Religion
Cochin GSBs are Vaishnavites following Dwaita school of Madhwacharya and are followers of Kashi Mutt which traces origins to Kumbhakonam Math.
The Cochin GSB life revolves around their temples, there are about 35 of them in south/central Kerala. Annual festival of the temple is an occasion of great celebration among Cochin GSBs, diwali is also celebrated with great enthusiasm. Ugadi, Ganesh Chaturti, etc. are other festivals celebrated by the Cochin GSBs. Some GSB gramas celebrate Ukuli. Cochin GSBs have great devotion to Tirupati Balaji. Presiding deity of most GSB temples is Balaji. GSBs are also devoted to Narasimha.
The GSBs of Cochin are enthusiastic pilgrims. Tirupati is the most popular destination. More and more are visiting pilgrim centres of North India. Goa and Karnataka also figure out in GSB pilgrim itenerary. Pandharpur which used be another popular pilgrimage destination, no longer enjoys the popularity it used to be in the past. Singing bhajans is very popular among Cochin GSBs, Marathi bhajans praising Vithoba being the most popular.
Unfortunately Sanskrit scholarship is non existent among Cochin GSBs. Cochin GSB priests are only competent in performing poojas, none of them are known to be vedic scholars. GSB priests officiate mainly in GSB temples and Households. Their services are also sought by expatriate north and western Indian communities. Community now faces acute shortage of priests, and this is has resulted in deterioration of observance in GSB temples. This, in addition to a variety of other factors, have conspired to make GSBs of southern Kerala flock to Malayali temples, a practice frowned upon few decades ago. Large number of GSBs visit pilgrim centres like Guruvayoor and Sabarimala, something unheard in the past.
Read more about this topic: Goud Saraswat Brahmins Of Cochin
Other articles related to "religion, religions":
... Main article Religion in the Middle East The Middle East is very diverse when it comes to religions, many of which originated there ... Islam in its many forms is by far the largest religion in the Middle East, but other faiths that originated there, such as Judaism and Christianity, are also well represented ... There are also important minority religions like Bahá'í, Yazdânism, Zoroastrianism, Mandeanism, Druze, Yarsan, Yazidism and Shabakism, and in ancient times the ...
... of their existence as a distinct group, and it was their attitude to religion that distinguished the left and right from then onwards (August Cieszkowski is a possible exception to this rule) ... influence of his relatively enlightened minister of religion, health and education Altenstein, allowed pretty much anything to be said about religion so long as there ... it easier to direct their critical energies towards religion than politics ...
... Religion in Saarland - 2007 religion percent Roman Catholics 64.1% Protestants 19.5% Other or none 22.0% The Saarlanders are the most religious population ...
... Main article Criticism of religion Religious criticism has a long history, going back at least as far as the 5th century BCE ... During the Middle Ages, potential critics of religion were persecuted and largely forced to remain silent ... century with the Enlightenment, thinkers like David Hume and Voltaire criticized religion ...
... quoted in an Indian Supreme Court ruling When we think of the Hindu religion, unlike other religions in the world, the Hindu religion does not claim any one prophet it does not worship any one god it does not ... Thus some scholars argue that the Hinduism is not a religion per se but rather a reification of a diverse set of traditions and practices by scholars who constituted a unified ... between "Hindus" and followers of other religions during the periodic census undertaken by the colonial British government in India ...
Famous quotes containing the word religion:
“The strongest reason why we ask for woman a voice in the government under which she lives; in the religion she is asked to believe; equality in social life, where she is the chief factor; a place in the trades and professions, where she may earn her bread, is because of her birthright to self-sovereignty; because, as an individual, she must rely on herself.”
—Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1815–1902)
“This is one of the paradoxes of the democratic movement—that it loves a crowd and fears the individuals who compose it—that the religion of humanity should have no faith in human beings.”
—Walter Lippmann (1889–1974)