as the fishermen communities were traditionally traders as well as sailors. The reason for seafaring was that the land of Konkan suffered due to salinization and unpredictable rains. This caused the Saraswats to look for livelihood outside of Konkan and they would often use the Arabian Sea for travelling for trade. Dabhol was the main Konkan port in 1600 to Hormutz and the traders traded with Socotra and Yemen but by 1700 Dabhol was ruined due to silting and sandbanks. Moreover, the cities with which the trading occurred had also declined. During Shivaji's coronation, the ritual status of the Saraswats to be Brahmins was supported by Gaga Bhatt, a leading Brahmin from Benares. Historically, in Maharashtra, Saraswats had served as low and medium level administrators under the Deccan Sultanates for generations. In the 18th century, the quasi-independent Shinde and the Holkar rulers of Malwa recruited Saraswats to fill their administrative positions. This made them wealthy holder of rights both in Maharashtra and Malwa during the eighteenth century. During the same period in Peshwa ruled areas, there was a continuation of filling of small number of administration post by the Saraswats. During the rule of the Chitpavan Brahmin Peshwas in the 18th century, Saraswat Brahmins was one of the communities against whom the Chitpavans conducted a social war which led to Gramanya (inter-caste dispute). After the liberation of Goa from the Portuguese colonial rule in 1961, many Goan Saraswats opposed merger of Goa into Maharashtra. The 19th century Konkani scholar Shenoi Goembab,and the 20th century multi-faceted Marathi scholar Purushottam Laxman Deshpande are some of the prominent scholars from the Saraswat Brahmin community. Southern India According to Nagendra Rao, the trading communities of Saraswats, Jews, Arabs, Komatis, Nawayath, etc. were active in south Kanara when the Portuguese arrived for trading in the 1500s. The items of trade were rice, pepper, ginger, etc. International trade already existed at the time in South Kanara and business existed with Malabar, Maldives, ports of the Red Sea. In Mangalore, Saraswats were part of the trading community when the Portuguese arrived to import saltpetre. The items from Mangalore were exported to Malabar, Goa, Surat, Bengal, Malacca, Maldives, Mecca, Aden, Congo, Hormuz and Ceylon. Studies show that between 1500 to 1650, in Kanara, Saraswats and Nawayath were dominant in commerce with ports outside India but it was Mappila Muslims and Middle Eastern Muslims who dominated in Malabar. The