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| {{short description|Indian Brahmin sub-caste inhabiting Konkan region}}
| | #REDIRECT [[Chitpavan Brahmins]] |
| {{Use dmy dates|date=May 2022}}
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| {{Use Indian English|date=October 2019}}
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| {{Infobox caste
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| | caste_name = Chitpavan/Konkanastha Brahmins
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| | populated_states = [[Konkan]] (Coastal [[Maharashtra]], [[Goa]], [[Karnataka]], some parts of [[Madhya Pradesh]], [[Gujarat]])
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| | languages = [[Marathi language|Marathi]], [[Gujarati language|Gujarati]], [[Kannada language|Kannada]], [[Chitpavani Konkani]].
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| | religions = [[Hinduism]]
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| | population =
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| }}
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| [[File:बोडण.jpg|thumb|Chitpavan Brahmins practicing [[#Bodan|''Bodan'']], a rite performed on important occasions like birth or marriage]]
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| The '''Chitpavan Brahmin''' or '''Konkanastha Brahmin''' is a Hindu [[Maharashtrian Brahmin]] community inhabiting [[Konkan]], the coastal region of the state of [[Maharashtra]]. Initially working as messengers and spies in the late seventeenth century, the community came into prominence during the 18th century when the heirs of [[Peshwa]] from the [[Bhat family]] of [[Balaji Vishwanath]] became the de facto rulers of the [[Maratha empire]]. Until the 18th century, the Chitpavans were held in low esteem by the [[Deshastha]], the older established Brahmin community of Maharashtra region who considered the Chitpavans as ''[[Parvenu]]s'' or newcomers to the Brahmin class.<ref name="Kumar2013"/><ref>{{cite book|title=India, the Rebel Continent |author=Guy Delury|page=183|quote=The name Chitpavan had been given to them by the other local jatis of Brahmins a little mockingly, since they tended to look down on the Chitpavans}}</ref><ref name="cohn_singer">{{cite book|title=Structure and Change in Indian Society|editor-first1=Bernard S|editor-last1=Cohn |editor-first2=Milton |editor-last2=Singer|publisher=AldineTransaction (Transaction Publishers)|pages=399–400|isbn =978-0-202-36138-3|year=2007|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_g-_r-9Oa_sC&q=patterson+chitpavan&pg=PA397}}</ref><ref name="Griffiths2019"/><ref name="GJ">{{cite book|title=elites in south asia|author=Gordon Johnson|editor1=Edmund Leach|editor2=S.N.Mukherjee|publisher=Cambridge University Press|quote=Chitpavan Brahmins became powerful in western India with the rise of the Mahratta empire. In the late seventeenth century, Chitpavans were employed as messengers and spies by the Mahratta chiefs|page=100|year=1970}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |first1=Chirol |last1= Valentine |title=Indian Unrest |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=EoRz7BEGyasC&pg=PT72 |year=2012 |publisher= Tredition |isbn=978-3-8472-0599-9 |page=72}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=H. H. Dodwell|title=The Cambridge History of India: British India, 1497-1858|page=385}}</ref>
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| As per Jayant Lele, the influence of the Chitpavans in the Peshwa era as well as the British era has been greatly exaggerated because even during the time of the most prominent Peshwas, their political legitimacy and their intentions were not trusted by all levels of the administration, not even by [[Shivaji]]'s successors. He adds that after the defeat of Peshwas in the [[Anglo-Mahratta war]]s, Chitpavans were the one of the Hindu communities to flock to western education in the [[Bombay Province]] of [[British India]].<ref name="singh">{{cite book |last1=Singh |first1=R. |last2=Lele |first2=J.K. |title= Language and society: steps towards an integrated theory |year=1989 |publisher=E.J. Brill |location=Leiden |isbn= 978-9-00408-789-7 |page=34 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=1PLiAlGzLFQC|quote=The extent of the real chitpavan infuence in the socio-polity of Maharashtra, during this period, has been vastly exaggerated. Even under the most ambitious and effective peshwas, the established local power structure, from the major Maratha chieftains down to village headmen, did not trust Peshwas' political intentions and doubted their legitimacy. This was particularly true under Shivaji's feuding successors.}}</ref>
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| As per the 1901 census, about 5% of the Pune population was Brahmin and about 27% of them were Chitpavans.<ref name="cashman75">{{cite book|last=Cashman|first=Richard I|year=1975|title=The myth of the Lokamanya: Tilak and mass politics in Maharashtra|publisher=University of California|page=[https://archive.org/details/mythoflokamanya00rich/page/19 19], 20,21|isbn=978-0-520-02407-6|access-date=2 April 2018|url=https://archive.org/details/mythoflokamanya00rich|url-access=registration}}</ref>
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| == Origin ==
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| The Chitpavans are also known as Konkanastha Brahmin.<ref>{{cite book |title=State Intervention and Popular Response: Western India in the Nineteenth Century |editor1-first=Mariam |editor1-last=Dossal |editor2-first=Ruby |editor2-last=Maloni |publisher=Popular Prakashan |year=1999 |isbn=978-8-17154-855-2 |page=163 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=t7f0JEWk6HMC&pg=PA163 |first=Frank F. |last=Conlon |chapter=Vishnubawa Brahmachari: A Champion of Hinduism in Nineteenth Century Maharashtra}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Contradictions and Conflict: A Dialectical Political Anthropology of a University in Western India |first=Donald V. |last=Kurtz |publisher=BRILL |year=1993 |isbn=978-9-00409-828-2 |page=62 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0X5DquN8LkIC&pg=PA62}}</ref>
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| The etymology of their name is given in the chapter ''citpāvanabrāhmaṇotpattiḥ'' i.e “Origin of the Citpāvan brahmins” in the Hindu Sanskrit scripture [[Sahyadrikhanda]] of the [[Skanda Purana]]. According to this chapter, [[Parashurama]], who could not find any Brahmins in Konkan, found sixty fishermen who had gathered near a funeral pyre near the ocean shore. These sixty fishermen families were purified and Sanksritized to Brahminhood. Since the funeral pyre is called ''Chita'' and pure as ''pavana'', the community was henceforth known by the name ''Chitpavan '' or "purified at the location of a funeral pyre". However, 'Chita' also means 'mind' in Sanskrit and the Chitpavans prefer "pure of mind" instead of "pure from the pyre". Later Parshuram was displeased with their actions. S.A. Joglekar believes that the text was added to Sahyadrikhanda to denigrate Chitpavans by those who envied them{{efn|Deshpande does not clarify which specific text in the Scripture Joglekar is referring to - but gives Joglekar's view immediately after referring to some statements made by Parshurama after he disapproved some acts on part of the Chitpavans after their creation.}}. Deshpande states that Gajanan Gaitonde intentionally left some parts untranslated and omitted some parts completely in his Marathi translation of the scripture due to its offensive nature. The [[Kulavruttanta]] of the Khare (Chitpavan) family prefers a modified version of the scripture. They state that fourteen dead-bodies were purified by Parshurama. Since "[[Chiplun]] pleased Paraśurāma’s heart", the brahmins of that place received the name ''cittapāvana''.<ref>{{cite journal|author=Deshpande, M.M.| year=2010|title= Pañca Gauḍa and Pañca Drāviḍa: Contested borders of a traditional classification| publisher=Studia Orientalia: 108|page=37,39|quote=The first chapter of the Sahyādrikhaṇḍa is titled citpāvanabrāhmaṇotpattiḥ “Origin of the Citpāvan brahmins”. In the newly recovered land of Konkan, there are no traditional brahmins, either of the Gauḍa or Draviḍa persuasion, to be found. Paraśurāma invites all the brahmins for carrying out ancestral offerings (śrāddha-pakṣa), and yet no one showed up (Chapter 1, verse 31). The angry brahmin Paraśurāma decided to produce new brahmins (brāhmaṇā nūtanāḥ kāryāḥ, Chapter 1, verse 33). As he was wandering along the bank of the ocean, he saw some men gathered around a funeral pyre and asked them about their caste and dharma. These were fishermen, and Paraśurāma purified their sixty families and offered them brahminhood (brāhmaṇyaṁ ca tato dattvā, Chapter 1, verse 37). Since these fishermen were purified at the location of a funeral pyre (citā), they received the designation of citapāvana (ibid.)}}</ref><ref name="Wolpert2021">{{cite book | author = Stanley Wolpert | date = 8 January 2021 | title = Tilak and Gokhale: Revolution and Reform in the Making of Modern India | publisher = Univ of California Press | pages = 3– | isbn = 978-0-520-32340-7 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=Wq_oDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA3}}</ref> The scriptures were also referred to in a 20th century case related to the Veerashaiva rights to perform ''Rudra-abhishek''. Bairy, a modern scholar on caste and sociology quotes a statement made by Viroopaksha Pandita on the Chitpavans non-Brahmin or non-[[twice-born|Dvija]] origin by citing their scriptures. The successful argument was made by him during [[Shastrartha]] and was regarding Brahmin purity and was cited in ''Nanjundaradhya''(1969). The opposing side, headed by Mr.Bapat was unable to argue the case - as reported by the [[Star of Mysore]].<ref name="Bairy2013">{{cite book|author=Ramesh Bairy|title=Being Brahmin, Being Modern: Exploring the Lives of Caste Today|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GAS8TN50bJcC|date=11 January 2013|pages=151–152|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-136-19819-9|quote=Most of the Brahmin jatis like the Chitpavana,[..others.]Shenave, Konkani, ...etc., were, not many years ago, part of Sudra communities such as Vyadha, Billa, Beda, etc., and only recently been elevated to brahminness, and this, their own scriptures point to. Most of these groups, even now, eat meat and consume liquor and do not have vedokta [veda ordained] samskara.[...] All these make it clear that they are not pure Brahmins….(Cited in Nanjundaradhya 1969: 32–41)References to this debate and controversy are found in many journals of this period. Nanjundaradhya, M. G. 1969. Pg 337: Veerashaiva Vedadhikara Vijayam [The Victory of the Veerashaivas to Perform Veda-sanctified Rituals]. Mysore: M. Mahadevaiah.}}</ref>
