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Chitpavan Brahmin
The Chitpavan Brahmin or the Kokanastha 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 Karnataka-Maharashtra region. 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-Maratha wars, Chitpavans were one of the Hindu co ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Konkan
The Konkan is a stretch of land by the western coast of India, bound by the river Daman Ganga at Damaon in the north, to Anjediva Island next to Karwar town in the south; with the Arabian Sea to the west and the Deccan plateau to the east. The hinterland east of the coast has numerous river valleys, riverine islands and the hilly slopes known as the Western Ghats; that lead up into the tablelands of the Deccan. The Konkan region has been recognised by name, since at least the time of Strabo, in the third century CE. It had a thriving mercantile port with Arab tradesmen from the 10th century onwards. The best-known islands of Konkan are Ilhas de Goa, the site of the Goa state's capital at Panjim; also, the Seven Islands of Bombay, on which lies Mumbai, the capital of Maharashtra & the headquarters of Konkan Division. Definition Historically, the limits of Konkan have been flexible, and it has been known by additional names like " Aparanta" and "Gomanchal", the lat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shivaji
Shivaji I (Shivaji Shahaji Bhonsale, ; 19 February 1630 – 3 April 1680) was an Indian ruler and a member of the Bhonsle dynasty. Shivaji carved out his own independent kingdom from the Sultanate of Bijapur that formed the genesis of the Maratha Empire. In 1674, he was formally crowned the ''Chhatrapati'' of his realm at Raigad Fort. Shivaji offered passage and his service to the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb to invade the declining Sultanate of Bijapur. After Aurangzeb's departure for the north due to a war of succession, Shivaji conquered territories ceded by Bijapur in the name of the Mughals. Following his defeat at the hands of Jai Singh I, the senior most general ("Mirza (noble), Mirza Raja") of the Mughal Empire, in the Battle of Purandar, Shivaji entered into vassalage with the Mughal empire, assuming the role of a Mughal chief and was conferred with the title of ''Raja (title), Raja'' by Aurangzeb. He undertook military expeditions on behalf of the Mughal Empire for a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Raigad District
Raigad district (), previously Colaba fort, Colaba district, is a district in the Konkan division of Maharashtra, India. The headquarters of the district is Alibag. Other major cities in the district are Panvel, Karjat, Navi Mumbai, Khopoli, Shrivardhan and Mahad. The district was renamed to Raigad fort, Raigad after the fort that was the first capital of the former Maratha Empire, which in turn was renamed from its earlier name - Rairi. The fort is located in the interior regions of the district, in dense forests on a west-facing spur of the Western Ghats of Sahyadri Range. In 2011 the district had a population of 2,634,200, compared to 2,207,929 in 2001. The name was changed in the regime of Chief Minister A. R. Antulay on 1 January 1981. In 2011 urban dwellers had increased to 36.91% from 24.22% in 2001. Alibag is the headquarters of Raigad district. Raigad district's neighbouring districts are Mumbai, Thane districts on North, Pune district on East, Satara district on South ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bene Israel
The Bene Israel (), also referred to as the "Teli, Shanivar Teli" () or "History of the Jews in India, Native Jew" caste, are a community of Jews in India. It has been suggested that they are the descendants of one of the Ten Lost Tribes via their ancestors who had settled there centuries ago. Starting in the second half of the 18th century, after they were taught about normative Sephardi Jews, Sephardi Judaism,Benjamin J. Israel, ''The Jews of India'', Centre for Jewish and Inter-faith Studies, Jewish Welfare Association, New Delhi, 1982, p. 29: "While the present Orthodox Bene Israel ritual conforms to the Sephardi prayer books, there is one peculiarity which is unique to the Bene Israel,... the ''malida'' ceremony. On every occasion for thanksgiving a special home service is held, the central feature of which is the singing of a hymn... commemorating the prophet Elijah... followed by the recital of blessings over a concoction of parched rice, shredded coconut, raisins and spi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kulavruttanta
