Thursday, September 3, 2009

Ancient History of CKP Community

Descendants of King Chandrasen, his son Kayastha, and Kayastha's son Somraj, ruled Kashmir and most of central India. Chandrasen, son of great King Sahastrararjun, was killed by Parshuram (The great warrior, in order to fulfill his wish to kill every Kshtriya on earth). Chandrasen's pregnant wife Ganga / Kamala took asylum with the mooni, Dalabhya. Parshuram demanded that Dalabhya hand over Ganga, but Dalabhya very wisely and with forethought asked him to spare the pregnant Ganga. Parshuram granted Dalabhya's request and blessed the child to be born from her and named it as "KAYA" who would in time be called "Kayastha." Parshuram then declared that because his father's kingdom had been destroyed, he and his descendants would live by means of the sword and ink (Asijivi/Masijivi). Although this is a obviously a mythological tale, it is generally agreed that the Kayasthas are the descendants of the king Chandrasen who was the Kshatriya king (warrior by profession), the son of Sahastrararjun of the Haiyaya family.
Another point is tribes of kaya province are Kayastha. The province kaya means Ayodhaya. According to Mr. H.S. Wilson (1819), Kayastha means the Supreme Being, the writer caste born of Kshatriya father and Shudra mother. The word Prabhu means supreme or powerful. As we read the Origin of CKP's is from Kashmir and North India. The Pandavas, Kauravas, and Gupt Vansh are all Chandravanshis. Institute of population studies comments after recent research findings that people from Indus basins from Mohenjedaro-Harrapa were freely using poppy seeds in the food preparations which is the case of CKPs who use poppyseeds liberally among all communities in Maharashtra-Gujarat in their foodpreperations. But kayastha community located in Ganga basin differs with CKP as Kayasthas from Ganga basin were not aware of use of poppy seeds in food preparations may be due to geographical reasons. May be the climatic changes occurred in Indus valley civilisation after 1 st political-economical migration of Kayasthas took place so climate later on became favourable for growing & use of poppy seeds for use in food preparations. As per United Nations study about community migrations CKPs had its origin from Indus valley, this community always being in administrative & professional services of subsequent rulers were located dispersely in Indus basin covering Kashmir-Punjab-Sind-Baluchistan. Kolis-Agris-Bhandaris who trace their origin from Baluchistan-Sind-Gujrat-Konkan are following common rituals of worshipping goddesses as CKPs, worshipping goddesses is essential part of Dravidian culture as per findings from Mohenjedaro-Harrapa. Indus Valley had trade links with coastal Gujrat(Lothal-Khambat)-Kutch(Dwarka)-Konkan(Nalasopara-Kalyan-Chowl) also with civilizations from Nile & Euphrates river basins. Early exposure to this foreign culture through traders while conducting administration in Indus valley civilization CKPs started observing rituals distinct from Brahminical rituals& CKPs continued administrative jobs for new rulers even after Indus valley kingdoms were overrun by Persians-Kushans & Arabs .

6 comments:

  1. The account by H.S. Wilson about Kayasthas being derived from Kshatriya father and Shudra mother is highly misleading.

    To put the record straight, this description is only about the Bengali Kayasthas (and not to be applied to North Indian or Maharashtrian Kayasthas), ..... and it represents the ugly war between Brahmins and Kayasthas in Bengal, where Brahmins, in medieval India, created a two-tier varna system in Bengal and promulgated that all non-Brahmin castes are Sudras. They then reinvented 'origin' myths of all the non-Brahmin castes, including the Kayasths ... in order to justify their denegration, and that accounts for the 'Sudra' mother mythology.

    The Bengali Kayasthas are mostly originally Brahmins, especially the Nagar Brahmins from Gujarat ... and Mohayal Brahmins from Punjab who migrated to Bengal, long ago and became Kayasthas at a time when Kayasthas were a Brahmin sub-sect.

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  2. I am enjoying the fact that I can learn about our heritage and learn about You & Bengal. Thanks for the Kayastha Blog.

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  3. Are kayasthas and baidyas are same castes?

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  4. My father use to tell us that prabhu ram is our ancestor.

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  5. My father use to tell us that prabhu ram is our ancestor.

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  6. Maharashtrian CKP of Dharampur Wants Details of CKP Dharampur District Valsad,Gujarat.

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