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| As per [[Tudor Parfitt]] and Yulia Egorova, the Parashurama mythological story of shipwrecked people is similar to the mythological story of the [[Bene Israel]] Jews of [[Raigad district]].<ref>{{cite journal |journal=Culture, Medicine and Psychiatry |volume=29 |issue=2 |doi=10.1007/s11013-005-7425-4 |pmid=16249950 |url=http://www.weizmann.ac.il/home/liorg/lemba.pdf |title=Genetics, History, and Identity: The Case Of The Bene Israel and the Lemba |first1=Tudor |last1=Parfitt |first2=Yulia |last2=Egorova |year=2005 |pages=206, 208, 221|s2cid=19691358 }}</ref> According to the historian [[Roshen Dalal]], similarities between the legends may be due to a connection between the Chitpavans and the Bene Israel communities.<ref name="Dalal2014">{{cite book|author=Roshen Dalal|title=The Religions of India: A Concise Guide to Nine Major Faiths|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=87k0AwAAQBAJ&pg=PT262|date=18 April 2014|publisher=Penguin Books Limited|isbn=978-81-8475-396-7|pages=262–|quote=A very similar legend of a shipwreck is found among CHITPAVAN BRAHMANAS, indicating a possible connection between the two communities.}}</ref> The history of the Bene Israel, who also settled in Konkan, claims that the Chitpavans are also of Jewish origin.<ref name="Gangadharan1970">{{cite book|author=K. K. Gangadharan|pages=105|title=Sociology of Revivalism: A Study of Indianization, Sanskritization, and Golwalkarism|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eHidF79eqycC|year=1970|publisher=Kalamkar Prakashan|quote=A history of the Bene Israelis, who settled in the Colaba district of Konkan claim Chitpavans as fellow Jews}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Jews and India: Perceptions and Image |first=Yulia |last=Egorova |year=2006 |page=85 |isbn=978-0-203-96123-0}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=The Bene Israel of Bombay: A Study of a Jewish Community |first=Schifra |last=Strizower |year=1971 |page=16] |isbn=978-0-8052-3405-3}}</ref> In addition, Indian scholar [[Ramakrishna Gopal Bhandarkar]] has shown similarity between names of Chitpavans and the geographical sites in [[Palestine (region)|Palestine]].<ref name="Figueira2002">{{cite book|author=Dorothy M. Figueira|title=Aryans, Jews, Brahmins: Theorizing Authority through Myths of Identity|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eUtGblzgTn0C&pg=PA183|date=26 September 2002|publisher=SUNY Press|isbn=978-0-7914-5532-6|pages=183–}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=The Chitpavan Brahmins - A Social and Ethnic Study |last=Karve |first=Irawati |author-link=Irawati Karve |year=1989|isbn=978-81-7022-235-4|pages=104–107|orig-year=1928}}</ref>
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| The Konkan region witnessed the immigration of groups, such as the Bene Israel, and [[Kudaldeshkar Gaud Brahmin|Kudaldeshkars]]. Each of these settled in distinct parts of the region and there was little mingling between them. The Chitpavans were apparently the last major community to arrive there and consequently the area in which they settled, around Ratnagiri, was the least fertile and had few good ports for trading. The other groups generally took up trade as their primary occupation. In ancient times, the Chitpavans were employed as messengers and spies. Later, with the rise of the Chitpavan Peshwa in the 18th century they began migrating to Pune and found employment as military men, diplomats and clerks in the administration. A 1763-4 document shows that at least 67% of the clerks at the time were Chitpavans.<ref name="GJ"/><ref name="cohn_singer"/><ref name="Griffiths2019">{{cite book|author=Percival Griffiths|title=The British Impact on India|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XqqbDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT329|date=23 April 2019|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=978-0-429-61424-8|pages=329–| quote=They were not highly regarded by other Brahmans in ancient days and appeared to have been employed principally as spies and messengers}}</ref><ref name="Gokhale1988">{{cite book|author=Balkrishna Govind Gokhale|title=Poona in the Eighteenth Century: An Urban History|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=i9QcAAAAMAAJ|year=1988|publisher=Oxford University Press|page=110|isbn=9780195621372|quote= chitpavans found employment easily under the Peshwas in diverse fields, from commanders in armies to clerks in the administration[...].A document of 1763-4 gives a list of 82 clerks of whom 55(67 percent) can be definitely identified as Chitpavans. In addition to their salaries, they were granted a substantial fringe benefit of being permitted to bring rice from Konkan to Poona free of Octroi duty.}}</ref>
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| == History ==
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| === Rise during the Maratha rule ===
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| [[File:Madhav Rao Narayan, the Maratha Peshwa with Nana Fadnavis and Attendants.jpg|Peshwa [[Madhavrao II]] with [[Nana Fadnavis]] and attendants, at Pune in 1792|thumb|right]]
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| {{Main|Maratha Empire|Peshwa}}
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| Very little is known of the Chitpavans before 1707 CE<ref name="cohn_singer"/> Around this time, [[Balaji Vishwanath|Balaji Vishwanth Bhat]], a Chitpavan arrived from [[Ratnagiri]] to the Pune-Satara area. He was brought there on the basis of his reputation of being an efficient administrator. He quickly gained the attention of [[Chhatrapati Shahu]]. Balaji's work so pleased the Chhatrapati that he was appointed the Peshwa or Prime Minister in 1713. He ran a well-organized administration and, by the time of his death in 1720, he had laid the groundwork for the expansion of the Maratha Empire. Since this time until the fall of the Maratha Empire, the seat of the Peshwa would be held by the members of the [[Bhat family]].<ref>{{cite book |author=Stewart Gordon |title=The Marathas 1600-1818 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iHK-BhVXOU4C&pg=PA109 |date=16 September 1993 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-26883-7 |page=109 }}</ref><ref>Gokhale, B.G., 1985. The religious complex in eighteenth-century Poona. ''Journal of the American Oriental Society'', 105(4), pp.719-724.</ref>
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| With the ascension of [[Balaji Baji Rao]] and his family to the supreme authority of the [[Maratha Empire]], Chitpavan immigrants began arriving ''en masse'' from the Konkan to Pune<ref>{{cite book|author=Sandhya Gokhale|title=The Chitpavans: social ascendancy of a creative minority in Maharashtra, 1818-1918|page=113|isbn=978-81-8290-132-2|year=2008}}</ref><ref name="eaton"/> where the Peshwa offered all important offices to his fellow castemen.<ref name="cohn_singer"/> The Chitpavan kin were rewarded with tax relief and grants of land.<ref name="leach_mukherjee">{{cite book|title = Elites in South Asia|author=Edmund Leach, S. N. Mukherjee|pages=101, 104, 105|isbn=978-0-521-10765-5|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=1970}}</ref> Historians cite nepotism<ref name=sejavalkar>{{cite book|title=Panipat: 1761|author=Tryambaka Śaṅkara Śejavalakara|pages=24, 25|year=1946}}</ref><ref name="seal">{{cite book|title=The Emergence of Indian Nationalism: Competition and Collaboration in the Later Nineteenth Century (Political change in modern South Asia)|author= Anil Seal|pages= 74, 78|isbn =978-0-521-09652-2|date= 2 September 1971}}</ref><ref>Shejwalkar, T.S. (1947) [https://books.google.com/books?id=5sM8AAAAMAAJ&focus=searchwithinvolume&q=nepotism ''The Surat Episode of 1759''] Bulletin of the Deccan College Research Institute, Vol. 8; page 182.</ref><ref name="sardesai">{{cite book|title=New history of the Marathas: Sunset over Maharashtra (1772-1848)|author= Govind Sakharam Sardesai|year=1986|orig-year=1946|page=254|publisher=Phoenix Publications}}</ref><ref name="shinde">{{cite book|page =16|author=J. R. Śinde|title=Dynamics of cultural revolution: 19th century Maharashtra|year=1985}}</ref><ref name="michael">{{cite book|title=Dalits in Modern India: Vision and Values|author=S. M. Michael|page= 95}}</ref> and corruption<ref name="sardesai"/><ref name="michael"/> as causes of the fall of the Maratha Empire in 1818. Richard Maxwell Eaton states that this rise of the Chitpavans is a classic example of social rank rising with political fortune.<ref name="eaton">{{cite book|author=Richard Maxwell Eaton|title=A social history of the Deccan, 1300-1761: eight Indian lives, Volume 1|page=192}}</ref>
