Page:Castes and Tribes of Southern India, Volume 3.djvu/462

KONKANI Drāvida group. The Konkani Sūdras who have settled on this coast are known by a different name, Kudumikkar. The Konkanis' original habitation is the bank of the Sārasvati, a river well known in early Sanskrit works, but said to have lost itself in the sands of the deserts north of Rajputana. According to the Sahyādrikanda, a branch of these Sārasvatas lived in Tirhut in Bengal, whence ten families were brought over by Parasurāma to Gōmantaka, the modern Goa, Panchakrōsi, and Kusasthali. Attracted by the richness and beauty of the new country, others followed, and the whole population settled themselves in sixty villages and ninety-six hamlets in and around Goa, the settlers in the former being called Shashtis (Sanskrit for sixty), and those in the latter being called Shannavis or Shenavis (Sanskrit for ninety-six). The history of those Sārasvatas was one of uninterrupted general and commercial prosperity until about twenty years after the advent of the Portuguese. When King Emanuel died and King John succeeded him, the policy of the Goanese Government is believed to have changed in favour of religious persecution. A large efflux to the Canarese and Tulu countries was the result. Thence the Konkanis appear to have migrated to Travancore and Cochin, and found a safe haven under the rule of their Hindu sovereigns. In their last homes, the Konkanis extended and developed their commerce, built temples, and endowed them so magnificently that the religious institutions of that community, especially at Cochin and Alleppey, continue to this day almost the richest in all Malabar. "Canter Visscher writes * that 'the Canarese who are permanently settled in Malabar are the race best