Konkan Maratha

Konkan Maratha or Konkana are konkani speaking Kshatriyas with their ancestreal homes in Karwar, Ankola, and Goa with surnames such as Naik/Nayak, Rane, Powar/Pawar, Savant, Gaonkar, Salunke, Desai, Phal, Aigal, NaikRane, Phaldesai etc

Origin and Ancestry

The Konkan Maratha community of the Uttara Kannada district is of course, an age-old community of those who belong to the warrior-classes with a history of its own, there is no doubt AbOUT it. But the question is: How old is it? And when, where, and how did it possibly originate? Is it an offshoot of some community that was there or elsewhere already? All these are pertinent questions which need in-depth study to trace the antiquity of the community. It is in fact easier finding out the source of a big river rather than tracing the origin of a community which unlike a river has certainly a social setting. For all these questions and for many more of this type, there cannot be any ready-made answers as such. The age-old social setting needs to be probed into adequate depths, interconnecting the events, documents, social practices, traditions, legends, etc., so that a fairly reliable picture of the antiquity of the community gets evolved. As far as the antiquity of the Kshatriya Konkan Maratha community is concerned, the first and foremost question that should confront the researchers is the name itself by which the community is addressed. Why should the name of the community have as many as three words in it? Is it an accident? Or a machination of the shrewd brain? Or they simply do not mean anything? Or do they signify some important milestones of the historical evolution of the community itself? Or is it due to something else? All these questions of course, need minute consideration.

As far as the study is basically concerned with the antiquity of the community, it is but natural that the present enquiry should centre round some dates of important historical events, documents, etc., primarily. Considered from this point of view it will be in the fitness of things to choose only a few dates of historical importance and verify if those have any bearing on the origin and ancestry of the Kshatriya Konkan Maratha community. Accordingly the following four dates only of historical importance have been chosen for consideration: 1.Shivaji’s conquests of Shiveshwar Mahal and around (Karwar area) – 1665 A.D. to 1675 A.D. 2.Muhammad Gavan’s conquest of the fort of Shringarpur in Ratnagiri district of Maharastra and around – 1471 A.D. 3.The period of the devastating invasions of Goa by Malik Kafur in 1313 A.D. and Muhammad-bin-Tughluk in 1327 A.D. and the upheavals in Goa and around thereafter in the 14th century A.D. and 4.The date mentioned in the Sadashivgad Copper Plates available with the Kadamba family of Deva-wada (Sadashivgad) – 14th October, 1179 A.D. A little earlier, a question had arisen as to why there are as many as three words in one name. Do these three words namely 1) Kshatriya 2) Konkan and 3) Maratha represent three different concepts altogether in the evolution of the Kshatriya Konkan Maratha community? If they do so, how much and how far was the impact of these concepts separately as well as collectively on the growth of the community as a whole? The next question would however, be to ascertain if the four important dates mentioned above had a role of their own in the origin and evolution of the three basic concepts namely of 1)the Kshatriya 2) the Konkan and 3) the Maratha.