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| === British Era ===
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| [[File:Bal G. Tilak.jpg|[[Bal Gangadhar Tilak]]|thumb|right]]
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| After the fall of the Maratha Empire in 1818, the Chitpavans lost their political dominance to the British. The British would not subsidise the Chitpavans on the same scale that their caste-fellow, the Peshwas, had done in the past. Pay and power was now significantly reduced. Poorer Chitpavan students adapted and started learning English because of better opportunities in the British administration.<ref name="leach_mukherjee"/>
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| Some of the prominent figures in the [[Hindu reform movements]] of the 19th and 20th centuries came from the Chitpavan Brahmin community. These included [[Dhondo Keshav Karve]],<ref name="University of California Press">{{cite book |last1=Karve|first1=Dinakar D. |title=The New Brahmans: Five Maharashtrian Families |date=1963 |publisher= University of California Press |location= Berkeley, CA |page=13 |edition= 1st |url= |isbn=|via=}}{{ISBN?}}</ref> Justice [[Mahadev Govind Ranade]],<ref name="Oxford University Press">{{cite book |last1=Wolpert |first1=Stanley A. |title= Tilak and Gokhale: Revolution and Reform in the Making of Modern India |date= April 1991 |publisher= Oxford University Press |location= Oxford |isbn=978-0195623925 |page=32}}</ref> [[Vinayak Damodar Savarkar]],<ref name="heidelberg-papers1">{{cite web |last1=Wolf |first1= Siegfried O. |title= Vinayak Damodar Savarkar: Public Enemy or national Hero?|url= http://www.heidelberg-papers.net/uploads/media/41_-_Wolf__Siegfried_-_Vinayak_Damodar_Savarkar.pdf |access-date=3 May 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |editor-last1=Wolf |editor-first1= Siegfried |title= Heidelberg Student papers, Vinayak Damodar Savarkar: Public Enemy or national Hero |date=2009 |publisher= Heidelberg University |location= Dresden |isbn=978-3-86801-076-3 |page=10 |url= http://www.heidelberg-papers.net/uploads/media/41_-_Wolf__Siegfried_-_Vinayak_Damodar_Savarkar.pdf}}</ref> [[Gopal Ganesh Agarkar]],<ref name="ReferenceA">{{cite book |last1=Wolpert |first1=Stanley A. |title= Tilak and Gokhale: Revolution and Reform in the Making of Modern India |date=April 1991 |publisher= Oxford University Press |location= Oxford |isbn= 978-0195623925 |page=19}}</ref> [[Vinoba Bhave]].<ref>{{cite book |editor= Mariam Dossal and Ruby Maloni |title= State intervention and popular response : western India in the nineteenth century |date=1999 |publisher= Popular Prakashan |location= Mumbai |isbn= 978-81715-4855-2 |page=87 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1= Wolpert |first1=Stanley A. |title= Tilak and Gokhale: Revolution and Reform in the Making of Modern India |date=April 1991 |publisher= Oxford University Press |location= Oxford |isbn=978-0195623925 |page=32}}</ref>
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| Some of the strongest resistance to change came from the very same community. The vanguard and the old guard clashed many times. D. K. Karve was ostracised. Even Tilak offered penance for breaking caste or religious rules. One was for taking tea at Poona Christian mission in 1892 and the second was going to England in 1919.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Cashman|first1=Richard I.|title=The myth of the Lokamanya : Tilak and mass politics in Maharashtra|date=1975|publisher=University of California Press|location=Berkeley|isbn=9780520024076|page=[https://archive.org/details/mythoflokamanya00rich/page/54 54]|url=https://archive.org/details/mythoflokamanya00rich|url-access=registration}}</ref>
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| When the [[Mali caste|Mali]](a low caste) social reformer, [[Jyotirao Phule]] was trying to get the backward castes educated, the Chitpavans of Pune did not allow any backward and [[Dalit]] student to join existing schools. This opposition from them resulted in Phule establishing schools in and around Pune.<ref name="Rüsen2013">{{cite book | editor= Jörn Rüsen | date = 19 June 2013 | title = Approaching Humankind: Towards an Intercultural Humanism | publisher = Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht | pages = 157– | isbn = 978-3-8470-0058-7 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=aRxcAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA157}}</ref>
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| The Chitpavan community includes two major politicians in the [[Gandhism|Gandhian tradition]]: [[Gopal Krishna Gokhale]], whom Mahatma Gandhi acknowledged as a preceptor, and Vinoba Bhave, one of his outstanding disciples. Gandhi describes Bhave as the "jewel of his disciples", and recognised Gokhale as his political guru. However, strong opposition to Gandhi came from the Chitpavan community. [[Vinayak Damodar Savarkar]], the founder of the Hindu nationalist political ideology [[Hindutva]], was a Chitpavan Brahmin and several other Chitpavans were among the first to embrace it because they thought it was a logical extension of the legacy of the Peshwas and caste-fellow Tilak.<ref name="das_kop">{{Cite journal|access-date=29 June 2010|url=http://www.india-today.com/itoday/03081998/cover.html|title=Godse on Trial|author=Swapan Dasgupta, Smruti Koppikar|date=3 August 1998|journal=India Today|pages=24–26|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071207123214/http://www.india-today.com/itoday/03081998/cover.html|archive-date=7 December 2007|url-status=dead}}</ref> These Chitpavans felt out of place with the Indian social reform movement of Phule and the mass politics of Gandhi. Large numbers of the community looked to Savarkar, the [[Akhil Bharatiya Hindu Mahasabha|Hindu Mahasabha]] and finally the [[Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh|RSS]]., drew their inspiration from fringe groups in this reactionary trend.<ref name="gol_seg">{{cite book|author=Arnold P. Goldstein, Marshall H. Segall|title=Aggression in global perspective|page=245|year=1983}}</ref>{{full citation needed|date=March 2018}}
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| ===Anti-Brahmin violence in the 20th century===
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| {{Main|Marathi_Brahmin#Anti-Brahmin_violence}}
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| ====Shahu of Kolhapur====
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| During the early 20th century, the ruler of Kolhapur state, [[Shahu of Kolhapur|Shahu]] and [[Bal Gangadhar Tilak]] fell out with each other due to vedokta controversy. He was also instrumental in shaping anti-Brahmin attitude in the non-Brahmin communities during that period. This led to great violence against Brahmins in Kolhapur.<ref name="AttwoodIsrael1988-Patterson">{{cite book|editor1=Donald W. Attwood|editor2=Milton Israel|editor3=Narendra K. Wagle|author=Maureen Patterson|title=City, countryside and society in Maharashtra|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Mm5uAAAAMAAJ|date=October 1988|publisher=University of Toronto, Centre for South Asian Studies|isbn=978-0-9692907-2-8|pages=35–58|quote=Such resistance was to no avail, and the Brahmans' fears and troubles were realized in February 1948 when they were set upon by recently politicized communities - Marathas, as well as Jains and Lingayats - who unhesitatingly took advantage of the opportunity provided by assassin Godse's shots.[page 50]}}</ref>
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| ====Gandhi assassination====
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| After [[Mahatma Gandhi]]'s assassination by [[Nathuram Godse]], a Chitpavan, Brahmins in Maharashtra, became targets of violence, mostly by members from the [[Maratha_(caste)|Maratha]] caste.<ref name="Hansen2001">{{cite book|author=Thomas Blom Hansen|title=Wages of Violence: Naming and Identity in Postcolonial Bombay|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-y3iNt0djbQC&pg=PA31|date=18 November 2001|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=0-691-08840-3|pages=28–35}}</ref> The motivating factor for the violence was not love for Gandhi on the part of the rioters but the denigration and humiliation that the [[Maratha_(caste)|Maratha]]s were subjected to due to their caste status. The total monetary loss has been estimated to Rs.100 million (or about 20 million in 1948 US dollars).<ref>{{cite book|title=State Intervention and Popular Response: Western India in the Nineteenth Century|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=t7f0JEWk6HMC&pg=PA11|editor1=Mariam Dossal|editor2=Ruby Malon|page=11|isbn=9788171548552|year=1999}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=The Untold Vajpayee: Politician and Paradox|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=w4LZDQAAQBAJ&pg=PT39|page=39|author= Ullekh N P|publisher=Random House India|year=2018|isbn=9789385990816}}</ref>
