Marathi People - Castes and Communities

Castes and Communities

Marathi people form an ethno-linguistic group that is distinct from others in its language, history, cultural & religious practices, social structure, literature and art. However, there are many different castes & communities, with diversified traditions of their own. All Communities respect the Warkari movement which started in around 13th century. The feudal Marathas caste make up more than 35% of the Marathi Hindu demographics. The 96 kulin Marathas are Kshatriya Warriors who established the Maratha Empire. They are mostly in Government jobs, Social Servie and Film Industry. Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj,Yashwantrao Chavan,Lalita Pawar,Pratibha Patil,Sharad Pawar,Prithviraj Chavhan,Rajanikanth, Late Vilas Rao Deshmukh,Late Smita Patil,Sandip Patil, Kimi Katkar,Riteish Deshmukh

The farming Maratha-Kunbi community accounts for the largest agricultural and political group in the Maharashtra region. The Maratha-Kunbi community is now the dominant political group in Maharashtra region.

The Marathi Brahmins, although they make up only 4% of the Marathi population, have made the greatest contribution to the culture of Maharashtra. They are divided into six groups - Deshastha, Chitpavan, Devrukhe, Karhade, Saraswat and Daivadnya. Sant Dnyaneshwar(2deshasta yajurvedi), the Peshwa kings (Chitpavan),Tatya Tope,Lokmanya Tilak (Chitpavan),Veer Savarkar,Gopal Krishna Gokhale,Chapekar Brothers, Gururaj Deshpande and Jagannath Shankarshet (Daivadnya) are notable Brahmins from history. Sachin Tendulkar(Saraswat), Manohar Joshi ( Deshastha) and late Madhav Sadashiv Golwalkar (Karhade),Ravi Shastri,Dilip Vengsarkar,H.M. Nerurkar (MD,TATA Steel),Dhawal Kulkarni, Atul Kulkarni,Jayant Narlikar, Ragunath Anant Mashelkar are Brahmins from either contemporary times or recent history.Marathi Brahmins gave many writers,poets,sportsmen,scientists and mathematicians to the country.Most of the freedom fighters from Maharashtra were Brahmins.Vasudeo Balwant Phadke,the first freedom fighter of India was a Marathi Brahmin.

Other Notable Brahmins are Madhukar Dattatraya Deoras,Dadasahab Phalke,Lata Mangeshkar,Sachin Tendulkar,Sunil Gavaskar, Asha Bhosle,Savitri Khanolkar,Kishori Amonkar,Suresh Wadekar.Ashutosh Gowarikar,Sonali Bendre,Ashok Saraf,Nitin Gadkari,P.L.Deshpande,are few noted members of this community.

Dhangar is one of the prominent communities in Maharashtra. The rulers of Indore Maratha state, Malharrao Holkar and his successors such as Ahilyabai Holkar, Yashwantrao Holkar belonged to this community. The community is divided in categories such as Hatkar, shegar, ahir, dange, kokani etc. The commnnity is included in the Nomedic Tribe(N T)section by Government of India.

There are several other Sutar (carpenter caste), Sonar (swarnakar), Teli (oil presser), Gurav ( temple priests ) and Nabhik (Barber). These communities fall under the OBC category. Other communities like the Bhavsars from the region of Nasik, Malis and Koshtis are more prosperous than people from other areas of India.

Most Marathi Hindu castes have a patron saint who belonged to the same caste. All of these saints were part of the bhakti tradition. The list of the saints includes Savata Mali ( Mali caste), Sena Nhavi (barber caste), Chokha mela (mahar caste), Namdeo (tailor/Bhavsar/Namdev Shimpi), and Gora Kumbhar(potter caste).

Chandraseniya Kayastha Prabhu (CKP for short) is a well-educated Kshatriya-Kayastha community,very much similar to Brahmins. Members of this community competed with Brahmins for clerical and administrative positions under Maratha & British rule.However today ,the relations between CKP and Brahmins are very good .Bal Thakre(a CKP)made Manohar Joshi (a Brahmin) the Chief Minister . Baji Prabhu Deshpande, C.D. Deshmukh and the Thackeray family are the noted historic and contemporary members of the CKP caste .

Pathare prabhu is another enterprising and educated Marathi Hindu community mainly based around Mumbai.

There are two distinct Christian Communities in Maharashtra; one is East Indians & concentrated in and around Mumbai, for example in Konkan districts of Thane and Raigad. Portuguese missionaries brought Catholicism to this area during 15th Century. Second are Marathi Christians who are Protestants and are found in many Parts of Maharashtra but concentrated mainly in the districts of Ahmednagar & Solapur. Protestantism was brought to these areas by American and Anglican Missionaries during 19th Century. Marathi Christian have largely retained their pre-Christian practices.

Other groups include Konkani Muslims. Marathi Muslims from the Konkan region have retained many of their preconversion practices including the Marathi language. Other Muslims in Maharashtra tend to identify with the Islamic culture of North India and mostly speak an Urdu dialect called Dakhni.

There is a small sikh community as well. They are called DAKHANI SIKH or Maharashtrian Sikh. They migrated from the Punjab and settled In Maharashtra about 300 years ago. They came to south with their tenth Guru Govind Singh who visited Nanded of Maharashtra In 1708. They are mostly concentrated In Nanded, Aurangabad, Nagpur and Mumbai. They are fluent in the Marathi language and only a few know Punjabi.