The oldest of all the four important historical dates cited above, being the date mentioned in the Sadashivgad Copper Plates, it will be proper, chronologically speaking, to start the deliberations with it, first, and thus the researchers are obliged to go as far back as the 12th century A.D. to trace the origin and ancestry of the Kshatriya Konkan Maratha community. It may be recalled here that the celebrated Kadambas of Goa, who were the feudatories of the Chalukya Emperors of Kalyani or Kalyan as it was also called, were the descendants of the royal dynasty of the Banavasi Kadambas who according to the Talagunda inscription of the fifth century A.D. were Brahmanas devoted to the study of the Vedas whose founder Mayursharma in the process of getting anointed as the king of Banavasi changed over the warrior profession – from Brahmanas to Kshatriya – which made those belonging to the Kadamba dynasty known as Brahma-Kshatriyas. It would be pertinent to note here that the Goa Kadamba king Vijayaditya Deva II who ruled from 1176- 77 A.D. to 1187-88 A.D. in whose name the 12th century Sadashivgad Copper Plates stand., was the son of the greatest of the Goa Kadambas Jayakeshi Deva II and his celebrated queen Mailala Devi who happened to be the daughter of the greatest of the Kalyan Chalukyas Vikramaditya VI. But unfortunately the reign of Vijayaditya Deva II was marked by three severe set backs by way of defeats firstly at the hands of Kalachuryas, then the Hoysalas, and lastly the Kadambas of Hanagal. Thus, the rule of Goa Kadambas under him went on becoming very much weakened. Under such circumstances, it is quite likely that a very important member of the Kadamba dynasty of Goa – some Kadamba – Deva – must have managed to carve out for himself away from the main scene, a small principality comprising of the southernmost part of the Konkan namely the Sadashivgad area as a sub-ruler probably with the consent of the Kadamba king of Goa and also by the favor and blessings of the Chalukya Emperor of Kalyan who exercised the power of suzerainty over the Goa Kadambas. The tradition of paying homage to Kalyan-Purush at the Poorva (East) by the Kadambas of Deva-wada at the time of Deva-Parab (festival) and such other important occasions perhaps symbolizes and perhaps supports this view. The Desai's of Mudageri too, who are considered as the descendants of a scion of Deva-wada Kadambas who under emergent circumstances left off Sadashivgad for good and settled afresh at Mudageri dissociating completely from the family deity of the Deva-wada Kadambas, changed their allegiance and accepted Shri Kalyan-Purush as their own family deity. This also perhaps, impliedly is symbolic of the overall suzerainty of the Kalyan Chalukyas over the Kadambas. Coming back to the preservation of the 12th century A.D. Sadashivgad Copper Plates as an heirloom by the Deva-wada Kadambas, it must be said that the gift of land as mentioned in the plates, was to Purohit Govindacharya who was well-versed in the science of astronomy and most probably was chosen by the Kadamba-Deva the sub-ruler at Deva-wada (Sadashivgad) as his Raj-Purohit in his mini-court. In any case, it is quite perceptible that such Copper Plates with royal seal cannot be expected to be the property of any ordinary person. Being highly important royal documents, such important plates could be the preserves of very important members of the royal family.

Thus, it is conjecturable that an important Kadamba-Deva descended down from Goa to Sadashivgad through the sea-route along with valuables and referential and introductory royal documents concerning the area.

The strategic island where from this Kadamba-Deva reached the Sadashivgad beach and the hamlet where he resided with his retinue were called as Devagad, Deva-bag, and Deva-wada respectively and of course the get-together of the Kadamba couples was called as Deva-Parab. This Brahma-Kshatriya Kadamba family in accordance with the Vedic prescriptions was undergoing the Upanayan Sankar without exception. Even today the Thread Ceremony (Munji) is compulsorily observed and the Samuhik Sharavani is observed every year both at Sadashivgad as well as at Mudageri. These descendants of the royal dynasty of the Goa Kadambas probably became the nucleus of the present day Kshatriya Konkan Maratha community and thus slowly started to attract a number of princely families, chieftains, and military generals, etc., of the warrior-classes whereby the isolation of the Kadamba family steadily, but surely began to come to an end. The matrimonial alliances with the few princely families around must have marked the beginning of the formation of the Kshatriya Konkan Maratha community.

At this initial stage perhaps, this community was simply termed as Brahma-Kshatriyas because of the overall impact of the royal family of the Kadambas. But its seems that the Kadambas felt hereditarily nostalgic about their Konkan. Here it may be recalled that Jayakeshi Deva I had declassed himself as the “Sovereign of the Konkan” and Jayakeshi Deva II had declared himself as the Emperor of Konkan – Konkan Chakravarti and further even his son Peramadi Deva the elder brother of Vijayaditya Deva II had also declared himself as the “Konkan Chakravarti.” Even the Saptakoteshwar temple of Diwar-Narva built by queen Kamala Devi, the wife of Peramadi Deva, was called as “Konkan Kashi”.

Karwar

Karwar is 520 kms west of Bangalore. Karwar has one of the most beautiful beaches in the country which is said to have inspired Tagore to pen his first drama. The drive of 160 km from Hubli takes one through hills first and valleys covered with dense tropical jungles and plenty of wildlife. The Kalindi river flows through the town into Arabian Sea. Motor launches are available for boating up to the Kali river. Karwar is also known for its fine muslin. The muslin industry was started in 1638 by Sir Willam Counten who had opened a factory here.

You can make boat trips up the spectacular Kali Nadi from the bridge three km north of town. A stroll to the bridge to witness the sunset and the spectacular shades of light in the surrounding Ghats is about as exciting as the local entertainment get.

Famous Personalities

Rama Raghoba Rane