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| The violence after the assassination affected chitpavan [[Patwardhan]] family ruled princely states such as [[Sangli]], where the Marathas were joined by the [[Jains]] and the [[Lingayats]] in the attacks against the Brahmins. Here, specifically, the loss was about Rs.16 million. This event led to the hasty integration of the Patwardhan states into the [[Bombay state|Bombay Province]] by March 1948 - a move that was opposed by other Brahmins as they feared the Maratha predominance in the integrated province.<ref name="AttwoodIsrael1988-Patterson"/>
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| == Military ==
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| The '''Chitpavans''' have considered themselves to be both warriors and priests.<ref>{{cite book |title=Hindu Nationalism: Origins, Ideologies and Modern Myths |first=Chetan |last=Bhatt |publisher=Berg |year=2001 |isbn=9781859733486 |page=[https://archive.org/details/hindunationalism00chet/page/32 32] |url=https://archive.org/details/hindunationalism00chet|url-access=registration }}</ref> Their involvement in military affairs began with the rise of the Peshwas<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ez4wAQAAIAAJ|title=The Chitpavans: social ascendancy of a creative minority in Maharashtra, 1818-1918 |publisher=Shubhi |year=2008 |isbn=978-81-8290-132-2 |page=82 |author=Sandhya Gokhale}}</ref> and their willingness to enter military and other services earned them high status and power in the [[Deccan Plateau|Deccan]].<ref name="hansen">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-y3iNt0djbQC&pg=PA29 |title=Wages of Violence: Naming and Identity in Postcolonial Bombay |first=Thomas Blom |last=Hansen |year=2001 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=978-0-69108-840-2 |page=29}}</ref>
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| == Culture ==
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| In their original home of Konkan, their primary occupation was farming, while some earned money by performing rituals among their own caste members.<ref>{{cite book|title=Encyclopedia of world cultures: South Asia - Volume 2|page=69|quote= The occupation of the Chitpavans in their original territory of the Konkan was farming, with some income from performing rituals among their own caste.|publisher=Macmillan Reference USA|editor=Paul Hockings|year=1992}}</ref>
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| Anthropologist Donald Kurtz writes that the late 20th century opinions about the culture of the Chitpavans was that they were frugal to the point of appearing cheap, impassive, not trustworthy and also conspiratorial.<ref name="Kurtz1993">{{cite book|author=Donald V. Kurtz|title=Contradictions and Conflict: A Dialectical Political Anthropology of a University in Western India|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0X5DquN8LkIC|date=31 December 1993|publisher=BRILL|isbn=90-04-09828-3|page=64-|quote=Local non-Chitpavan Brahmans and non-Brahmans will tell you that Chitpavan Brahmans are notoriously frugal, even cheap. As one non-Brahman teacher described and other corroborated at a social function, it would be characteristic of a Chitpavan not to offer a visitor a glass of water after he/she walked across town to deliver a message when the temperature is 40 degrees C. In additional, Chitpavans are thought to be conspiratorial, untrustworthy, phlegmatic and inbred}}</ref> According to Tilak, a Chitpavan himself, his community was known for cleanliness and being industrious but he suggested they should learn virtues such as benevolence and generosity from the Deshasthas.<ref name="Kamath1991">{{cite book|author=M. V. Kamath|page=8|title=The Makings of a Millionaire: A Tribute to a Living Legend, Raosaheb B.M. Gogte, Industrialist, Philanthropist & Educationist|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=L7QgAAAAIAAJ|year=1991|publisher=Jaico Publishing House|quote=Lokamanya Tilak, himself a Chitpavan once wrote that his community was known for their cleanliness, industry, enterprise and thrift but that they could learn the virtues of benevolence, generosity and munificence from the Deshasthas.}}</ref> During the heyday of the [[Maratha Empire]], the city of Pune became the financial metropolis of the empire with 150 big and petty moneylenders. Most of these were Chitpavan or Deshastha Brahmins.<ref name="Damodaran2008">{{cite book|author=H. Damodaran|title=India's New Capitalists: Caste, Business, and Industry in a Modern Nation|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WJp_DAAAQBAJ&pg=PA50|date=25 June 2008|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan UK|isbn=978-0-230-59412-8|pages=50–51}}</ref>
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| D.L.Sheth, the former director of the [[Centre for the Study of Developing Societies|Center for the Study of Developing Societies in India (CSDS)]], lists Indian communities that were traditionally "[[Urban area|urban]] and [[professional]]" (following professions like doctors, lawyers, teachers, engineers, etc.) immediately after Independence in 1947. This list included Chitpavans and CKPs([[Chandraseniya Kayastha Prabhu]]s) from Maharashtra; the South Indian Brahmins; the [[Nagar Brahmins]] from Gujarat; the [[Khatri|Punjabi Khatris]], [[Kashmiri Pandits]] and [[Kayastha]]s from northern India; the Probasi and the [[Bhadralok]] [[Bengalis]]; the [[Parsis]] and the upper crusts of Muslim and Christian communities. According to P.K.Verma, "Education was a common thread that bound together this pan Indian elite" and almost all the members of these communities could read and write English and were educated beyond school.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Great Indian Middle class|page=28|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pbgMy8KfD74C&pg=PA28|author=Pavan K. Varma|publisher=Penguin Books|quote=...its main adherents came from those in government service, qualified '''professionals''' such as doctors, engineers and lawyers, business entrepreneurs, teachers in schools in the bigger cities and in the institutes of higher education, journalists[etc]...The upper castes dominated the Indian middle class. Prominent among its members were Punjabi Khatris, Kashmiri Pandits and South Indian brahmins. Then there were the 'traditional urban-oriented professional castes such as the Nagars of Gujarat, the Chitpavans and the Ckps (Chandrasenya Kayastha Prabhus)s of Maharashtra and the Kayasthas of North India. Also included were the old elite groups that emerged during the colonial rule: the Probasi and the Bhadralok Bengalis, the Parsis and the upper crusts of Muslim and Christian communities. Education was a common thread that bound together this pan Indian elite...But almost all its members spoke and wrote English and had had some education beyond school|isbn=9780143103257|year=2007}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|title=Social Action, Volume 50|publisher=Indian Social Institute|year=2000|page=72}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.csds.in/d_l_sheth|title=D.L. Sheth|website=www.csds.in}}</ref>
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| === Language ===
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| The historical language of the Chitpavans was primarily [[Chitpavani]]/Chitpavani. Though now, Chitpavan Brahmins in Maharashtra speak [[Marathi language|Marathi]] as their language. The Marathi spoken by Chitpavans in Pune is the standard form of language used all over Maharashtra today.<ref name="singh" /> This form has many words derived from [[Sanskrit]] and retains the Sanskrit pronunciation of many, misconstrued by non-standard speakers as "nasalised pronunciation".<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1lTnv6o-d_oC&pg=PA207|title=Handbook of twentieth century literatures of India|last1=Deo|first1=Shripad D.|editor=Nalini Natarajan|publisher=Greenwood Press|year=1996|isbn=978-0-31328-778-7|location=Westport|page=212}}</ref>
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| === Social status ===
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| Earlier, the [[Deshastha Brahmin]]s believed that they were the highest of all Brahmins and looked down upon the Chitpavans as ''parvenus'' (a relative newcomer to a socio-economic class), barely equal to the noblest of [[dvija]]s. The [[Deshastha Brahmin]]s and the [[Karhada]]s treated the Peshwa's caste with contempt and refused to interdine with them. Even during the days of earlier Peshwa's they hesitated the admit the Chitpavans to social equality.<ref>{{cite book|title=Rajarshi Shahu Chhatrapati Papers: 1900-1905 A.D.: Vedokta controversy|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=laBHAAAAMAAJ|author1=Shahu Chhatrapati (Maharaja of Kolhapur)|author2=Vilas Adinath Sangave|author3=B. D. Khane|publisher=Shahu Research Institute|year=1985|page=4}}</ref> Even the Peshwa was denied the rights to use the [[ghat]]s reserved for Deshastha priests at [[Nashik]] on the Godavari river.<ref name="Kumar2013">{{cite book|author=Ravinder Kumar|title=Western India in the Nineteenth Century: A study in the social history of Maharashtra|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pbrWAQAAQBAJ&pg=PT41|date=28 October 2013|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=978-1-135-03145-9|quote=Upon the chitpavans who had come into prominence after the rise of the Peshwas they[deshasthas] looked down with scarcely veiled contempt as the parvenus, barely fit to associate on terms of equality with the noblest of the dvijas. A chitpavan who was invited to a deshasth home was a privileged individual, and even the Peshwa was denied the right to use the ghats reserved for deshasth priests at Nasik on the Godavari|pages=41–}}</ref><ref>Patil, U.R., 2010. Conflict, identity and narratives: the Brahman communities of western India from the seventeenth through the nineteenth centuries (Doctoral dissertation)[https://repositories.lib.utexas.edu/bitstream/handle/2152/ETD-UT-2010-12-2082/PATIL-DISSERTATION.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y.]</ref>
