HYDERABAD: The Roman Catholics from the western coast of India, Goa, Kumta and Mangaluru, have remnants of very early lineages with the Brahmin community, according to a new study by the CSIR-Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) and DST-Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeosciences (BSIP), Lucknow.
The first high-throughput study was conducted by Dr Kumarasamy Thangaraj, Chief Scientist, CCMB, and Dr Niraj Rai, Senior Scientist, DST-BSIP, wherein the researchers analysed the DNA of 110 individuals from Roman Catholic community of Goa, Kumta and Mangaluru. They compared the genetic information of the Roman Catholic group with previously published DNA data from India and West Eurasia and concluded that the group has remnants of the Gaur Saraswat Community.
“More than 40 per cent of their paternally inherited Y chromosomes can be grouped under R1a haplogroup. Such a genetic signal is prevalent among populations of north India, Middle East and Europe, and unique to this population in Konkan region,” said Dr Kumarasamy Thangaraj, senior author of the study.
The researchers also found some indication of the Jewish component, which fills in many of the key details about the demographic changes and history of the Roman Catholic population of southwest India since the Iron Age (until around 2,500 years ago), and how they relate to the contemporary Indian population.
“This study strongly suggests profound cultural transformations in ancient southwest India. This has mostly happened due to continuous migration and mixing events since the last 2,500 years”, said Dr Niraj Rai.The other institutes involved in this study are Mangalore University, Canadian Institute for Jewish Research, and Institute of Advanced Materials, Sweden.