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Kulkarni

Indian family name From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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Kulkarni is a Marathi Brahmin surname common amongst Deshastha Brahmins, the CKP community, and Karhade Brahmins of Maharashtra. “Kulkarni” is also a Brahmin surname in a few parts of northern 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, both Kulkarni and Deshpande were specialized scribes who "served great households and enhanced other, familiar, administrative mechanisms at their disposal".[2]

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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]

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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)

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References

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