Saraswat Muni who was a devotee of Goddess Saraswati once needed disciples to spread his teachings and knowledge to the world. However, he could not get students who were capable of the task. So, he prayed to Goddess Saraswati to help him. Pleased with his devotion the Goddess gave him fourteen sons. Each of them had a name and the same is used by his descendents as their surname The sons had characteristics according to their names. They were taught by the sage and sent around the world with certain objectives. The Saraswat Brahmins are mentioned in the Vedas, the Ramayana, the Mahabharata, the Bhagavata and even the Bhavisyottara Purana. They may have come from Central Asia and Southern Germany to the Indian sub-continent through the Hindu-Kush mountains and the Khyber Pass to south in about 2000–1500 BC or maybe they were indigenous.

The meaning of ‘Saraswat’ has more than one origin. One refers to ‘offspring of Saraswati the goddess of learning applied usually to learned and scholarly people. It may denote the residents of Saraswati River basin. The Brahmins of this region who are referred to as ‘Saraswat’s’ in Mahabharata and Puranas were learned in Vedic lore. They concentrated on studying subjects like astronomy, metaphysics, medicine and allied subjects and disseminating knowledge. Due to geo-morphosis in the Himalayas, the Saraswati began to dry up and the Saraswat’s were forced to migrate to greener pastures. Some went to Kashmir in the north, others went eastward. Few made their way to the Konkan and Goa. These came to be recognised as Goud Saraswat’s or Dakshinaya Saraswat’s, to distinguish them from other Saraswat groups of the north. The new immigrants were called ‘Goud’ because they were followers of Monism or Advaita as preached by Shree Gaudapadacharya, who was guru of Shree Govinda Bhagavatpadacharya whose direct disciple was the great Shree Adi Shankaracharya, who resurrected Hinduism or Vedic religion in India.

Shree Gaudapadacharya Math the first math of Saraswat’s dedicated to the memory of Gaudapadacharya which was established in Keloshi (Quelshim) in Goa in the 490 BCE. To this day, the Swamiji’s of Kavale math are known as Gaudapadacharya’s. Kavale Math is the Goud Saraswat community’s Adi math (first math) and three main sub-sects of Dakshinaya Saraswat’s — Sashtikar (Dorke including Bardeshkars like Divkar), Shenvis (Karbharis), and Chitrapur Saraswat’s (Bhanaps) — were known as Goud Saraswat’s or Konkani Brahmins until 300 years ago. Other Saraswat subsects include Pednekars, Rajapur Saraswat Brahmins, Balavalikars and kudaldeshkars. In the 13th century, Dwaita (Vaishnava) philosophy advocated by Madhvacharya became popular and many Saraswat’s adopted Vaishnavism.

They continued to worship the deities they brought with them from the north. These were ‘Mahan Girish’ or Mangueshi, Shakti or Shanta Durga, Vishnu, Ganesh and Surya. They form the ‘Panchayatana’ or five deities, sacred to all Saraswat’s. Goud Saraswats was in all the kingdoms of the western coast under different dynasties right from 6th century A.D. Kadamba, Rashtrakuta, Hoysala, Chalukya Shilahara and Vijayanagar kings had given important posts to Saraswat’s. There were admirals, treasurers, ambassadors, army chiefs and foreign language interpreters among them. They were famous traders, who conducted maritime trade with Eastern and Western countries of the contemporary world. The spoken language of Saraswat’s is Konkani. The Portuguese traders were followed by Christian missionaries. Forcible conversions began to take place under the Portuguese Royal Patronage in 1560. Most of the Saraswat families left Goa with their family deities, risking life and limb. They settled in the adjoining Hindu principalities.

New temples came up in the coastal districts of Karnataka for Saraswat deities. As time passed, the idols were taken back to newly constructed temples in Goa. They are not in the original ancient spots, where churches were built, destroying earlier temples. Many people migrated to Kerala and built temples mainly dedicated to Vishnu and his avatars. The first Vaishnava Saraswat Math of Gokarna Math lineage was established in the year 1475 in Varanasi. The origin of Partagali Math comes from the lineage of Shri Palimar Math, one of the eight Maths established by Shripad Madhvacharya in Udupi. Kashi Math at Kochi came up in 1560 and Chitrapur Math at Shirali came up in 1708. All the ‘Smartha’ Saraswat’s owe allegiance to either Kavale Math or Chitrapur Math and Vaishnav Saraswat’s owe allegiance to either Partagali Math or Kashi Math.