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| After the appointment of [[Balaji Vishwanath Bhat]] as [[Peshwa dynasty|Peshwa]], Konkanastha migrants began arriving en masse from the Konkan to Pune,{{sfn|Gokhale|2008|p=113}}{{sfn|Eaton|2005|p=192}} where the Peshwa offered some important offices to the Konkanastha caste.{{sfn|Patterson|2007|p=398}} The Konkanastha kin were rewarded with tax relief and grants of land.{{sfn|Leach|Mukherjee|1970|pp=101, 104–5}} Historians point out nepotism{{sfn|Śejavalakara|1946|pp=24–5}}{{sfn|Seal|1971 |pp=74, 78}}{{sfn|Deccan College Post-graduate and Research Institute|1947|p=182}}{{sfn|Śinde|1985|p=16}}{{sfn|Michael|2007|p=95}}<ref>{{cite book|title=The Emergence of Indian Nationalism: Competition and Collaboration in the Later Nineteenth Century|author=Anil Seal|publisher=CUP Archive|year=1971|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xV84AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA78|page=78|quote=Between Brahmins and these non-Brahmins there was a long history of rancour which the nepotism of the Peshwas had only exacerbated.|isbn=9780521096522}}</ref> and corruption during this time.
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| The rise in prominence of the Chitpavans compared to the Deshastha Brahmins resulted in intense rivalry between the two communities.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iHK-BhVXOU4C&pg=PA109|title=The Marathas 1600-1818|last=Gordon|first=Stewart|publisher=Cambridge University Press|date=16 September 1993|isbn=978-0-521-26883-7|pages=132–134}}</ref> 19th century records also mention ''[[Gramanya]]s'' or village-level debates between the [[Chandraseniya Kayastha Prabhu]]s and the Chitpavans, [[Saraswat]] Brahmins and the Chitpavans, [[Pathare Prabhu]]s and the Chitpavans and Shukla Yajurvedi [[Deshastha Brahmin]]s and the Chitpavans. These disputes pertaining to the so called violation of "Brahmanical ritual code of behavior" were quite common in Maharashtra during that period.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Chitpwans |last=Gokhale|first=Sandhya|publisher=Shubhi Publications|date=2008|page=204|quote=The jati disputes were not a rare occurrence in Maharashtra. There are recorded instances of disputes between jatis such as Chandraseniya Kayastha Prabhus and the Chitpavans, Pathare Prabhus and the Chitpavans, Saraswat brahmin and the Chitpavans and Shukla Yajurvedi and the Chitpavans. The intra-caste dispute involving the supposed violation of the Brahmanical ritual code of behavior was called Gramanya in marathi.}}</ref>
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| [[Bal Gangadhar Tilak]] believed that the [[Deshastha]]s, Chitpavans and [[Karhade]]s should get united. As early as 1881, he encouraged this by writing comprehensive discussions on the urgent need for these three Maharashtrian Brahmin sub-castes to give up caste exclusiveness by intermarrying and dining together.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Chitpavans: social ascendancy of a creative minority|author=Sandhya Gokhale|year=2008|page=147|quote=As early as 1881, in a few articles Bal Gangadhar Tilak, the resolute thinker and the enfant terrible of Indian politics, wrote comprehensive discourses on the need for united front by the Chitpavans, Deshasthas and the Karhades. Invoking the urgent necessity of this remarkable Brahmans combination, Tilak urged sincerely that these three groups of Brahmans should give up caste exclusiveness by encouraging inter sub-caste marriages and community dining."}}</ref>
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| Starting in the 20th Century, the relations between the Deshastha Brahmins and the Chitpavan Brahmins have improved by the large-scale mixing of both communities on social, financial and educational fields, as well as with intermarriages.<ref>{{cite book|title=Caste, Prejudice, and the Individual|url=https://archive.org/details/casteprejudicein0000para|url-access=registration|page=[https://archive.org/details/casteprejudicein0000para/page/117 117]|author=A. C. Paranjpe|publisher=Lalvani Publishing House|year=1970|quote=It may also be pointed out that marriages between the Deshastha and Kokanastha Brahmins have been very common}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=r7KjBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA62|title=Tamil Brahmans: The Making of a Middle-Class Caste|author1=C. J. Fuller|author2=Haripriya Narasimhan|publisher=University of Chicago Press|access-date=11 November 2014|page=62|isbn=9780226152882|date=11 November 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2u88AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA105|title=Elites in South Asia|editor1=Edmund leach|editor2=S. N. Mukherjee| author= Gordon Johnson|publisher=Cambridge University Press|page=105}}</ref>
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| ===Diet===
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| Traditionally, Chitpavan Brahmins are [[vegetarian]]. [[Rice]] was their staple food.<ref>{{cite book|title=India's Communities, Volume 5|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=g9MVAQAAMAAJ|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=1998|page=1804,2079|quote=(quote on page 1804):The Chitpavan are vegetarian and rice is their staple cereal. (quote on page 2079): Among them the Chitpavan, Desastha, Karhade and Devdny Brahman are pure vegetarian though nowadays, they occasionally take non-vegetarian food.|isbn=9780195633542}}</ref>
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| ===''Bodan''===
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| A.J.Agarkar describes ''Bodan'' as follows and adds that some kind of dancing is also involved:
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| {{blockquote|In certain Chitpavan families, it is obligatory to perform bodan, after a birth or a marriage has taken place in the family. Four married women and an unmarried girl are invited to meals. A metal idol of the [[Annapurna (goddess)|Goddess Annapurna]] is placed in a plate containing all the items of the meals in small quantities. All the contents of the plate along with the idol are mixed together by the invited women and if any of them is in the habit of getting possessed on such occasions, or if anyone gets possessed for the first time, ghee, milk, honey, etc. are added to the mixture according to her instructions. The idol is afterwards removed and the mixture is fed to a cow.<ref name="Agarkar1950">{{cite book|author=A. J. Agarkar|title=Folk-dance of Maharashtra|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gw87AAAAMAAJ|year=1950|publisher=R. Joshi| pages=41,159}}</ref>}}
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| === Genealogy ===
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| The community has published several family history and genealogy almanacs called ''[[Kulavruttanta]]s''. These books usually document various aspects of a clan's history, name etymology, ancestral land holdings, migration maps, religious traditions, genealogical charts, biographies, and records of births, deaths and marriages within the clan.<ref>{{Cite journal|title=Chitpavan Brahmins, a history|journal=JSPUI|publisher=[[Pune University]]|pages=14, 15}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/155122029|title=Structure and change in Indian society|date=2007|publisher=AldineTransaction|others=Milton B. Singer, Bernard S. Cohn|isbn=978-0-202-36138-3|location=New Brunswick, N.J.|oclc=155122029}}</ref>
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| == Notable people ==
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| *[[Peshwa]] [[Balaji Vishwanath]] and his descendants, [[Bajirao I]], [[Chimaji Appa]], [[Balaji Bajirao]], [[Raghunathrao]], [[Sadashivrao Bhau]], [[Madhavrao I]], [[Narayanrao]], [[Madhavrao II]], and [[Bajirao II]]
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| *[[Nana Fadnavis]] (1742 - 1800), regent to Madhavrao II<ref>{{cite book|last1=Chaurasia|first1=R.S.|title=History of the Marathas|date=2004|publisher=Atlantic Publishers & Distributors|location=New Delhi|isbn=9788126903948|page=9|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=D_v3Y7hns8QC&pg=PR5}}</ref>
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| *The [[Patwardhan]]s - military leaders under the Peshwa<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iHK-BhVXOU4C&pg=PA174|title=The Marathas 1600-1818|first=Stewart|last=Gordon|date=1 February 2007|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=9780521033169|via=Google Books}}</ref> and later rulers of various [[princely states]]
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| *[[Balaji Pant Natu]] - spied for the British against the [[Peshwa]] era [[Maratha Empire]] and raised the [[Union Jack]] over [[Shaniwar Wada]].{{sfn|O'Hanlon|2002|p=27-28}}
