Pathare Prabhu

Pathare Prabhu as they are known is one of the Hindu communities in the city of Mumbai (formerly known as Bombay). These people are among earliest settlers in the city. They are known to have one of the oldest academic traditions amongst Hindus on par with Brahmins. That is shown in the two charts given below. Throughout the generations, despite their tiny number, the Pathare Prabhu Community has a great impact in the form of many eminent civic leaders, doctors, engineers, judges, actors/actresses, architects, solicitors, industrialists, orators, stage & film artists, musicians and philanthropists. They were amongst the first of the Hindus to adopt to British educational practice and be well educated in it. They never treated women badly but offered complete freedom, occasionally even sending them to study in foreign universities. They advocated widow re-marriage, an act considered a taboo in the orthodox Hindu society of those times and they were amongst the first in abolishing hunda custom. Generally they are well mannered and believe in principle of mutual respect while behaving with other people.

History

According to their own detailed chronicled lineage, they trace their descent much further back in Indian History from King Ashwapati (circa 700.B.C ) who was a monarch of Nepal and from the solar lineage of Lord Ram. Amongst Pathare Prabhu families 12 families belong to solar line and 17 to lunar line. Solar from Lord Ashwapati and lunar from Lord Kamapati probably the king of Kamarup or present day Assam. Pururavas being one of the prominent ancestors from the lunar side. And so this community has both solar and lunar lineages unlike other Kshatriya clan . As we see that both the kingships were close to each other geographically intermarriages were possible amongst them and so eventually that became one community of royal lineage. The name of community 'Pathare Prabhu' probably derived from plateau of Nepal since plateau is called pathar in local terms. Lords of the plateau was the original name which changed to other ellipsis such as, Pattan Prabhu, Patara Prabhu, and Patharia Prabhu . However, they are not now in vogue any more.

A legend goes that Risi Bhrugu cursed lord Ashwapati because he did not take cognizance of the Risi during one religious ceremony and according to that the descendants of Ashwapati were to loose their kingship and shall be reduced to petty clerks in the Kaliyug. According to the legend Risi Bhrugu condemned his progeny to be called as Pattan Prabhu in place of Pathare Prabhu; Pattan means defeated . According to the records Pathare Prabhu rulers were at Ayodhya and from there they went to Paithan and from there to Konkan. These records show that the people of this community eventually spread across the country and settled in many kingdoms as nobles. It appears from the later history of this community that the curse came to be true. They began to loose their power as monarchs and gradually; were reduced to petty lords of small regions; many were accepting courtier-ship of other rulers. Having natural talent as administrators they were welcome as nobles in many dynasties to manage those kingoms. At that, eventually they became nobles in the court of many rulers from other parts of India such as Pratihara of Rajasthan and Yadav of Deccan.

They inherited Rajput/Kshatriya aristocracy from the Pratihara dynesty where they worked as honorable nobles. From the regions of North India and Rajasthan, after the Turkic attacked and subdued the Pratihara rulers around the 12th and 13th centuries AD, some families migrated to Mumbai and other regions in Maharashtra via Prabhas Pattan in Gujarat. Gentlmen from this community of Pathare Prabhu also held important position in the court of Yadav kings of Deogiri. After fall of Yadav dynasty at the hands of Alauddin Khilji; members of Pathare Prabhu community decided to return under the stewardship of King Bimba to Mumbai region along with their Yajurvedi Brahmins where other families had already settled. During Pesewa rule of Maratha dynasty some difference appeared within the Pathare Prabhu landlords and the Pesewa. That made people of this community to go under the protection of Portuguese and later on under East India Company. Finally most of the families of this noble community settled in the islands of Mumbai for safekeeping under East India Company. They were no more Lords but still held large lands as landlords. Here again they held important positions such as judges and translators for the erstwhile British Raj.

They were associated with Raja Bhimdev who ruled over the islands of Mumbai and during British times, many members of this community were absorbed in the administrative and official departments of the British Government.

Members of this community built many landmarks of Mumbai such as, Mahalaxmi Temple in central Mumbai, Bhau-cha-dhakka (Ferry Wharf), Gora Ram Mandir & Kala Ram Mandir at Thakurdwar, Prabhadevi Mandir at Dadar, Shri Ram Mandir at Kalbadevi, Kirtikar Market at Dadar.

Culture

Pathare Prabhu middleclass gentleman of nineteenth century.

Pathare prabhu middleclass housewife of nineteenth century.

Culture of any society has two aspects called Intrinsic and Extrinsic. Intrinsic aspect shows mannerism and styles of etiquettes of behaving with other people. Extrinsic aspect shows the performing achievements of the society and in that contribution in art and science of the members of that society are seen. This includes performance in drama, cinema, dance, music etc. Pathare Prabhus community has intrinsic culture different from that of other high pedigree communities. These other normally high pedigree communities show disregard, contempt to people of other communities. They talk arrogantly, insultingly to show off their high heritage and ensuing superiority. They behave well only with people of their standard. On the other hand, in spite of havng a very highly placed pedigree individuals of Pathare Prabhu community are generally soft spoken and humble even while dealing with people of lower class, sub-ordinates, servants, and dependents, that is the whole mark of the intrinsic culture of this community. On the whole superiority complex is conspicuous by absence in behavior of Pathare Prabhu individuals. About extrinsic culture of this community one can say that it is same as that of other people from Maharashtra and India.

Pathare Prabhu are Known for their love for cuisine, arts, religion and philosophy. The population of this community is today dwindling in Mumbai due to strict adherence to family planning, however a non-conservative estimate of their numbers is around 7000. By virtue of being a highly educated, broad-minded and well mannered community, the Pathare Prabhus are enjoying highly placed jobs in various businesses and banks. In general they make a lovable boss in places where they work. The most unfortunate part is that in the environment of Majority rule, they being a micro minority, cannot create a telling position in the country's development. As such many prefer to immigrate for better opportunities to UK, USA, Canada, New Zealand, and to gulf.

