Prabhu Communities

• Chandraseniya Kayastha Prabhu (popularly known as CKP)
• Pathare Prabhu
• Drauv Prabhu also known as Kanchole Prabhus or Pathare Prabhu Kanchole

The CKPs and Pathare Prabhu are one of the subdivisions of Prabhu community along with Davane prabhus were later included in CKPs.{{cite book |author=Vijaya Gupchup |title=Bombay: Social Change 1813-1857 |page=166,180,184,185,186 |quote=(page 166,185)The other intellectual class, the Prabhus were once again subdivided in the Chnadraseniya Kayastha Prabhu and the Pathare Prabhus}} Along with the Saraswat, Deshastha and Chitpawan they have been considered as an "advanced caste" due to similarities in education and occupational status.{{cite book |author=Kumar Suresh Singh |title=India's communities-Anthropological Survey of India, VolumeIV |publisher=Oxford University press |year=1998 |page=635 |quote=[ckp].. superior to the three other divisions namely Pathare Prabhus, Davaned Prabhu and Dhauv Prabhu}}{{cite book |title=Society and Politics in India: Essays in a Comparative Perspective|author= André Béteille|year= 1991|publisher=Athlone Press|quote= Although the Chandraseniya Kayastha Prabhu are non-Brahmins, they rank very high and might be regarded as being socially proximate to the Koknastha Brahman.|page=48}}{{cite book | title=Growing Up in an Urban Complex | author= Champa Aphale | year =1976| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nBYFAAAAMAAJ&q=C.k.P| page= 5| publisher=National Publishing House|quote=advanced castes among the maharashtrians viz. Brahmins. In this groups were also included families belonging to the chandraseniya Kayastha Prabhu besides the three subscastes among the brahmins, viz. Kokanastha Brahmins, Deshastha Brahmins and Saraswat Brahmins. The reason for this was that, though non-Brahmins, these C.K.P. families were very much near the Brahmin families as regards their educational and occupational status.}}{{cite book | title= Book Contradictions and Conflict: A Dialectical Political Anthropology of a University in Western India (Studies in Human Society, Vol 9)|author= Kurtz Dr, Donald V|page=68|year=1997|isbn=9004098283| quote=... CKPs. They represent a small but literate and ritually high caste.}}

The Chandraseniya Kayastha Prabhu (CKP) and Pathare Prabhu are considered intellectual classes (other than Brahmins) and have been advanced in education. Both have vedic upanayana (thread ceremonies or 'munj' in marathi) and their 'vedokta' or rights to study of Vedas and perform Vedic rituals has been formally approved by the Brahmin councils and ratified by the Shankaracharyas based on shastras. In case of Pathare Prabhus the formal approval was given by the Shankaracharya of Shingeri and in the case of CKPs by Brahmin councils of Pune, Banares, Bajirao II and the Shankaracharya of Karvir and Sanakareshwar Math (a Deshastha Brahmin).{{cite journal | title = The American Economic Review - Volume 96, Issues 3-4 |page = 1228 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RC6yAAAAIAAJ&q=pathare|publisher = Nashville, Tenn. American Economic Association | year=2006 |quote= High castes include all the Brahmin jatis, as well as a few other elite jatis (CKP and Pathare Prabhus).Low castes include formerly untouchable and backward castes (Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and Other Backward Castes, as defined by the government of India). Medium castes are drawn mostly from the cultivator jatis, such as the Marathas and the Kunbis, as well as other traditional vocations that were not considered to be ritually impure.}}{{cite book|title=The Making of History: Essays Presented to Irfan Habib (Anthem South Asian Studies)|year=2002|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ejrBraqBaLQC&pg=PA197|publisher=Anthem Press|page=197|editor1=Utsa Patnaik|editor2=Terence J. Byres|editor3=K. N. Panikkar|isbn=9781843310389}}{{cite book|title=Religion and Society in Maharashtra|editor=Milton Israel and N.K.Wagle|publisher=Center for South Asian Studies, University of Toronto, Canada|year= 1987}}{{efn|name=fn2|quote on page 173:Rajvadyanchi Gagabhatti appendix 4, pp-1-21. The Shankaracharya's letter contains three documents which he produces verbatim, two from Banares Brahmins (1779, 1801) proving the CKPs vedokta and one from Pune Brahmins award Ratified by Bajirav II in 1796.}}{{cite book |title = India's communities | author = KS Singh| page= 2083| year =1998|publisher=Oxford University Press| quote=..the Chandraseniya Kayastha Prabhu observe the thread-wearing (janeu) ceremony for male children. They cremate the dead and observe death pollution for ten days.}}{{cite book |title=Agrarian structure, movements & peasant organisations in India, Volume 2 | url= https://books.google.com/books?id=UuJFAAAAYAAJ&q=prabhu,pathare|page=29|author = Sulabha Brahme, Ashok Upadhyaya|publisher = V.V. Giri National Labour Institute|year=2004|quote= Besides Brahmins, the other communities advanced in education are Kayastha Prabhu, Pathare Prabhu found mainly in the...|isbn = 9788178270647}}{{excessive citations inline|date=March 2019}}

The Drauv (or Dhurus) are also known as Kanchole Prabhus. It is said that they were part of the Pathare Prabhu community but were excommunicated for disobeying caste rules. The Kacholes made several attempts and appeals to the Pathare Prabhu caste to accept them back. The first was made in 1836, the second and third in 1881. In November 1881, 38 gentlemen from the Pathare Prabhu community confirmed the Kanchole's "purity of blood", similar religious beliefs, similar gotras and characteristics and professions, similarity in writings, status etc. Despite these proofs they were not readmitted due to rigid 19th century rules regarding caste pollution.{{Explain|reason=Complete citation or quote is expected|date=February 2024}}

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Category:Ethnoreligious groups in Asia

Category:Marathi people

Category:Prabhu Communities of Maharashtra

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