Chitpavan

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Castes of India
Chitpavan / Kokanastha Brahmins
Classification	Brahmin
Subdivisions	-
Significant populations in	Maharashtra
Languages	Marathi, Chitpavani Konkani
Religions	Hinduism

1 Introduction
2 Legacy
3 History and mythology
- 3.1 Origins and genetics
4 Ancient history
- 4.1 Rise to power
5 Ancient History of Kokan
6 Eminent/Famous Konkanastha Brahmins
7 Business
8 See also
9 References
10 External links

The Chitpavan, Chitpawan, or Konkanastha Brahmins (कोकणस्थ ब्राम्हण) are a brahmin community of Konkan, the coastal belt of western Maharashtra.Sometimes they are affectionately referred to as Kobra (short for KO-nkanastha BRA-hmin). (Since Konkanastha is actually a general geographic label, meaning "Resident of Konkan" in Sanskrit, the name Chitpavan is preferable. In this text, however, the names Chitpavan, Konkanastha, and Kobra are used interchangeably.

Altogether, they constitute up to 1.5 million population all over the world. The Kobras gained prominence during the reign of Shahu in the 18th century and since have established themselves firmly in the Indian social hierarchy. In 1713, the fourth Chattrapati Shahu appointed a Chitpanvan Brahmin from Kokan, Balaji Vishwanath Bhat, as Peshwa or prime minister. After the death of Shahu from 1749 to 1761, the Peshwas enjoyed de facto status till battle of Panipat. Afterwards, with exception of Madhavrao, all other peshwas remained ceremonial head of Maratha confederacy like their master Chattrapati.

Majority of the Maratha empire Peshwes belonged to this community. See for detailsPeshwa. 0ut of the 2000 families of chitpavans from 1713 to 1818,only eight families rose to the ranks of big Warriors and ministers namely Bhat,Pethe, Patwardhan,Natu, Mehendale,Phadake, Gokhale and Raste while majority other families were working as a clerk or priest or farmers in Kokan,Pune,Vasai,Satara and Sangli.Though they have not played direct role in administration, they got king status after death of Shahu Maharaj from 1749 to 1761. Some famous “Administration- indicated” surnames of Maharastra like Kulkarni, Deshpande, Patil, Deshmukh,Mujumdar and Inamdar are rarely found in chitpavans.

Well known for their 'European-like' features of light skin and grayish to green eyes^{[citation needed]}, recent studies (Kivisild et.al. 2003, Gaikwad et.al. 2005) on the genetics of Konkanasta Brahmins have been quite surprising. Unlike previous claims of exclusive European origins, it appears that the Chitpavans are a group of people with diverse genetic origins.

The origins on the maternal side (mt-DNA) are equally surprising^{[attribution needed]}. Unlike most other Indians whose maternal origins can be almost exclusively traced to the single macro-haplogroup M (mt-DNA), studies (Kivisild et.al. 2003, Gaikwad et.al. 2005) indicate that the Chitpavan gene-pool shows the presence of various other Central Asian and European mt-DNA haplogroups, in particular, the U (mt-DNA), H (mt-DNA), HV (mt-DNA), X (mt-DNA), R* (mt-DNA), and N1 (mt-DNA) haplgroups.

On the paternal side (Y-DNA), R1a (Y-DNA) is the most frequently found haplogroup. Incidentally, this haplogroup is also commonly found amongst North Indians (Sahoo et.al. 2006), Central Asians, and East Europeans. The presence of a deep common ancestry between these regions remains a puzzle to this day. Haplogroup J2 (Y-DNA) is another frequently found haplogroup considered to be of Middle-Eastern origins and found in a lot of higher-caste Indians. There is also a significant presence of Haplogroups R2 (Y-DNA), L (Y-DNA), and H1 (Y-DNA) which are believed to be of Indian origin and dominantly found in Western and South Indians (Sahoo et al. 2006).

Based on the current evidence therefore, it does seem then that the aforementioned racial characteristics can be most likely traced to their maternal side.