A Kulavruttanta or a Kul-vrttant (; IAST: Kula-vr̥ttānta; ), is a genealogical almanac and biographical dictionary, a format of genealogical record keeping predominantly found in the Indian state of Maharashtra. History Kulavruttantas are categorically published by family name, or surname, and are usually in Marathi. They usually document various aspects of that particular family's history, heraldry, the etymology of their name, ancestral land holdings, migration maps, and religious traditions. The genealogical charts are usually sectioned based on each ''gharana'', or branch, of the family; these are then followed by biographies of individuals within those gharanas; and followed finally by indices of births, deaths and marriages within the family. Kulavruttantas have been historically attributed to the genealogical history of Chitpavan brahmins. The Bhat family, during their rule of the Maratha confederacy, are usually credited for commissioning surveys and censuses of C ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gaud Saraswat Brahmin
Gaud Saraswat Brahmins (GSB) (also Goud or Gawd), also known as Shenvis are a Hindu community of contested caste status and identity. They primarily speak Konkani and its various dialects as their mother tongue. They claim to be Saraswat Brahmins who initially migrated to Konkan from Gaud, per Puranic accounts. Upon moving out of Goa during Portuguese occupation, their claims of Brahminhood were rejected both to the north of Goa, by the Deshastha, Chitpavan and Karhade Brahmins of Maharashtra, and to the south, by the Nambudiri Brahmins of Kerala. The GSBs were traditionally traders and even as early as the 1400s they conducted commerce across the Indian Ocean. In the Maratha empire, they also served as administrators. Etymology There are many interpretations on how the Gaud Saraswat Brahmins received the name "Gaud" and the information about it is scant. Authors Jose Patrocinio De Souza and Alfred D'Cruz interpreters that the word ''Gauda'' or ''Goud'' may have been tak ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Karhade Brahmin
Karhaḍe Brahmins (also spelled as Karada Brahmins or Karad Brahmins) are a Hindu Brahmin sub-caste mainly from the Indian state of Maharashtra, but are also distributed in states of Goa, Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh. Based on Veda and Vedanta Karhade Brahmins are essentially Rigvedi Brahmins who follow the Ashwalayana Sutra and belong to Shakala Shakha. Karhade Brahmins are divided into two groups based on the Vedanta they follow, the first of which follows the Advaita Vedanta of Adi Shankara and the second of which follows the Dvaita Vedanta of Madhvacharya. Hence, Karhade Brahmins have both Smarthas and Madhvas (also known as ''Bhagvats'' or Vaishnavas) among them. Like their Deshastha counterparts, traditionally the karhade allowed cross-cousin marriages. ;Sub-division and other claims There are three divisions of Karhade Brahmins - Karhade (from Desh), Padye and Bhatt Prabhu (from Konkan). "Padhye" was a further division of "Padye" - and were Khots or farmers. T ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Deshastha Brahmin
Deshastha Brahmin is a Hinduism, Hindu Brahmin caste, subcaste mainly from the Indian state of Maharashtra and North Karnataka. Other than these states, according to authors K. S. Singh, Gregory Naik and Pran Nath Chopra, Deshastha Brahmins are also concentrated in the states of Telangana , Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh Historian Pran Nath Chopra and journalist Pritish Nandy say, "Most of the well-known saints from Maharashtra, Karnataka and Combined Andhra Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh were Deshastha Brahmins". The mother tongue of Deshastha Brahmins is either Marathi language, Marathi or Kannada language, Kannada. Over the millennia, the Deshastha community has produced Mathematicians such as Bhāskara II, Sanskrit scholars such as Bhavabhuti, Satyanatha Tirtha, Satyadharma Tirtha; Bhakti movement, Bhakti saints such as Dnyaneshwar, Eknath, Purandara Dasa, Samarth Ramdas and Vijaya Dasa; polemical logician such as Jayatirtha and non-polemical scholar such as Raghuttama Tirth ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vishnu
