Kulkarni

Kulkarni is a family name native to the Indian state of Maharashtra and parts of Karnataka. The name "Kulkarni" is a combination of two words (kula and karni). Kula means "family", and Karanika means "archivist". Historically, Kulkarni was the title given to the village record keeper.[1]

As per the historian P.J. Marshall, Kulkarni were specialized scribes who "served great households and enhanced other, familiar, administrative mechanisms at their disposal".[2]

History

Before British rule, the Maharashtra region was divided into many revenue divisions. The medieval equivalent of a county or district was the pargana. The chief of the pargana was called Deshmukh and record keepers were called Deshpande.[3][4] The lowest administrative unit was the village. Village society in Marathi areas included the Patil or the head of the village, collector of revenue, and Kulkarni, the village record-keeper. These were hereditary positions. The Patil usually came from the Maratha caste. The Kulkarni was usually from literate communities such as Brahmin (mainly from Deshastha[5][6] and the Karhade sub-castes[7]) and CKP castes. The Kulkarni operated at the village level but at a pargana level, the recordkeeper had titles such as Deshkulkarni, Deshpande, or Nadkarni (in Karnataka).[8][9][10][11] The Kulkarni watans (land rights) were abolished in 1950.[12]

Notable Kulkarni

Saints

  • Dnyaneshwar: Pre-sainthood name Dnyandev Kulkarni (1275–1296)
  • Eknath: Pre-sainthood name Eknāth Kulkarni (1533–1599)
  • Samarth Ramdas: Pre-sainthood name Narayan Kulkarni (Thosar) (1608–1681)
  • Nivruttinath: Pre-sainthood name Nivrutti Kulkarni, elder brother and teacher of Dnyaneshwar
  • Sopan: Pre-sainthood name Sopan Kulkarni
  • Muktabai: Pre-sainthood name Mukta Kulkarni
  • Mahipati: Chronicler of many Indian saints, author of the Bhaktavijaya (1715–1790)

Historic figures

Entertainment

Literature

Sports

Professionals

See also

References

  1. ^ J. Bloch (1970). Formation of the Marathi Language. Motilal Banarsidass Publ. pp. 318–. ISBN 978-81-208-2322-8.
  2. ^ P. J. Marshall (2005). The Eighteenth Century in Indian History: Evolution Or Revolution?. Oxford University Press. p. 69. ISBN 978-0-19-567814-7. Scribal specialists , kulkarni and deshpande , served great households andĵiñɓñɓ⁵vfðणञघजूईखीका आ अआआककचपत पर यd he da se⁶to 233ç ɓ655n enhanced other , familistic , LMK ac c da þ56t$ñĥbbñn
  3. ^ Gordon, Stewart (1993). The Marathas 1600-1818 (1. publ. ed.). New York: Cambridge University. pp. 22, xiii. ISBN 978-0521268837.
  4. ^ Ruth Vanita (2005). Gandhi's Tiger and Sita's Smile: Essays on Gender, Sexuality, and Culture - Google Books. Yoda Press, 2005. p. 316. ISBN 9788190227254.
  5. ^ A. Rā Kulakarṇī (2000). Maharashtra: society and culture. Books & Books. p. 74. ISBN 9788185016580. However, the rural areas were still dominated by the Deshasthas, another sub-caste of the Brahmins. The Kulkarni generally belonged to the rural-based Deshastha community, even under the Chitpavan rule.
  6. ^ Irina Glushkova; Rajendra Vora (eds.). Home, Family and Kinship in Maharashtra. Oxford University Press. p. 118. The wada tells us of a story of three generations of a family called Deshpande who belong to the Deshastha Brahmin caste. ....Spread all over Maharashtra as a result of this process, Deshastha Brahmans held, in particular, the office of Kulkarni.
  7. ^ Bryan Sharpe (1973). Bombay Teachers and the Cultural Role of Cities. University of California, Berkeley. p. 106.
  8. ^ Deshpande, Arvind M. (1987). John Briggs in Maharashtra: A Study of District Administration Under Early British rule. Delhi: Mittal. pp. 118–119. ISBN 9780836422504.
  9. ^ "Unknown". The Illustrated Weekly of India. Vol. 91, no. 3. Bennett, Coleman & Company. July 1970. p. 12. Generally speaking, excepting names such as Kulkarni, Thackerey, Chitnis, Deshmukh, Deshpande, which are common to many communities in Maharashtra, a C.K.P. can be recognised by his surname.
  10. ^ "The Quarterly Review of Historical Studies - Volume 8". Institute of Historical Studies. 1969: 44. The accountant of the Village was simply known as 'Kulkarni' and that of the Pargana or smaller areas was called Deshkulkarni, or Deshpande, or Nadkarni (in the Karnatak)...As work required the incumbent to be a literate man, he was generally a [Brahmin] or a [Chandraseniya] Kayastha Prabhu by caste {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  11. ^ B. G. Tamaskar (1978). The Life and Work of Malik Ambar. Idarah-i Adabiyat-i Delli.
  12. ^ "The Bombay Paragana and Kulkarni Watans' (Abolition) Act 1950" (PDF). Bombay High Court. Retrieved 13 November 2014.