We are Hindus. Our religion is called Hindu Dharma or Hinduism. This religion was not founded or started by one Prophet or one Saint. Our scriptures categorically say that the Holy Books were created at the time of creation itself by God for the benefit and guidance of the mankind. They are eternal laws that will never change with the changing time.

Our sages and wise men who interpreted these eternal laws never called the Religion by any name; even Hindu Dharma.

The word, Hindu was coined by foreigners, may be Greeks or Persians who had declared that the inhabitants in the region beyond the eastern bank of the River Sindhu are Hindus substituting 'H' for 'S'. The same River Indus gave our country the name of INDIA, although all our ancient books called this country, "BHARATA KHANDA", "BHARAT VARSHA" or simply "BHARAT", the Kingdom ruled by BHARATA, a very very noble monarch who happened to be the son of King Dushyanta and Shakuntala, the famous characters immortalized by Kalidas, the Shakespeare of India.

The story of Shakuntala is narrated in Mahabharata and this great epic is stated to have been composed some 5,000 years ago which means the King Bharata must have lived and ruled long long ago, somewhere in the dim past.

But we as a part of the Aryan Society have been living as Brahmins from the very beginning of the Indian Civilization and quite interestingly without our knowledge we have become the vehicles of many facets of the Indian Culture.

And our name is GOWDA SARASWAT BRAHMINS having resided in two great and famous mythological regions, the banks of the river SARASWATI and also GOWDA DESHA which had contributed significantly to the shaping of the Indian nation. We salute our forefathers.