hair's colour in Sanskrit

[S Krishna]

>
>Replies to msg 08 May 97: indology at liverpool.ac.uk (vidya at cco.caltech.edu)
>
> vce> From: Vidyasankar Sundaresan <vidya at cco.caltech.edu>
>
>> >konkaNastha brAhmaNa classmates with an allegation of some unknown
>> >European (particularly Portuguese) ancestry.
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This is interesting!( i.e. Portuguese ancestory). To the best of my
knowledge(I am NO expert on geneaology), the "Sahyadri khand", the
book/text that is normally quoted as the ultimate source on everything
about Konkanastha origin says that Parasurama is supposed to brought
seven(?) dead sailors to life( on the Konkan coast). It is RUMORED
(I don't think that the Sahyadri khand mentions this) that these
sailors were of Greek Origin.
>
>Among Smarta Brahmins in Karnataka there is a belief that the fair skin colour
>of many Ayyangars is proof that they are not good, pure Brahmins. In this case,
>the former French settlement of Pondicherry is pointed to as the source of the
>fairness.

  I remember hearing that the British/Irish also had something
to do with this. I know a few Brahmins (Smartha/Madhva) who
claim that St Patricks day is an unofficial holiday among Iyengars in the Mandya 
district :-). Atleast one of them claims that ladies
put on  GREEN colored saries and the menfolk put on dhoties with
a GREEN colored border on this day:-),:-).

Apparently, the Gowd Sarasvat Brahmin community is the only(?)
fair skinned community in this area that is of pure Indian descent :-)

Krishna


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