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| *[[Lokhitwadi]] (Gopal Hari Deshmukh) (1823-1892)- social reformer<ref>KAVLEKAR, K., 1983. POLITICS OF SOCIAL REFORM IN MAHARASHTRA. Political Thought and Leadership of Lokmanya Tilak, p.202 [https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=NPLBbZSYXXEC&oi=fnd&pg=PA325]</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Gokhale: The Indian Moderates and the British Raj|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pI19BgAAQBAJ&pg=PA17|publisher=Princeton University Press|year=1977|page=17|author=Bal Ram Nanda|quote=His[Deshmukh's] family of Chitpavan Brahmans, one of the greatest beneficiaries of the Peshwa regime...|isbn = 9781400870493}}</ref>
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| *[[Nana Sahib]] (1824 – 1859) - adopted heir of the deposed Peshwa [[Bajirao II]] and one of the main leaders of the [[Indian Rebellion of 1857]]
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| *[[Vishnubawa Brahmachari]] (1825 – 1871) – 19th-century Marathi Hindu revivalist<ref>{{cite book |last1=Jones |first1=Kenneth W. |title=Religious Controversy in British India: Dialogues in South Asian Languages |date=January 1992 |publisher=SUNY Press |page=238 |isbn=9780791408278 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EmY9fsUTjwYC&q=vishnubawa+chitpavan |access-date=14 September 2020}}</ref>
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| *[[Mahadev Govind Ranade]] (1842–1901)<ref name="Oxford University Press"/> - judge and social reformer. Given the title of [[Rao Bahadur]].<ref name="Ranade1992">{{cite book|author=Mahadev Govind Ranade (Rao Bahadur)|title=The Miscellaneous Writings of the Late Hon'ble Mr. Justice M.G. Ranade|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Q55IAAAAYAAJ|year=1992|publisher=Sahitya Akademi}}</ref>
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| *[[Vishnushastri Krushnashastri Chiplunkar]] (1850 – 1882)<ref>{{cite book|last1=Wolpert|first1=Stanley A.|title=Tilak and Gokhale: Revolution and Reform in the Making of Modern India |date=April 1991|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=Oxford|isbn=978-0195623925|page=9}}</ref> - essayist, editor of ''Nibandha Mala'', a Marathi journal, educator, mentor to Bal Gangadhar Tilak and Gopal Ganesh Agarkar, founder of the Chitrashala press<ref>{{cite book|last1=Pinney|first1=Christopher|title=Photos of the gods : the printed image and political struggle in India|date=2004|publisher=Reaktion|location=London|isbn=9781861891846|page=48|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8hhXq7hpzSwC&pg=PA7}}</ref>
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| *[[Vasudev Balwant Phadke]] (1845 – 1883)<ref>{{cite book |last1=Bayly |first1=Susan |title= Caste, society and politics in India from the eighteenth century to the modern age|date=2000 |publisher= Cambridge Univ. Press |location= Cambridge [u.a.] |isbn=978-0-5217-9842-6 |edition= 1st, Indian |quote= The true nature of these groups, said fearful Bombay officials, had been revealed in 1879 in the response of the region's politically active intelligentsia to the actions of W.B.Phadke, a chitpavan ex-government clerk from Pune. |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=HbAjKR_iHogC&pg=PA236 |page=236}}</ref> - a petty government clerk in [[Pune]] who led an armed rebellion against the British. Later an Educator.<ref>{{cite book |last=Pinney |first= Christopher |title= Photos of the gods : the printed image and political struggle in India |date=2004 |publisher=Reaktion |location=London |isbn=978-1861891846 |pages=46–47 |quote= a petty government clerk in Poona, Vasudev Balvant Phadke, led an uprising that would anticipate the revolutionary terrorism that would come to mark India in the first half of the twentieth century. Like B.G. Tilak, Phadke was a Chitpavan brahman... |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=8hhXq7hpzSwC&pg=PA46}}</ref>
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| *[[Bal Gangadhar Tilak]] (1856 – 1920)<ref name="hansen" /> -Educator, Writer and Early Nationalist Leader with widespread appeal. Described by British colonial administration as the "Father of Indian Unrest"<ref name="The Congress 1961">Donald Mackenzie Brown"The Congress." The Nationalist Movement: Indian Political Thought from Ranade to Bhave (1961): 34</ref><ref>Stanley A. Wolpert, ''Tilak and Gokhale: revolution and reform in the making of modern India'' (1962) p ix</ref>
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| *[[Gopal Ganesh Agarkar]] (1856 – June 1895).<ref name="ReferenceA"/> journalist, educator and social reformer
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| *[[Keshavsut]] (Krishnaji Keshav Damle) (15 March 1866 – 7 November 1905) -Marathi language poet<ref>KESHAVSUT, PRABHAKAR MACHWE, Indian Literature, Vol. 9, No. 3 (JULY-SEPTEMBER 1966), pp. 43-51</ref>
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| *[[Dhondo Keshav Karve]](1858 – 1962)<ref name="University of California Press"/> - Social reformer and advocate of women's education
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| *[[Anandibai Joshi]] (1865 – 1887) - First Indian woman to get a medical degree from a university in the west - [[Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania]] - in 1886<ref>{{cite book|title=The White Woman's Other Burden: Western Women and South Asia During British Rule|author=Kumari Jayawardena|page= 104|publisher= Routledge|year=1995|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_DNpAwAAQBAJ&pg=PT104|quote=By the early 1880s, Indian women started to benefit from the opening of medical studies to women in Europe and the United States, the first being Anandibai Joshi (1865–1887), born in Pune to a Chitpavan Brahmin family. She was married (according to custom) when she was nine years old. In 1883, at age eighteen, she went to the United States (with her husband)and studied medicine at the Women's Medical College of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia where she graduated in medicine in 1886|isbn=9781136657146}}</ref>
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| *[[Gopal Krishna Gokhale]] (1866 – 1915)<ref>{{cite book|last1=Wolpert|first1=Stanley A.|title=Tilak and Gokhale: Revolution and Reform in the Making of Modern India |date=April 1991|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=Oxford|isbn=978-0195623925|page=2}}</ref> - Early Nationalist leader on the moderate wing of the Congress party
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| *[[Ramabai Ranade|Ramabai Mahadev Ranade]](1862-1925) - Woman Social Acitivist, Reformer, Founder of Seva Sadan [[Pune]] and Wife of [[Mahadev Govind Ranade|Justice Mahadev Govind Ranade]]
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| *[[Chapekar brothers]] (1873-1899),(1879-1899) - Brothers who assassinated British plague commissioner Walter Rand for his heavy handed approach to plague relief in Pune in 1897<ref>{{cite book|last1=Echenberg|first1=Myron|title=Plague ports : the global urban impact of bubonic plague,1894-1901|date=2006|publisher=New York Univ. Press.|location=New York [u. a.]|isbn=978-0-8147-2232-9|page=66|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=X4kUCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA66}}</ref>
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| *[[Gangadhar Nilkanth Sahasrabuddhe]], a social reformer, who, along with two other reformers- Chairman [[Surendranath Tipnis]] of the [[Mahad]] [[Municipality]] and A.V.Chitre, helped [[B. R. Ambedkar|Ambedkar]] during the [[Mahad Satyagraha]].<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uesABAAAQBAJ&pg=PT163|title=Dalit Women's Education in Modern India: Double Discrimination|author=Shailaja Paik|isbn=9781317673309|date=11 July 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite book | title=Dalits and the Democratic Revolution: Dr Ambedkar and the Dalit Movement in Colonial India|last1=Omvedt|first1=Gail|page=138|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=leuICwAAQBAJ&q=tipnis+ambedkar&pg=PT138|isbn=9788132119838|date=30 January 1994}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=The Doctor and the Saint: Caste, Race, and Annihilation of Caste, the Debate Between B.R. Ambedkar and M.K. Gandhi|page=129|author=Arundhati Roy|publisher=Haymarket Books|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=w1VeDgAAQBAJ&pg=PT129| quote=According to Teltumbde, “There was a deliberate attempt to get some progressive people from nonuntouchable communities to the conference, but eventually only two names materialised. One was Gangadhar Nilkanth Sahasrabuddhe, an activist of the Social Service League and a leader of the cooperative movement belonging to the Agarkari Brahman caste, and the other was Vinayak alias Bhai Chitre, a Chandraseniya Kayastha Prabhu. In the 1940s, Shasrabuddhe became the editor of Janata- another of Ambedkar's newspapers.|isbn=9781608467983|date=May 2017}}</ref>
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| *[[Narasimha Chintaman Kelkar]] (1872 – 1947)<ref>SRI NARASIMHA CHINTAMAN "ALIAS" TATYASAHEB KELKAR, K. N. Watve, Annals of the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, Vol. 28, No. 1/2 (January–April 1947), pp. 156-158, published by Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute [https://www.jstor.org/stable/44028058]</ref> - Writer, Journalist, Nationalist leader. Served on the [[Viceroy's Executive Council]] (1924–29).
