Pathare Prabhu: Difference between revisions

'''Pathare Prabhu''' is one of the [[Hindu]] communities in the city of [[Mumbai]] (formerly known as Bombay).

Members of this community are one of the original settlers in [[Mumbai]] - they migrated from [[Gujarat]] [[Saurashtra (region)|(Saurashtra)]] during the 13th century.

They usually speak Marathi. However, the older generation spoke the Parabhai dialect, which is a combination of [[Gujarati language|Gujarati]] and [[Marathi language|Marathi]]. The Pathare Prabhus are believed to be descendants of Lunar Dynasty. They are placed in the [[Kshatriya]] [[Varna (Hinduism)|varna]].<ref>{{cite book | title = People of India: A - G., Volume 4 | page = 2813 | author = K.S. Singh | publisher = Oxford Univ. Press | year = 1998 | isbn = 0195633547|quote=PATHARE PRABHU One of the original settlers of the Island City of Mumbai, they migrated from Saurashtra in Gujarat during the 13th century. They are distributed only in the Mumbai city and its suburbs in Maharashtra. They are Kshatriya who speak Marathi. However, the people of older generation still speak the Parabhai dialect, which is an admixture of Gujarati and Marathi languages, among themselves.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book | title = Rare Gems: A Non-vegetarian Gourmet Collection from Maharashtra | author = Āditya Mehendale | page= 79| publisher=Om Books International| quote= The pathare prabhus are believed to be descendents of the King Ashwapati who reigned in Nepal}}</ref>

The Pathare Prabhus and the [[Chandraseniya Kayastha Prabhu]]s ([[CKP]]s) are considered sister communities, both being part of the 'Prabhu castes'.<ref>{{cite book | title = Urban leadership in Western India: politics and communities in Bombay city, 1840-1885 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2eYhAAAAMAAJ&dq=Pathare+Reform+Association&focus=searchwithinvolume&q=sister | author=Christine E. Dobbin| year=1972 |page= 225|quote=Not only were the Pathare prabhus aware for the need for self help. In 1876 the members of their sister community, the Chandraseniya Kyasth Prabhus, began to organize themselves.}}</ref>

However, the Pathare Prabhu followed the [[Smartha]] tradition of Hinduism whereas the [[CKP]] followed the [[Advaita Vedanta]] tradition propounded by [[Adi Shankara]], the first [[Shankaracharya]].<ref>{{cite book | title = The Castes, Tribes and Culture of India | author = K.P.Bahadur, Sukhdev Singh Chib | page= 161| publisher=ESS Publications|year=1981| quote= pg 161: The Kayastha Prabhus...The creed mostly accepted by them is that of the advaita school of Shankaracharya, though they also worship Vishnu, Ganapati and other gods. ...Most of the Pathare Prabhus are the followers of smart sect who adopt the teachings of Shankaracharya}}</ref>

 

The Pathare Prabhu, in the 19th century would to refer to [[Bombay]] as 'Desh' (country). They formed the "Kshatriya Union Club" under which were the five primary collectives of [[Girgaon]], [[Mazagaon]], [[Parel]], [[Mahim]] and [[Worli]]. In 1887, they held a meeting at the "Desh" level in which it was decided to stop inviting "naikins" (dancers) to sing at the [[Upanayana]] (thread ceremonies or "munja") and marriage celebrations. Historians cite an incident where a Pathare Prabhu member who broke this rule two years later was socially outcast by the community. He sued for defamation but the British Court ruled against him.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Making of History: Essays Presented to Irfan Habib (Anthem South Asian Studies)|year=2002|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ejrBraqBaLQC&pg=PA197#v=onepage&q&f=false|publisher=Anthem Press|page=197|editor1=Utsa Patnaik|editor2=Terence J. Byres|editor3=K. N. Panikkar}}</ref>

*[[Moroba Kanhoba]] – 19th century writer and social reformer (women's rights advocate), author of the famous Marathi novel "Ghashiram Kotwal". His highly publicized marriage to a widow ended in a tragedy after the couple was found dead within a year of the marriage.<ref>{{cite book|title=Indian Writing in English: Tradition and Modernity|author1=Kanupriya |author2=Amar Nath Prasad|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HvhTI1GGIo8C&pg=PA168#v=onepage&q&f=false|quote=Moroba Kanhoba Vijaykar's novel Ghashiram Kotwal appeared in 1873. Ghashiram is not an imaginative character of literature.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Crossing Thresholds: Feminist Essays in Social History|page=350|year=2007|quote= Perhaps the most highly publicized was the ill-fated marriage of Moroba Kanhoba Vijaykar, one of the earliest members of the Society, in 1870. It resulted in the family's excommunication by his Pathare Prabhu caste, despite reformist support. But most unfortunate was the tragedy that struck before a year was over. The newly-weds were found dead in the neighbouring...}}</ref>

*[[Shivkar Bapuji Talpade]] – A Vedic Scholar famous for flying a plane in 1895 in [[Bombay]]<ref>{{Cite web|url = http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mumbai/A-flight-over-Chowpatty-that-made-history/pmredirectshow/890055.cms?curpg=2|title = A flight over Chowpatty that made history|date = 18 October 2004|accessdate = 3 February 2015|website = The Times of India|quote=Talpade belonged to the Pathare Prabhu community, one of the founder of Mumbai}}</ref>

*[[M. R. Jayakar|Mukund Ramarao Jayakar]] - First vice chancellor of the [[University of Pune]].<ref>{{cite book|title=The Myth of the Lokamanya: Tilak and Mass Politics in Maharashtra|publisher=University of California Press|url=https://archive.org/details/mythoflokamanya00rich|url-access=registration|page=[https://archive.org/details/mythoflokamanya00rich/page/190 190]|author=Richard I. Cashman|year=1975|quote=Although more at home in the cosmopolitan center of Bombay, and a member of the Council of the Bombay Presidency Association, the Pathare Prabhu lawyer, Mukund Ramrao Jayakar (1873-1959), expressed the typical response}}</ref>