Sankethi Brahmins of Karnataka

Sankethi Brahmins of Karnataka 

Compiled by
P.R.Ramachander

(I have few SAnkethi Brahmin friends and all my knowledge about them is only by reading .Most of Whatever I have written has been taken from http://www.sankethi.org/Culture/History/SankethiSaga.html )

Sankethi Brahmins are a small but very significant smarta Brahmins community (most probably Vadama) originally from Tirunelveli district. The Kannada-English Dictionary of Dr. Kittel defines the term Sankethi as "a sect of Smartha Brahman in Mysore (state) speaking a corrupt form of Tamil." They migrated from Tirunelveli to various parts of Kerala and Karnataka around 800 years ago. The Sanketi Brahmins are well educated and well employed and they make their presence felt all over the world today. By occupation they were all farmers cultivating palmnut, coconut, banana and betel leaf; by manual labor; carrying their produce by head loads to the weekly market (Santhe); living a precarious life with hardihood and courage. As late as half a century ago, in living memory, they cured their palmnut (very hard labor that is!) by participation of the whole family, or families; they stitched yellow (ripe and dry) banana leaf which had a wide market. Their homes were tile-roofed, cowdung-paved, enclosed by mud walls, with attachments for cattle; and with large back yards for manure, for growing flower or vegetables. AS of now they are a very forward intellectual community spread all over the world , who are greatly interested in Vedic learning .They still have their roots in Tirunelveli, Kanyakumari and Trivandrum districts and Mysore districts in Karnataka.
It seems in Tirunelveli one saintly and scholarly lady called Nacharamma cursed the whole town of local Brahmins and told them that if they leave their native place the curse would not affect them. Most of the families (some say 1000 families ) left the village and who ever remained there perished. It seems that village was called Shapathur (The town of curse) later.

It is believed that they first migrated to Trivandrum , then Trichur and finally reached Karnataka .Since they became a group(Sangha) which migrated together possibly they called them selves as Sangethi. Since the Malayalis in Trichur had a suspicion(Sankha) about them , possibly when they were in trichur their name might have changed in to Sankhethi ,. There is also a theory that since they came from Shenkotha , they called themselves SAnkethi. It is believed that from Trichur they travelled to Karnataka via South Canara and Coorg. After entering Karnataka, they pre dominantly settled in Kaushika near Hassan and Bettadhapura near Mysore.Though there are sankethis who live in Tamil Nadu , they do not have much contact with the Sankethis of Karnataka.It is interesting to note that all the people of a Pre dominantly Sankethi village called Mathur in Karnataka speak in Sanskrit (https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-30446917 )
Sankethis when conversing among themselves speak in a dialect called SAnkethi, which is a mixture of Tamil,Kannada and Malayalam.( You can get more info on their dialect in https://www.omniglot.com/writing/sankethi.htm )

“Settled for good in Mysore province, they never looked back to Tamil Nadu. They severed all contact; they retained not even a memory of their origin. Their Tamil assimilated more and more Kannada till at last it became more Kannada than Tamil. They forgot the Tamil script; they mastered Kannada classics like Naranappa's Bharatha Katha Manjari or Lakshmisha's Jaimini Bharatha and recited them in classical tunes of Karnatic music. They retained their taste for music; and to this day, apart from professional levels to which many have risen, the singing of shlokas by armatures can become a treat in itself at their dinner parties. Hard working men as they were, they evidenced a zest for elaborate dinners and were competitive eaters - to the delectation and jeers of other castes. They made it a custom of honoring Avadhanis (i.e., methodical reciters of an entire Veda) and Shastris (i.e., scholars in Sanskrit literature) and scholars of classical music at functions like weddings. The nomenclature of Avadhani or Shastry was not to be assumed as a name or surname, but to be obtained as a degree awarded by senior scholars at a gathering after a brief test. Sankethis were never impelled to venture beyond their 'Sequestered way of life' which consisted in classical scholarship, (religious) orthodoxy and agriculture”
Sankethis are attached to the Sringeri Mutt .It seems once when the Sringeri Mutt wanted a competent Pandit to teach the young Swamiji of that Samasthanam in those early days, the choice fell upon one Vidyanipuna Ramasastry of the Sanketi community. When at the close of the course of study he was asked what he would desire to have as fee for teaching, he asked for exemption of his community from the customary fees payable by the disciples. This privilege is enjoyed by the Sanketi community even today.They believe That Ramayyan Dalavai , the great minister of the Travancore king Marthanda Varma, who advised him to give his kingdom to God Padmanabha was a Sankethi.
- Vidwan Subbaraya Sastry who was later known as Advaitha Ananda , Markandeya Avadhani , SSri .H.R.Kesavamurthy , Mathur Krishnamurthy, Nanda Kumar, Sathyanarayan Shasthry staffing the Bharatheeya Vidya Bhavan in London; M.R. Narasimha Murthy, on the staff of Indian Institute of Science, recipient of Bhatnagar award; scores of professionals spread over India; and Mr. M.R. Balakrishna, H.S. Ramaswamy and a score of others working abroad are but a few of the Sanketjhi greats .