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Chandraseniya Kayastha Prabhu (CKP) is an ethno-religious clan of South Asia. It is part of the broader Kayastha community. Traditionally, the CKPs have been granted the upper caste status, which allowed them to study the Vedas and perform religious rites along with Brahmins.

The CKPs are today concentrated primarily in western Maharashtra, southern Gujarat, and Madhya Pradesh (Indore region).

History

The CKP claim descent from Chandrasen, an ancient kshatriya king of Ayodhya and of the Haihaya family of the lunar Kshatriya Dynasty.

The name Chandraseniya may be a corruption of the word Chandrashreniya, meaning from the valley of the Chenab River (also known as "Chandra"). This theory states that the word Kayastha originates from the term Kaya Desha, an ancient name for the region around Ayodhya.

The CKPs have traditionally been placed in the Kshatriya varna and also followed Brahmin rituals, like the sacred thread (Janeu) ceremony.

According to American Indologist and scholar of Religious Studies and South Asian Studies Christian Lee Novetzke

In the thirteenth century they might have been considered as equal to brahmin or simply within the Brahminic ecumene, this despite the fact that modern day CKPs of Maharashtra understand themselves to have arisen from the Kshatriya varna. Thus they are an intermediate caste between brahmins and Kshatriyas.

According to a letter written by the Shankaracharya of the Shingeri Math in 1800s, who confirmed the 'vedadhikar' of the CKPs, the title Prabhu must have been given to the CKPs by the Shilahar kings of Konkan.

The CKPs, described as a traditionally well-educated and intellectual group, came into conflict with Marathi brahmins at least 350 years ago over their rights to be teachers and scholars. As such they competed with the Brahmins in the 18th and 19th centuries for government jobs.

Deccan sultanate and Maratha Era

The CKP community became more prominent during the Deccan sultanates and Maratha rule era. During Adilshahi and Nizamshahi, CKP, the brahmins and high status Maratha were part of the elites. Given their training CKP served both as civilian and military officers. Several of the Maratha Chhatrapati Shivaji's generals and ministers, such as Murarbaji Deshpande and Baji Prabhu Deshpande, were CKPs. As the Maratha empire/confederacy expanded in the 18th century, and given the nepotism of the Peshwa of Pune towards their own Chitpavan Brahmin caste, CKP and other literal castes migrated for administration jobs to the new Maratha ruling states such as the Bhosale of Nagpur, the Gaekwads, the Scindia, the Holkars etc., The Gaekwads of Baroda and the Bhosale of Nagpur gave preference to CKPs in their administration

In 1801-1802 CE (1858 Samvat), a Pune-based council of 626 Brahmins from Maharashtra, Karnataka and other areas made a formal declaration that the CKPs are twice-born (upper caste) people who are expected to follow the thread ceremony(munja).

British era

During the British colonial era, the two literate communities of Maharashtra, namely the Brahmins and the CKP were the first to adopt western education with enthusiasm and prospered with opportunities in the colonial administration. A number of CKP families also served the semi-independent princely states in Maharashtra and other regions of India, such as Baroda.

The British era of the 1800s and 1900s saw the publications dedicated to finding sources of CKP history The book 'Prabhu Kul Deepika' gives the gotras (rishi name) and pravaras etc. of the CKP caste. Another publication , "Kayastha-mitra"(Volume 1, No.9. Dec 1930) gives a list of north Indian princely families that belonged to the CKP caste.

Rango Bapuji Gupte, the CKP representative of the deposed Raja Pratapsinh Bhosale of Satara spent 13 years in London in 1840s and 50s to plead for restoration of the ruler without success. At the time of the Indian rebellion of 1857, Rango tried to raise a rebel force to fight the British but the plan was thwarted and most of the conspirators were executed.However, Rango Bapuji escaped from his captivity and was never found

Other communities, at times, tried to contest CKP rights to Upanayana and being twice born.They based their opinion on the belief that no true Kshatriyas existed in the Kali Yuga; however the upanayana for CKPs was supported by prominent Brahmins like Gaga Bhatt

When the prominent Marathi historian Vishwanath Kashinath Rajwade contested their claimed Kshatriya status in a 1916 essay, the CKP writer Prabodhankar Thackeray wrote a text outlining the identity of the caste, and its contributions to the Maratha empire. In this text, Gramanyachya Sadhyant Itihas, he wrote that the CKPs "provided the cement" for Shivaji's swaraj (self-rule) "with their blood".