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| *[[Aditya J Patwardhan]], Indian film director, producer, and scriptwriter.
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| *[[Ganesh Damodar Savarkar]] (1879 – 1945), founder of [[Abhinav Bharat Society]], Independence activist and brother of Vinayak Damodar Savarkar.
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| *[[Vinayak Damodar Savarkar]],<ref name="heidelberg-papers1"/><ref>{{cite book|editor-last1=Wolf|editor-first1=Siegfried |title=Heidelberg Student papers, Vinayak Damodar Savarkar:: Public Enemy or national Hero|date=2009|publisher=Heidelberg University|location=Dresden|isbn=978-3-86801-076-3|page=10|url=http://www.heidelberg-papers.net/uploads/media/41_-_Wolf__Siegfried_-_Vinayak_Damodar_Savarkar.pdf}}</ref> (28 May 1883 – 26 February 1966) Freedom fighter, social reformer and Formulator of the [[Hindutva]] philosophy. Popularly known as ''Veer Savarkar'' ("Brave" Savarkar).<ref name="McKean1996">{{cite book |author=Lise McKean |title=Divine Enterprise: Gurus and the Hindu Nationalist Movement |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OsI7Hy8H34YC&pg=PR72 |date=15 May 1996 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |isbn=978-0-226-56010-6 |page=72}}</ref>
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| *[[Senapati Bapat]] (12 November 1880 – 28 November 1967) - Prominent Indian freedom fighter who acquired title of Senapati meaning Commander.<ref>{{cite book|title=Portrait of a revolutionary: Senapati Bapat|publisher=Senapati Bapat Centenary Celebration Samiti|year=1981|page=2|author=Y. D. Phadke|quote=Among such young men initiated into revolutionary activities was Pandurang Mahadeo Bapat who later on became widely known as Senapati (General) Bapat. On 12 November 1880, Pandurang Bapat was born in a Chitpavan or Konkanastha Brahmin family at Parner in the Ahmednagar}}</ref>
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| *[[Dadasaheb Phalke]]- (30 April 1870 – 16 February 1944) Pioneer of Indian film industry<ref>{{cite book|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=Bl8No2_PJ8AC&pg=PA151|page=151|title = Gods in the Bazaar: The Economies of Indian Calendar Art|year=2007|publisher = Duke University Press Books|last = Jain|first = Kajri |isbn=978-0822389736}}</ref>
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| *[[Krushnaji Prabhakar Khadilkar]]-(25 November 1872 – 26 August 1948) Editor of Kesari and Navakal<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=p7nADwAAQBAJ&q=Khadilkar+Chitpavan&pg=PA222|title=The Myth of the Lokamanya: Tilak and Mass Politics in Maharashtra|author=Richard I. Cashman|publisher=University of California Press|access-date=25 September 2018|page=222|isbn=9780520303805|date=25 September 2018}}</ref>
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| *[[Vishnu Narayan Bhatkhande]] (1860 – 1936) - eminent maestro of Hindustani classical music<ref>Subramanian, L., 2000. The master, muse and the nation: The new cultural project and the reification of colonial modernity in India∗. South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies, 23(2), pp.1-32.</ref>
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| *[[Vishwanath Kashinath Rajwade]] (1863–1926) - Historian<ref>Kulkarni, A.R., 2002. Trends in Maratha Historiography: Vishwanath Kashinath Rajwade (1863–1926). Indian Historical Review, 29(1-2), pp.115-144.</ref>
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| *[[Pandurang Vaman Kane]] (1880-1972) - Indologist and Bharat Ratna awardee<ref>{{cite news |last1=Murthy |first1=A.V. Narasimha |title=Bharat Ratna P. V. Kane: An Embodiment of Dharmasastra |url=https://starofmysore.com/bharat-ratna-p-v-kane-an-embodiment-of-dharmasastra/ |access-date=16 May 2022 |work=[[Star of Mysore]] |date=13 November 2020}}</ref>
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| *[[Anant Laxman Kanhere]] (1891-1910) - Indian nationalist and revolutionary, hanged for the murder of British [[District Collector (India)|Collector]] of [[Nashik]], [[A. M. T. Jackson]] in 1910{{efn|Collector [[A. M. T. Jackson]], a Sanskrit scholar was affectionately called"Pandit Jackson".Kanhere murdered him for [[Ganesh Damodar Savarkar]]'s trial and an acquittal of a British Engineer in the death of a farmer caused by rash driving.<ref>{{cite journal|title=Organiser, Volumes 35-36|publisher=Bharat Prakashan|year=1983|quote=THE NASIK ASSASSINATION - By : Mrs. Sunanda Swarup ...Anant Kanhere, who actually killed Jackson, was a sixteen-year-old chitpavan Brahman youth...The whole episode will not be complete without mentioning about Jackson, who was assassinated. Ironically enough the records show that he was a popular Collector and liked by many. He was a Scholar of Sanskrit and was even known as Pandit Jackson. He was very fond of the theatre, dramas...Even On the eve of assassination, he had gone to watch the play “Sharada” which was organised in his honour}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Militant Nationalism in India and Its Socio-religious Background, 1897-1917|author=Bimanbehari Majumdar|year=1966|page=94|quote= On December 21, A. M. T. Jackson was murdered at Nasik by Anant Laxman Kanhere. Jackson was a learned Indologist. He contributed many interesting papers on Indian history and culture and was popularly known as Pandit Jackson. His fault was that he had committed Ganesh Savarkar to trial and acquitted an Engineer named Williams of the charge of killing a farmer by rash and negligent driving. He was not harsh in punishing people charged with sedition. W. S. Khare, a pleader of Nasik delivered some seditious speeches. Jackson ordered him to execute a personal bond of Rs. 2,000 and to be of good behaviour for one year with two substantial and respectable sureties of Rs. 1,000 each.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Sacred offerings into the flames of freedom|page=27|publisher= Vande Mataram Foundation|author=Pramod Maruti Mande|year=2005|quote=At that time an Englishman named Jackson was the Collector of Nashik District. A cruel man by nature, he greatly harassed the people. He used to hold public assemblies to hear the people's grievances, but this was just a show, meant to put a gloss on his despotic administration. There was no justice for the people. Rather, they were subject to great tyranny.}}</ref>}}
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| *[[Vinoba Bhave]]-(1895 – 1982), Gandhian leader and freedom fighter<ref name="Maloni99">{{cite book|editor1=Ruby Maloni|editor2=Mariam Dossal|title=State intervention and popular response : western India in the nineteenth century|date=1999|publisher=Popular Prakashan|location=Mumbai|isbn=9788171548552|page=87|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=t7f0JEWk6HMC&pg=PA87}}</ref>
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| *[[D. R. Bendre|Dattatreya Ramachandra Bendre]] (1896 – 1981) - Poet and writer in [[Kannada literature|Kannada language]]. Winner of the [[Jnanpith Award]]<ref>{{cite book|last1=Amur|first1=G.S.|title=Dattatreya Ramachandra Bendre (Ambikatanayadatta)|date=1994|publisher=Sahitya Akademi|location=New Delhi|isbn=9788172015152|page=7|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QaSWBH68NQYC&pg=PA7}}</ref>
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| *[[Narhar Vishnu Gadgil]]-(10 January 1896 – 12 January 1966) Congress leader and Member of Nehru's cabinet<ref name="Maloni99"/>
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| *[[Irawati Karve]] - (1905 – 1970), anthropologist<ref>{{cite book|title=Anthropology in the East: founders of Indian sociology and anthropology|url=https://archive.org/details/anthropologyinea00uber|url-access=registration|page=[https://archive.org/details/anthropologyinea00uber/page/367 367]|author1=Patricia Uberoi|author2= Nandini Sundar|author3=Satish Deshpande|year=2008|publisher=Seagull|isbn=9781905422784|quote= In this general atmosphere of reform and women's education, and coming from a professional Chitpavan family, neither getting a education nor going into a profession like teaching would for someone like Irawati Karve have been particularly novel.}}</ref>
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| *[[Nathuram Godse]]- (19 May 1910 – 15 November 1949) Mahatma Gandhi's assassin<ref name="damm2017">{{cite book|title=Gandhi in a Canadian Context: Relationships between Mahatma Gandhi and Canada|editor=Alex Damm|publisher=Wilfrid Laurier University Press|year=2017|page=54|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gETUDQAAQBAJ&pg=PT54|quote=Moreover, the two principal conspirators behind Gandhi's assassination, who were hung for their actions – Nathuram Godse and Narayan Apte – were both Chitpavan Brahmins from Maharashtra as was Savarkar, their ideological mentor. The Chitpavans had a long history of supporting violence against the alleged enemies of Brahminical Hinduism.|isbn=9781771122603}}</ref>
