Chitpavans

Chitpavans : from the fact that the Peshwa belonged to their tribe are historically the most important of Poona Brihmans. They are returned as numbering about 11,600 and as found over the whole district. Besides Chitpavans they are called Chitpols and Chiplunas. Of these names Chitpavan is said to mean either pure from the pyre, chita or pure of heart chith, and Chitpol is said to mean heart-burners. It seems probable that these names, like the third name Chiplunas, come from the town of Chiplun in Ratnigiri, their chief and original settlement whose old name is said to have been Chitpolan.

Since 1715, when Peshwa Balaji Vishvanath rose to be the chief man in the Maratha state, the Chitpavans have also been known as Konkanasths, that is the chief Konkan Brahmans. Their worship of Parashuram, the slayer of the Kshatriyas and the coloniser of the Konkan, on Pamshuram hill close to Chiplun, the fact that they are called Parashuram srishti or Parashuram's creation, and the meaning pure from the pyre which the sound of their name saggests, to some extent explain the curious legends of which they are the subjects. According to the Sahyadri Khand, Parashuram was so defiled by the slaughter of the Kshatriyas that Brahmans refused to perform any ceremonies for him. At that time the bodies of fourteen shipwrecked foreigners happened to be cast ashore by the sea which then washed the foot of the Sahyadri hills.

These corpses Parashuram purified by, burning them on a funeral pyre or chita, restored them to life, taught them Brahman rites, and made them perform ceremonies to free him from blood-guiltiness. Parashuram wished to reward his new priests, and as the Deccan had already been given to Brahmans he prayed the sea to spare him some of his domain. The sea agreed to retire as far west as Parashuram could shoot an arrow from the crest of the Sahyadris. The arrow was shot and reclaimed a belt of land about thirty miles broad. The banks of the Vashishthi, about forty miles north of Ratnagiri, were set apart for the new Brahmans, and in memory of the process by which they had been purified they were called Chitpavans and their settlement Chitpolan. After establishing this colony Parashuram retired to Gokarn in North Kanara. Before leaving he told the Brahmans, if they were ever in trouble, to call on him, and he would come to their aid.

After a time,fearing that they might be forgotten, one of the Brahmans feigned death and the rest called on their patron to come to their help. Parashuram appeared, and, disgusted with their deceit and their want of faith, told them that they would lose the power of meeting in council and would become servile. Accordingly they are said to have married Shudra women and become degraded. The historic value of this legend is hard to estimate.

The writer of the Sahyadri Khand was hostile to other local Brahmans as well as to the Chitpavans. He dishonours the Karhade Brahmans by a story that they are descended from the bones of a camel which was raised to life by Parashuram. This story, probably, arose from a play of the words khara an ass and had a bone. The explanation has nothing to do with the Karhades who are almost certainly a Deccan tribe who take their name from the town of Karhad in Satara at the sacred meeting of the Koina and Krishna rivers. As the two stories are so similar it seems probable that the Chitpavans were called after the old settlement of Chitpolan, and that the resemblance of that word to chita a pyre suggested some parts of the legend.

At the same time it seemi probable that the Chitpavans did not, like the bulk of Konkan Brahmans, enter the Konkan by land. Their fair complexion, the extent to which they use the Konkan dialect in their homes and the, legend of their arrival as shipwrecked sailors seem to show that they came into the South Konkan from beyond the sea. Whether they were foreigners is doubtful. The legend of the shipwrecked sailors being foreigners or mlenchhas is to some extent supported by, the low position which the Chitpivans formerly held along Brahmans, and by the commonness among them of light or, gray eyes.

The Chitpavans have a tradition that they came from Amba Jogai, in the Nizam's country about 100 miles north of Sholapur. They say that they were originally Deshasths and that fourteen Brahmans of different family-stocks accompanied Parashuram to the Konkan and settled at Chiplun. These fourteen family-stocks belonged to two branches or shakhas, Shakala and Titiriya. The sutra or ritual of the Shakala branch is that composed by the seer Ashvalayan and of the Titiriya branch is that of the seer Hiranyakeshi. They pay homage to the goddess Jogai or Yogeshvari of Amba, and, wherever they are settled, build a temple in her honour. At Poona there are two temples to Yogeshvari, one-red and the other black. Among Chitpivans Yogeshvari takes the next place to Ganpati. Before marriage and other ceremonies they go to her temple with music and ask her to come and be with them during the ceremony.

Until the rise of Balaji Vishvanath Peshwa, who belonged to their class, the Chitpivans held a low position and were known chiefly as spies or harkas. Even after several generations of power and wealth, with strict attention to Brahman rules, the purer classes of Brahmans refused to eat with them, and it is said that when Bajirav, the last Peshwa (1796-1818), was at Nasik he was not allowed to go down to the water by the same flight of steps as the priests. Whatever disqualifications may in theory attach to the Chitpavans, their present social and religious position is as high as that of the Karhade or any other branch of Deccan Brahmans.

Chitpavans have no subdivisions. All eat together and intermarry except families who have the same or an akin family-stock. Among the common surnames or adnavs are Abhyankar, Agashe, Athavle, Bal, Bapat, Bhagvat, Bhat, Bhave, Bhide, Chitale, Damle, Dugle, Gadgil, Gadre, Jog, Joshi, Karve, Kunthe, Lele, Limaye, Londhe, Mehendale, Modak, Nene, Ok, Patvardhan, Phadke, Ranade, Sathe, Vyas. The names of some of their family-stocks or gotras are Atri, Babhravya, Bharadvaj, Gargya, Jamadagnya, Kapi, Kashyap, Kaundinya, Kaushik, Nityundan, Shandilya, Vashistha, Vatsa, and Vishnuvriddha.

Many families, though settled for generations in the Deccan still call themselves Konkanasths and differ considerably from Deshasths. Many of them can be recognized by their gray or cat eyes, their fair skin, and their fine features. The Poona Chitpavan speaks pure Marathi. As many of the owners are rich and most are well-to-do, Chitpavan houses are generally comfortable and well kept. The house is generally built round a central plot or yard and is-entered through a gateway or passage in one of the outer faces of the building. From the inner court a few steps lead to the veranda or oti, for the house is always raised on a plinth or jote three or four feet high.

In the veranda straugers are received, boys and girls play, a clerk or agent spreads his account-books, or the women of the house swing and talk. The ground floor has four to seven rooms, a centre Hall., & back veranda, and the second storey has four rooms and two great halls; the walls are of brick and mortar and the roof is tiled. The woodwork is either of teak or of common timber. A rich house costs £.500 to £.1000 (Rs.5000-10,000) to build, a middle class house £.200 to £.300 (Rs.2000-3000), and a poor house £.30 to £.50 (Rs.300-500).

The furniture in a rich man's-house is worth about £.400 (Rs. 4000), in a middle-class house about £.90 (Rs. 900), and in a poor house about £.16 (Rs. 160). Few families have a large enough store of cooking and eating, vessels to entertain the whole company of guests called to a caste-dinner or Brahman-bhojan..