A Brief History of the Nandwana Brahmins
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.
[contd.]
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