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| *[[Narayan Apte]] (1911 - 1949) - co-conspirator in the assassination of Gandhi.<ref name="damm2017"/>
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| *[[Gopal Godse]] (1919 – 2005) - co-conspirator in the assassination of Gandhi and [[Nathuram Godse]]'s younger brother.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Saffron Wave: Democracy and Hindu Nationalism in Modern India|author=Thomas Blom Hansen|year=1999|publisher=Princeton University Press|quote=Gandhi's assassin Naturam Godse, a Chitpavan brahmin from Pune, had been a member of the RSS for some years, as well as a member of the Hindu Mahasabha. In the early 1940s Godse left the RSS to form a militant organization, Hindu Rashtra Dal, aimed at militarizing the mind and conduct of Hindus, to make them “more assertive and aggressive” (interview with Naturam Godse's brother Gopal Godse, still a member of the Hindu Mahasabha, in Pune, 3 February 1993)}}</ref>
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| *[[Ramachandra Dattatrya Ranade]] (1886-1956) was an [[India]]n philosopher, spiritual leader, social revolutionary.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Schuler |first1=Barbara |title=Historicizing Emotions: Practices and Objects in India, China, and Japan |date=11 September 2017 |publisher=Brill |page=85 |isbn=9789004352964 |url=https://www.google.co.in/books/edition/Historicizing_Emotions_Practices_and_Obj/UPA0DwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Ramachandra+Dattatrya+Ranade+chitpavan&pg=PA85&printsec=frontcover |access-date=27 November 2020}}</ref>
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| *[[Pandurang Shastri Athavale]] (1920 - 2003) was an [[India]]n activist philosopher, spiritual leader, social revolutionary and religion reformist who founded the [[Swadhyaya Parivar]] (Swadhyaya Family) in 1954<ref>Nadkarni, M.V., 2009. Social change through moral development?. Journal of Social and Economic Development, 11(2), pp.127-135.</ref>
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| *[[Kashinath Ghanekar]] (1930 - 1986) - Marathi Actor and First superstar on Marathi Stage.{{citation needed|date=May 2019}}
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| *[[Madhuri Dixit]] (born 1967) - [[Bollywood]] actress<ref>{{cite news| url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/hindi/bollywood/news/Shah-Rukh-is-not-a-good-dancer-but-has-charisma-Madhuri/articleshow/20330177.cms|newspaper=Times of India|quote= Also, we both come from similar backgrounds and are Kokanastha brahmins and have had typical Maharashtrian upbringing that makes us culturally similar.|title=Shah Rukh is not a good dancer but has charisma: Madhuri}}</ref>
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| *[[Chintaman Ganesh Kolhatkar]] (12 March 1891 – 23 November 1959), also known as Chintamanrao Kolhatkar, was a well known Marathi stage actor, director, producer, and playwright. He was awarded *[[Sangeet Natak Akademi Award]] in 1957<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.librarymantra.in/listbooks.php?q=Q2hpbnRhbWFuIEdhbmVzaCBLb2xoYXRrYXI=&display=author|title=Chintaman Ganesh Kolhatkar | Library Mantra}}</ref>
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| == See also ==
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| * [[Deshastha Brahmin]]
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| * [[Karhade Brahmin]]
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| * [[Limaye]]
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| * [[Maharashtrian Brahmin]]
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| == References ==
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| '''Notes'''
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| {{notelist}}
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| '''Citations'''
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| {{Reflist}}
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| == Further reading ==
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| * {{Cite book|title=Origins of Chitpavan Brahmins|author=Deepak Gore|url=http://www.mediafire.com/view/a3alqr76te397e4/Origin_of_Chitpavans-v1.12-SECURED.pdf}}{{Dead link|date=July 2020 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}
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| * {{Cite book | title=By Ways of Bombay |chapter=Chapter XIV - A Konkan Legend | author=S. M. Edwardes | chapter-url = https://books.google.com/books?id=vw32HknckP0C | access-date = 3 July 2010 | isbn=978-1-4068-5154-0 | date=31 July 2009}}
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| * {{Cite book|title=Western India in the Nineteenth Century|author=Ravinder Kumar|year=1968|publisher=Routledge & Kegan Paul}}
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| *Chitpavans under the [[British Raj]]-{{cite book|last1=Singh|first1=R.|last2=Lele|first2=J.K.|title=Language and society : steps towards an integrated theory|date=1989|publisher=E.J. Brill|location=Leiden|isbn=9789004087897|pages=32–42|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1PLiAlGzLFQC&q=chitpavan}}
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| * {{citation| title=Caste, Conflict and Ideology: Mahatma Jotirao Phule and Low Caste Protest in Nineteenth-Century Western India|last=O'Hanlon|first=Rosalind|isbn=978-0-521-52308-0|series=Cambridge South Asian Studies|year=2002|publisher=Cambridge University Press}}
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| * {{citation|pages=78–105|title=Battles of the honourable East India Company: making of the Raj|isbn=978-81-313-0034-3|publisher=APH Publishing|year=2006|first=M.S|last=Naravane|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bxsa3jtHoCEC&q=9788131300343}}
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| * {{Citation|last= Śinde|first=J. R|title=Dynamics of cultural revolution: 19th century Maharashtra|year=1985|isbn=9780836415247|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=TtsiAAAAMAAJ}}
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| * {{Citation|title=Panipat: 1761, Volume 1 of Deccan College monograph series, Poona Deccan College of Post-graduate and Research Institute (India) Volume 1 of Deccan College dissertation series|last=Śejavalakara|first=Tryambaka Śaṅkara
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| |year=1946|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=y-A9AAAAMAAJ}}
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| * {{Citation|title=The Emergence of Indian Nationalism: Competition and Collaboration in the Later Nineteenth Century (Political change in modern South Asia)|first=Anil|last=Seal|isbn=978-0-521-09652-2|year=1971 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xV84AAAAIAAJ
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| }} | | }} |
| * {{Citation|title=Structure and Change in Indian Society|editor=Bernard S. Cohn, Milton Singer|first=Maureen|last=Patterson|isbn=978-0-202-36138-3|year=2007}}
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| * {{Citation|title=Elites in South Asia|first1=Edmund|last1=Leach|first2=S. N|last2=Mukherjee|isbn=978-0-521-10765-5|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=1970|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Gt6pPwAACAAJ}}
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| * {{Citation|last=Deccan College Post-graduate and Research Institute|journal=Bulletin of the Deccan College Research Institute|volume=8|title=Bulletin of the Deccan College Research Institute|year=1947|publisher=Dr. A. M. Ghatage, director, Deccan College Postgraduate and Research Institute|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5sM8AAAAMAAJ|lccn=47021378}}
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|
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| == External links ==
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| * [http://www.kokanastha.com Kokanastha.com]
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| {{Ethnic and social groups of Goa and the Konkan}}
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| [[Category:Brahmin communities of Maharashtra]]
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| [[Category:Konkani people]]
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| [[Category:Brahmin communities of Goa]]
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| [[Category:Social groups of Maharashtra]]
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| [[Category:Marathi people]]
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| [[Category:Vegetarian communities]]
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