The Pathare Prabhus are a few of the oldest residents of Mumbai and are instrumental in giving Bombay the prominent status. Hence the Pathare Prabhus enjoy a special position in the History of this great city of Mumbai. They were amongst the pioneers in the formation of Mumbai and contributed much to the formation and growth of the city at its incipient level.

The Pathare Prabhus owned places like Fort, Palav Road (present Girgaum Road), Laini (present Princess Street), Girgaon Back Road (present V. P. Road) & Navi Wadi. Likewise places in Malad, Goregaon, Bhayendar, Kashi-Meera, Uttan, Uran, Kelve Mahim (now Mahim), Chene were also owned by them. A major part of present day Khar is still owned by the Pathare Prabhus.

When the social reforms movement started in Bombay, in the mid nineteenth century, young literate Pathare Prabhus were part of the Paramhansa Sabha (present Prarthana Samaj). In fact, for many years its officiating person was Shri Ramchandra Balkrishna Jaykar. Some other distinguished personalities are; the founder and president of the Townhall Asiatic library (first native general library of Bombay) was Shri Raobahadur, Narayan Dinanath Velkar, Magistrate Raobahadur Nana Moroji Trilokekar (first native Magistrate), Bhujangrao Mankar (father of Marathi & Gujarati shorthand) & Gajanan Bhaskar Vaidya (first Hindu Missionary), the list continues.

The Pathare Prabhu Community has always been known for their luxurious style of living. The typical Pathare Prabhus nick-name is 'Sokaji', meaning one who wants to enjoy life. The true nature of their richness comes from the way they preserve and carry out their traditions. Clannish, traditional and religious, yet at the same time, preserving modern outlook.

Even though a large number of inter-caste marriages are taking place in this community, they have maintained their characteristic culture intact.

Temples Built by Pathare Prabhus

Prabha Devi (Shakhambari Devi) Temple

Prabha Devi Road
Down the road form Siddhivinayak is the 285-year- old Prabhadevi temple that lends its name to the locality. Built in 1715, this 18th century temple has a very interesting history behind it.

Maheshwaridevi Temple (Family Goddess of the Mankars)

Navi-Wadi
Approximately since 1848 the place where the temple stands today and the area behind it belonged to Shri Ramchandra Raghunathji Trilokekar. The northern corner of the temple contains a phallus shaped mound which is supposed to be the self-raised idol of the Maheshwaridevi.

Maheshwaridevi Temple

Rajasthan
The genesis of worship of mother-goddess can be traced to the remote past. The earliest extinct depiction of a group of Matrikas (Divine mothers) in Indian sculpture may be pushed back safely to the Kushana period. This cult, however, became popular during the Gupta and subsequent periods.

Notable people

Mukundrao Ramrao Jayakar noted jurist, scholar and statesman played a vey crucial role in the freedom fight of India and is honoured by epithet, builder of Modern India. He was instrumental for formation of University of Pune and was founder vice-chancellor of that University.

Raobahadur Narayan Dinanath Velkar was instrumental for Central library at Town Hall Bombay, The Bombay Association which finally culminated in The National Congress in 1885. He was one of the native commissioner along with three English gentlemen to look after welfare of the town of Bomay which was in course of time converted in present day Municipal Corporation of Mumbai.

Today's Prominent Pathare-Prabhus include but are not limited to:

• Suresh Vijaykar
• Atul Vijaykar
• M.V.Jaykar
• Pramod Navalkar
• Smita Jaykar
• Shreyas Talpade
• Mahesh Kothare
• Nikhil Dhurandhar
• Pradeep Khanderao Vijayakar
• Chandradatt Bholanath Navalkar (C.B. Navalkar)
• Late Vihang Nayak
• Kunal (Shrikrishna Keshavrao) Vijayakar
• Jayshree Talpade (Jayshree T)
• Meena Talpade / Meena Navalkar (Meena T)

List of Pathare Prabhu Last Names

This chart 1 shows details of ancient academic tradition of families of lunar lineage. Over the time some Kirtikar families took last name, Agaskar and some Anandkar took last name, Vaidya.

This chart 2 shows details of ancient academic tradition of families of solar lineage. Over the time some Nayak families took last name, Dalvi and some Desai took last name, Zaoba.

Ajinkya	Agaskar	Brahmandkar	Dalvi	Desai
Dhurandhar	Gorakshakar	Jayakar	Kirtikar	Kothare
Navalkar	Nayak	Prabhakar	Pradhan	Rane	Ranjit
Rao	Senjit	Talpade	Trilokekar	Vazkar	Dharadhar
Velkar	Vijayakar	Vyavaharkar	Zaoba	Mankar	Dhairyawan

English translation of Chart1 and Chart2 and explanation

This thumb contains English translation of Chart 2 above for non Indian readers

This thumb contains meanings of various terms used in the charts given here for the benefit of English readers.

This thumb contains English translation of Chart 1 above for the non Indian readers.

Notes

1. Dr.Motiram Balaram Velkar
2. Dr.Krishnarao Ganpatrao Dhairyawan

External links

• The Pathare Prabhu Community Website
• An interesting description of pathare prabhu culture as experienced by Helena Blavatsky in the 18th century.

References

• Pattanprabhu Lekhamani by Shamrao Moroji Nayak (1862)
• Scundhapuraana
• Sahyadrikhanda
• Shree Bhrugu sumhita
• Ganesh Puran
• The Pathare Prabhu Directory 1997, published by The Pathare Prabhu Charities