Culture

The CKPs share many common rituals with the upper-caste communities and the study of Vedas and Sanskrit. Unlike most upper-caste communities however, the CKPs through their interaction with Muslims, have traditionally adopted a diet which includes meat, fish, poultry and eggs. Many CKP clans have Ekvira temple at Karle as their family deity whereas others worship Vinzai, Kadapkarin, Janani as their family deity The mother tongue of most of the community is now Marathi, though in Gujarat they also communicate with their neighbours in Gujarati, and use the Gujarati script, while those in Maharashtra speak English and Hindi with outsiders, and use the Devanagari script.

Surnames

A number of CKP surnames are derived from community members serving as administrators for the Deccan sultanates rulers and later for the Maratha rulers. Most of these surnames have Persian origins and include the surnames Chitanvis, Kotwal, Karnik, Inamdar, Karkhanis, Phadnis, and Potnis. Kulkarni (village record keeper), Deshpande(Pargana level record keeper), and Deshmukh(Pargana chief) are other surnames that denote administrative roles of increasing seniority but are not derived from the Persian language.

Notable people

• Baji Prabhu Deshpande, commander of Shivaji's forces who died defending Vishalgad in 1660
• Murarbaji, commander of Shivaji's forces who died defending the fort of Purandar against the Mughals in 1666
• Rango Bapuji Gupte (1800 – missing 5 July 1857), Vakil (lawyer) and Envoy of the deposed Bhosale Raja of Satara. Tried to organise a rebellion against the British in 1857
• Ram Ganesh Gadkari, playwright and poet who was awarded the Kalpana Kuber and Bhasha Prabhu
• Shankar Abaji Bhise (1867-1935), scientist and inventor with 200 inventions and 40 patents. The American scientific community referred to him as the "Indian Edison".
• Prabodhankar Thackeray (1885 – 1973), politician, social activist and author. Father of Bal Thackeray
• Chintamanrao Deshmukh, the first Indian to be appointed as the Governor of the Reserve Bank of India during British rule and first Finance Minister of Independent India
• Shobhna Samarth (1916 – 2000), film actress of the 1940s. She was mother of actresses Nutan and Tanuja
• Nalini Jaywant (1926 – 2010), film actress of the 1940s and 1950s. She was the first cousin of Shobhna Samarth
• Vijaya Mehta, actor and director on Marathi stage, television and film
• Bal Thackeray (1926 –2012), founder of Shiv Sena and founder-editor of the Saamana newspaper
• Arun Shridhar Vaidya (1926 – 1986 ), 13th Chief of Army Staff of the Indian Army

References

Notes

1. Prabhu is a title found among Saraswat Brahmins, Karhade brahmins and other brahmin subcastes. It means high official.