Vishnu (; , , ), also known as Narayana and Hari, is one of the Hindu deities, principal deities of Hinduism. He is the supreme being within Vaishnavism, one of the major traditions within contemporary Hinduism, and the god of preservation (sattva). Vishnu is known as ''The Preserver'' within the Trimurti, the triple deity of Para Brahman, supreme divinity that includes Brahma and Shiva.Gavin Flood, An Introduction to Hinduism' () (1996), p. 17. In Vaishnavism, Vishnu is the supreme Lord who creates, protects, and transforms the Hindu cosmology, universe. Tridevi is stated to be the energy and creative power (Shakti) of each, with Lakshmi being the equal complementary partner of Vishnu. He is one of the five equivalent deities in Panchayatana puja of the Smarta tradition of Hinduism. According to Vaishnavism, the supreme being is with qualities (Saguna Brahman, Saguna), and has definite form, but is limitless, transcendent and unchanging absolute Brahman, and the primal Atma ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Parashurama
Parashurama (), also referred to as Rama Jamadagnya, Rama Bhargava and Virarama, is the sixth avatar among the Dashavatara of the preserver god Vishnu in Hinduism. Hindu tradition holds him to be the destroyer of the evil on Earth. According to legends, Shiva advised him to go and liberate the Mother Earth from felons, ill-behaved men, extremists, demons and those blind with pride. He is described as one amongst the ''Chiranjivi, Chiranjivis'' (Immortals), who will appear at the end of the ''Kali Yuga'' to be the guru of Vishnu's tenth and last incarnation, Kalki. Born to Jamadagni and Renuka, the Brahmin Parashurama was foretold to appear at a time when overwhelming evil prevailed on the earth. The Kshatriya class, with weapons and power, had begun to abuse their power, take what belonged to others by force and tyrannise people. He corrected the cosmic equilibrium by destroying these Kshatriyas twenty-one times (leaving some lineages). He is married to Dharani, an incarnatio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Skanda Purana
The ''Skanda Purana'' ( IAST: Skanda Purāṇa) is the largest '' Mukhyapurāṇa'', a genre of eighteen Hindu religious texts. The text contains over 81,000 verses, and is of Shaivite literature, titled after Skanda, a son of Shiva and Parvati (who is also known as Murugan in Tamil literature). While the text is named after Skanda, he does not feature either more or less prominently in this text than in other Shiva-related Puranas. The text has been an important historical record and influence on the Hindu traditions and rituals related to the war-god Skanda. The earliest text titled ''Skanda Purana'' likely existed by the 8th century CE, but the ''Skanda Purana'' that has survived into the modern era exists in many versions. It is considered as a living text, which has been widely edited, over many centuries, creating numerous variants. The common elements in the variant editions encyclopedically cover cosmogony, mythology, genealogy, dharma, festivals, gemology, temples ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sahyadrikhanda
''Sahyādri-khaṇḍa'' is a Sanskrit-language text, notable for containing the founding myths of several Brahmin communities of south-western India. The text claims to be a part of the ''Skanda Purana''. It is actually a collection of disparate texts that date from 5th to 13th centuries, and have been organized as part of a single text relatively recently. The text glorifies the Shenvis (identified as Sarasvatas), and slanders their traditional rivals, such as the Chitpavans and the Karhades. Historically, the text's authenticity was a matter of debate among Brahmins, with some using it to assert the Brahmin status of the Shenvis, while others - especially Chitpavans - denouncing it as a fabricated Puranic text. History The ''Sahyadri-khanda'' existed by the 13th century, as Hemadri's ''Chatur-varga-chintamani'' (mid-13th century) quotes its fragmnets. German academic Alexander Henn, citing Stephan Hillyer Levitt and João Manuel Pacheco de Figueiredo, describes the ''Sa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
