I believe this view of Brahmins is actually correct. I think Judith Mirville talked about this in some of her posts.
AB writes:
As a Brahmin, I can assure you we don’t care about money that much. One of our ancient practices (which isn’t followed anymore as you can imagine) is to give away our wealth every 5 years and start over.
Our pursuits are mostly intellectual and spiritual. I think it’s rubbed into our culture. Samples from my family – my uncle spends his time learning Quantum Mechanics (even I think that’s a crazy hobby), I spend my time with my piano, history and computers (for work), my dad is a businessman who likes to experiment with automobile prototypes, while my mom is traditional and spends her time cooking and with her scriptures. We’re well off but in a middle-class sense.
I can’t really understand my northern Marwari (merchant) friends or my southern Mudhaliar/Chettiar (traditionally landowner) friends – who’re more clannish and obsessed with money and success. Many Brahmins are money minded, esp. overseas, but that’s because of our materialistic culture.
