Chandraseniya Kayastha Prabhu
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Chandraseniya Kayastha Prabhu (CKP) (Marathi: चांद्रसेनीय कायस्थ प्रभू) is the name of an social group from India. Technically, it is a sub caste of the Kshatriya caste.
Members of this community are mostly found in certain parts of Maharashtra in India. They are said to be one of the designated "brave helpers of Maharashtra" as proclaimed by Shivaji, the founder of the Maratha empire in his "Mala Ek Swapna Ahe" speech. Their origins are known to be in some of the most urban places in India including Mumbai, Thane, Nagpur, Pune, Kalyan, Nashik and some parts of the state Madhya Pradesh. Several forts controlled by these people have been discovered. This community is found mainly in old Kolaba District (now Raigad and Ratnagiri) and in Mumbai and Thane.
The community is also one of the small number who can be considered at par with Brahmins as they have been given the right to perform of Vedic rituals as priests. Roots of this community lie in Kashmir wherein their current location is a result of downfall of various kingdoms which were ruled or were resided in by the community's families (7th-8th Century A.D.) The last known migration was in 1305 A.D. wherein 42 families finally arrived in Maharashtra.
The presence of the CKP community was coveted by kingdoms as citizens or immigrants within India.[citation needed] The inclination of the community towards possession of knowledge and matters relating to that of the pen rather than the sword was the driving force for this.
Common last names are Thakre (Thackeray), Chitre,Bendre, Gadkari, Karnik,Karkhanis,Khale, Deshmukh,Chitnis,Kulkarni,Sule, Dighe, Pradhan, Gupte, Tamhane, Likhite, Raje, Bhise, Mokashi, Deshpande,Palkar and Nachane.
In actuality there are only 42 original last names that can be linked to the community which derive from the last surviving families that migrated to Maharashtra in 1305 A.D. The remaining surnames are derived from the 42 original last names and there is a possibility that there may have been other original last names but were lost as the families died.
The word 'Chandraseniya' by some historians is ascribed to the original home of the community in the valley of Chenab in Kashmir a river also known as Chandra in Sanskrit. It is said that the word 'seniya' is corruption of sanskrit 'shreni' menaing a group of people. Thus the term chandraseniya literally means the people of chandra or chenab.[citation needed]
The community still exists, and is one of the most charitable organizations in India's National Database of Archives. Recently, a community leader donated over $ 1 million for the Hurricane Katrina relief [citation needed]
[edit] Bibliography
Bendre, Dhananjay. "Migration of CKP's to Maharashtrha." Welcome to Bendre.net. 4 Jul 2006 [1].
