Origin of CKP (Chandraseniya Kayastha Prabhu) Community:
Descendants of King Chandrasen, his son Kayastha and Kayastha’s son Somraj ruled Kashmir & most of central India. For people these kings were nice & next to god and hence were called as Prabhu.
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 Dalabhya mooni. Parshuram demanded mooni to hand over Ganga, but the mooni very wisely asked him to spare this pregnant women. Parshuram agreed to Mooni’s request and blessed her that the child born from her ‘ KAYA ” would be called KAYASTHA.
Parshuram said as his father’s kingdom has been destroyed; he and his ascendant would live with the help of sword and ink (Asijivi/Masijivi). This is a mythological story but all agree in saying that it means the descendents of the king Chandrasen who was the Kshatriya (warrior by profession ) king , 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.
In the 7th and 8th century, Kayasthas were in Kashmir and later they shifted from Kashmir to northern India and madhya bharat. The word Prabhu means supreme or powerful.
Migration of CKPs to Maharashtra
As we read the Origin of CKP’s is from Kashmir and North India. The Pandavas , Kauravas, Gupt Vansh are all Chandravanshis. Sometime during the advent of Budhism, the last CKP kingdom was lost and the community moved to Mandugadh where they held important positions in the court of the Parmars.
After Mandugadh fell to Allaudin Khilji, the Prabhus fled from Mandu. They went into Gujarat and they via sea landed in the Konkan strip where they made their homes. Totally 42 families came to Maharashtra in 1305.
In Maharashtra they were successful but faced lot problems from Brahmin Community, especially the Kokanastha Brahmins. Between 1400 and 1900 Brahmin’s layed Gramanyas i.e. Boycott on them. Each time the CKP families got various proofs of they being Prabhu’s, including letter from Shankaracharya.
The most famous example is when Mr.Balaji Avji Chitnis wanted to perform the Thread ceremony ( Munj ) on his son. Brahmins did not allow him saying ” Prabhu’s are not Brahmins and are from lower caste, hence thread ceremony cannot be performed on them”. Mr.Chitnis got letter from then Shankarachaya Vidhanrusingha Bharati from Karvir Peeth, in year 1913, which said “Prabhu’s are Rajanya Kshatriyas (Royal warriors)”. Only Rajanya Kshatriyas are allowed to do thread ceremony, so though Maratha’s are Kshatriyas thread ceremony is not performed on them. Only exceptions were Bhonsale’s who were decedents of Sisodia Royal family of Rajasthan.
The Letter written by Shankaracharya can be found in office of Bombay Gazzette.