Roman Catholic Brahmin

The Roman Catholic Brahmins, also referred to as
Bammons (Kanarese: ಬಾಮಣು; IAST: Bamonn; pronounced ) in Konkani, is a caste among the Goan, Bombay East Indian& Mangalorean Catholics who religiously converted to Christianity while retaining some of the ethno-social values and customs of their Konkani Brahmin forebears, nowadays many of them exhibit a noticeable hybrid Latino-Concanic culture. They were known as the Brahmins among the "New Christians" in Portuguese Indian possessions primarily of the Konkan region, the most prominent of the colonial settlements were Cochin, Goa and Damaon and the Bombay Bassein metropolitan area.
Origins.
In Goa, the Brahmins were originally engaged in the priestly occupation, but had taken up various occupations like agriculture, trade, goldsmithy, etc. The origins of this particular caste can be traced back to the Christianisation of the Velhas Conquistas () that was undertaken by the Portuguese during the 16th and 17th centuries. It was during this period that the Jesuit, Franciscan and Dominican missionaries converted many Brahmins to Christianity. The first mass conversions took place among the Brahmins of Divar, and the Kshatriyas of Carambolim. In his "Oriente conquistado a Jesu Christo pelos padres da Companhia de Jesus da Provincia de Goa" (1710), Portuguese Jesuit priest, Fr. Francisco de Sousa gives an account of the mass conversions of Brahmins in Divar:
All converts from Brahmin sub-castes such as the Goud Saraswat Brahmins, etc., were lumped into the Christian caste of "Bamonn". Since the conversions of Brahmins of a particular area became instrumental in the conversions of members of other castes, such converts were highly valued and esteemed by the church and Portuguese authorities alike. They were even allowed to wear the "Yajnopavita" (sacred thread) and other caste markings by special dispensation of Pope Gregory XV in 1623, on the condition that these were blessed by a Catholic priest. Historian Charles Ralph Boxer observed:
The "Bamonns" in general, consider their caste system to be an Indian class form of social categorisation. Since their concept is divorced from all the religious elements associated to it by their Hindu counterparts, they tend to justify their maintenance of caste as a form of social stratification similar to the Western class concept. Traditionally, they are an endogamous group and have refrained from inter-marriage with Catholics of other castes. However, while the "Bamonns" never inter-married or mingled with the low caste "Sudirs" (Konkani: Shudras), Mahars, and Chamars, the statutes and norms of the Roman Catholic church restrained them from discriminating against the latter. Although most now carry Portuguese surnames, they have retained knowledge about their "paik" (ancestral pre-conversion surnames) such as Bhat, Kamat, Nayak, Pai, Prabhu, Shenoy, and Shet. The konkanised variants of these surnames are "Bhôtt", "Kāmot", "Nāik", "Poi", "Porbų (Probų)", "Šeņai", and "Šet". Mudartha is a unique surname to be found among some "Bamonn" families that hail from Udupi district in Karnataka. There is also a minority population of Saarodi (Kshatriyas), but "Bamonns" constitute the largest caste in the Mangalorean Catholic community. Most Mangalorean Catholic "Bamonn" families trace their patrilineal descent to Goud Saraswat Brahmins. There were a few historical instances in the Mangalorean Catholic community, wherein some Anglo-Indians were admitted into the "Bamonn" fold by Catholic priests. Their descendants are known as "Pulputhru Bamonns" (Pulpit Bamonns).
A 1976 genetic analysis study conducted on three groups of Saraswat Brahmins and one group of Goan Catholic "Bamonns" in Western India, confirmed the historical and ethnological evidence of a relationship between Goan Catholic "Bamonns" and Chitrapur Saraswat Brahmins. The study further revealed that intergroup differences between the subject groups suggested a genetic closeness, with genetic distance ranging from 0.8 to 1.5.