Prior to Sahyadri Khanda, one Sanskrit book “Shatpathkalplatika” has mentioned that chitpavans belonged to Berber(Egypt based Greeks) race. It has also mentioned about that chitapavans do not have any association of Sage Parshuram since they arrived near Kokan coast in 656 AD. This “Shatpathkalplatika” book is available even today in Royal Asiatic Society’s library in Mumbai. It was written in 1691 AD. Thus, consider as most old reference of Chitapvans in Sanskirt on the contrary “Sahyadri Khand” was written in Marathi.[1]#Read[[1]] There is any refrence of Chitpavans in Indian history prior to the reign of the Peshwas because they did not hold any powerful position in the political structure and were content more or less in performing clerical jobs unlike their counterpart of deshastha who were performing religious duties,administration and Military jobs. The earliest reference to the Chitpavans in Indian literature can be found in the Sahyadri Khand, a section of the Skandha Purana.The following is the summary of the legend from Sahyadri Khand. Parashurama, the sixth avatara of Vishnu was so defiled by the slaughter of the Kshatriyas that Brahmins refused to perform any ceremonies for him. At that time the bodies of fourteen persons happened to be cast ashore by the sea which then washed the foot of the Sahyadri hills. These "corpses" Parashurama purified, by burning them on a funeral pyre or chita, and restored them to life. He taught them the Brahmin rituals, and made them perform ceremonies to free them from guilt. Parashurama wished to give these new Brahmins some land; and since the Deccan had already been given to other Brahmins, he prayed to the God of the sea to spare him some of his domain.

Lord Parshuram along with GSBs commanding Lord Varuna to make the seas recede to make the Konkan .

Initially the sea god did not agree to recede. Hence, Parshurama decided to throw a Bramhastra (missile) on the sea to render it dry. Then the scared sea god agreed to recede as far west as the Bramhastra would hit the waters from the crest of the Sahyadris. The arrow was shot and reclaimed a belt of land about thirty miles broad. The banks of the Vashishthi, about forty miles north of Ratnagiri, were set apart for the new Brahmins, and in memory of the process by which they had been purified they were called Chitpavans ('chita - pavan', meaning 'pyre purified' in Sanskrit (it could also mean a 'pious mind' 'chit - mind, pavan - pious) and their settlement Chitpolan. After establishing this settlement, Parashurama retired to Gokarna in North Kanara.

Until the rise of Balaji Vishvanath Peshwa, who belonged to Chitpavan Brahmin sub-caste, they held a low position and were known chiefly as clerks in the Deccan. Even after several generations of living in the Deccan, with strict attention to Brahmin rituals and austere life, other classes of Brahmins refused to eat with them. One story is that when Bajirao II, the last of the Chitpavan Brahmin Peshwas (1796-1818), was in Nasik he was not allowed to go down to the Godavari river using the same flight of steps as the priests from the local Trimbakeshwar temple.

They were relatively unknown outside Konkan until the 16th century. Later the ruler of Maratha kingdom Chhatrapati Shahu Maharaj appointed a Chitpavan Brahmin, Balaji Vishwanath Bhatt as his Peshwa or Prime Minister in , aroung 18th century. It was the first time a Brahmin of Konkan origin held an important position in Deccani politics in Maharashtra. Eventually, many Chitpavan Brahmins joined the service of Marattha kingdom and in due course called the plateau of Deccan their home.

Before the Peshwas, the community was predominantly found in the Konkan coastal belt of Maharashtra state of India but afterwards migrated to various parts of India. Today the community is found mainly in the state of Maharashtra particularly the Konkan coastal belt and the Deccan Plateau. They are also scattered in small pockets in the states of Punjab, Haryana, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu in a tiny percentage. Many of these DNAs' are also found among the Coorgis (a warrior caste in south India). Many of this community members have migrated to the Middle East Gulf States -particularly U.A.E. and also to U.K, Australia and U.S.A. Together, they form less than 1% of Total Indian population. It is known that the Konkanastha Brahmins are a homogeneous community. It was only after the late 18th century, that they began to form sub DNA groups. Originally the Menfolk may have taken to the natives' women as their wives and neglected their culture.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Konkan#Anomaly_of_the_Bene_Israelis_and_Chitpavans

Note- Swati Dandekar,Bhai Vaidya,Ramesh Dev and Manohar Joshi are Deshathas whereas Rima Lagoo, Madhu Sapre and Durga Bhagwat are Karhades, thus, please do not add their names here. Also Asawari Joshi is not KoBra.

Vasudev Balvant Phadake, Adya Krantikarak

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Pandurang Vaman Kane (Bharat Ratna awardee)
S N Pendse (Shri Nā)
Vinda Karandikar (Jnanapeeth Awardee 2003)
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Ashok Gadgil, Scientist with LBL.
Narendra Karmarkar, renowned computer scientist at Bell labs who invented his own algorithm for linear programming for which he won ACM's Paris Kanellakis Award