Narmdiya Brahmins also transliterated Naramdev are descendants of the priests of the Somnath temple who were forced to migrate from Gujarat to Madhya Pradesh are settled along the bank of the Narmada River. Their migration owes to the forays and desecration of the Somnath temple by Mahmud Ghazni. Its members regard themselves as manasputra of river Narmada. Naramdevs are considered as Panchdravida Brahmin. They belong to around 40 gotras and are followers of Shukla Yajurveda, of Madhyandini, a sub-branch, under Vajsaneyi branch. Most of them are concentrated in five districts of Madhya Pradesh i.e. Harda, Khandwa, Barwani, Dhar and Khargone. On the basis of regional affiliation naramdevs are divided as Bhuvanaya(Harda, Hoshangabad) and Nimadi(Khandwa, Khargone, Badwani, Dhar). Naramdevs generally refrain themselves to establish any nuptial ties with peoples of other region i.e. bhuvanya with nimadi or its vice versa, although they are not endogamous. Statistics reveals few peoples transcends his regional limit.
Guru of Adi guru Shankaracharya Sri Govind Acharya claim to belonged to Naramdev Community. Govindacharya Acharya initiated Shankar on the bank of river Narmada at Omkareshwar.
Gothras and Pravaras
Each Naramdev male (or unmarried female) is identified by his/her respective paternal family name. A married female adopts her husband's family name. Each family is affiliated to a Gothra and Pravara. The Gothra name demonstrates the family's traditional style of knowledge acquisition and expertise in ancient theories. Based on the fact that cross-breeding of excellent but different species yields better quality, marriage from a family belonging to the same Gothra was and is still banned for Naramdevs. Looking from another angle, Naramdevs believe that marriage from the same Gothra has a better chance of generating mentally retarded or physically handicapped children or at least children of less intellectual capacity. Each Gothra has several sub-classes known as Pravara.