Pachauri, the Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) headed by him was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
• Pandit Rajmani Tigunait, Director of Himalayan Institute, USA, Author of several books on Tantra, meditation and other spiritual disciplines.
• Swami Haridas: Musician, Poet and saint of Vrindavana, Teacher of Famous Tansen and Baiju.
• Deepak Sanadhya, Manager Global Business Alliances at Infogain Corp.
• Dilip Sharma
• Ram Kishan Sharma
• Ram K. Sharma

References

1. ^ Saraswati, Swami Sahajanand (2003). Swami Sahajanand Saraswati Rachnawali in Six volumes (in Volume 1). Delhi: Prakashan Sansthan. pp. 519 (at p 68–69) (Volume 1). ISBN 81-7714-097-3. 
2. ^ ब्राह्मणोत्पत्ति मार्तण्ड, हरिकृष्ण शास्त्री, १८७१, खेमराज श्रीकॄष्णदास
3. ^ The Loves of Krishna in Indian Painting and Poetry, Review author[s]: H. Goetz Artibus Asiae,1957 Artibus Asiae Publishers
4. ^ The Sources of Indian Emigration to Fiji, by K. L. Gillion Population Studies, 1956 Population Investigation Committee

5. Supplementary Glossary by Sh. H.M.Elliot

6. Brahmin Nirnya by Pt. Chotey Lal Shrotriya

7. Jati Bhaskar by Pt. Jwala Prasad Mishra

8. Shri Sunil Sharma Raghunath Das, 9.Caste & Tribes by Mr. C.S.W.C. Crooks 10.<rajendra kumar sharma Pipariya