Citations

1. D. Shyam Babu; Ravindra S. Khare (2011). Caste in Life: Experiencing Inequalities. Pearson Education India. p. 165. ISBN 978-81-317-5439-9. Retrieved 31 March 2013.
2. Sharad Hebalkar (2001). Ancient Indian ports: with special reference to Maharashtra. p. 87.
3. Lucy Carol Stout (1976). The Hindustani Kayasthas : The Kayastha Pathshala, and the Kayastha Conference. University of California, Berkeley. p. 17.
4. Pran Nath Chopra (1982). Religions and communities of India. Vision Books. p. 88. Retrieved 31 March 2013.
5. Kumar Suresh Singh (2004). People of India: Maharashtra. Popular Prakashan. pp. 399–400. ISBN 978-81-7991-100-6. Retrieved 17 November 2012.
6. Gupta, Dipankar (2000). Interrogating caste : understanding hierarchy and difference in Indian society. New Delhi : Penguin Books. p. 76. ISBN 9780140297065.
7. ^ Harry M. Lindquist (1970). Education: readings in the processes of cultural transmission. p. 88. ..in this case the particular tradition of a Kshatriya caste called "CKP"(Chandraseniya Kayastha Prabhu). This group described as an intellectual community came into conflict with the Brahmins at least 300 years ago over their right to be teachers and scholars
8. Shanta Gokhale (1995). Rita Welinkar. p. 179. CKP: A subcaste of Kshatriyas, the second ranking caste after the Brahmins.
9. KS Singh (1998). India's communities. Oxford University Press. p. 2083. ..the Chandraseniya Kayastha Prabhu observe the thread-wearing (janeu) ceremony for male children. They cremate the dead and observe death pollution for ten days.
10. Christian Lee Noverzke (2016). The Qutodian revolution : Vernacularization, Religion, and the Premodern Public Sphere in India, part 2. Columbia University Press. p. 159.
11. 'The illustrated weekly of India, volume 91, part 3'. 1970. p. 8.
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17. Gulati, Leela (editor); Bagchi, Jasodhara (Editor); Mehta, Vijaya (Author) (2005). A space of her own : personal narratives of twelve women. London: SAGE. p. 181. ISBN 9780761933151. {{cite book}}: |first1= has generic name (help)
18. Dattopant Thengadi (1992). National Pursuit.
19. Divekar, V.D., 1978. Survey of Material in Marathi on the Economic and Social History of India—3. The Indian Economic & Social History Review, 15(3), pp.375-407.
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21. Bates, Crispin (Editor); Naregal, Veena (Author) (2013). Mutiny at the margins : new perspectives on the Indian uprising of 1857. Los Angeles: SAGE. pp. 167–186. ISBN 9788132109709. {{cite book}}: |first1= has generic name (help)
22. Deshpande, M.M., 2010. Ksatriyas in the Kali Age? Gāgābhatta & His Opponents. Indo- Iranian Journal, 53(2), pp.95-120.
23. Prachi Deshpande (2007). Creative Pasts: Historical Memory And Identity in Western India, 1700-1960. Columbia University Press. p. 181. ISBN 978-0-231-12486-7. Retrieved 1 September 2012.
24. ^ Kumar Suresh Singh; Rajendra Behari Lal (2003). People of India: Gujarat. Popular Prakashan. pp. 283–. ISBN 978-81-7991-104-4. Retrieved 12 September 2012.
25. Zelliot, Eleanor; Berntsen,, Maxine (1988). The Experience of Hinduism : essays on religion in Maharashtra. Albany, N.Y.: State University of New York Press. p. 335. ISBN 9780887066627.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link)
26. Kumar Suresh Singh (2004). People of India: Maharashtra. Popular Prakashan. pp. 398–. ISBN 978-81-7991-100-6. Retrieved 12 September 2012.
27. G.T. Kulkarni, DECCAN (MAHARASHTRA) UNDER THE MUSLIM RULERS FROM KHALJIS TO SHIVAJI : A STUDY IN INTERACTION, Bulletin of the Deccan College Research Institute, Vol. 51/52, PROFESSOR S.M KATRE Felicitation Volume (1991-92), pp. 501-510
28. Gordon, Stewart (1993). The Marathas 1600-1818 (1. publ. ed.). New York: Cambridge University. p. 22. ISBN 9780521268837.
29. ^ Kantak, M. R. (1978). "The Political Role of Different Hindu Castes and Communities in Maharashtra in the Foundation of the Shivaji's Swarajya". Bulletin of the Deccan College Research Institute. 38 (1): 46. Retrieved 14 April 2016.
30. Bates, Crispin (Editor); Naregal, Veena (Author) (2013). Mutiny at the margins : new perspectives on the Indian uprising of 1857. Los Angeles: SAGE. pp. 167–186. ISBN 9788132109709. {{cite book}}: |first1= has generic name (help)
31. The Illustrated Weekly of India (1970), volume 91, part 3, page 15
32. Dhimatkar, Abhidha (16 October 2010). "The Indian Edison". Economic and Political Weekly. 45 (42): 67–74. JSTOR 20787477. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |subscription= ignored (|url-access= suggested) (help)
33. Purandare, Vaibhav (2012). Bal Thackeray & the rise of the Shiv Sena. New Delhi: Roli Books Private limited. ISBN 9788174369581.
34. South Asian intellectuals and social change: a study of the role of vernacular-speaking intelligentsia by Yogendra K. Malik, page 63
35. ^ Gupte, Pranay (30 December 2010). "Alone and forgotten". The Hindu. Retrieved 29 April 2016.
36. Gulati, Leela (editor); Bagchi, Jasodhara (Editor); Mehta, Vijaya (Author) (2005). A space of her own : personal narratives of twelve women. London: SAGE. p. 181. ISBN 9780761933151. {{cite book}}: |first1= has generic name (help)
37. "Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East". South Asia Bulletin. 16 (2). University of California, Los Angeles: 116. 1996. Retrieved 15 November 2012.
38. "DnaIndia mumbai report (Dec 2013)".
39. "Nagpur Today (Nov 2014)".

• Use dmy dates from May 2011
• Kayastha
• Social groups of Maharashtra
• Ethnoreligious groups in Asia
• Marathi people