Peace Is Doable

Chitpavan

These Chitpavans felt out of place with the Indian social reform
movement of Phule and the mass politics of Gandhi. Large numbers of the
community looked to Savarkar, the Hindu Mahasabha and finally the RSS.
Gandhi’s assassins, Narayan Apte and Nathuram Godse, drew their
inspiration from fringe groups in this reactionary trend.

The Bene Israel claim that Chitpavans are also of Jewish origin.

Chitpavan immigrants began arriving en masse from the Konkan to Pune
where the Peshwa offered all important offices to his fellow castemen.
The Chitpavan kin were rewarded with tax relief and grants of land.
Historians cite nepotism and corruption as causes of the fall of the
Maratha Empire in 1818. Richard Maxwell Eaton states that this rise of
the Chitpavans is a classic example of social rank rising with political
fortune.The haughty behaviour by the upstart Chitpavans caused
conflicts with other communities which manifested itself as late as in
1948 in the form of anti-Brahminism after the killing of Mahatma Gandhi
by Nathuram Godse, a Chitpavan.

Nathuram Godse

The Peshwa rule forced untouchability treatment on the Mahars. As a
result Mahars served in the armies of the East India company On 1
January 1818 in the Battle of Koregaon between forces of the East India
Company and the Peshwa, Mahars soldiers formed the biggest contingent of
the Company force. The battle effectively ended Peshwa rule.

Battle of KoregaonBattle of Koregaon

Part of Third Anglo-Maratha War

A 28,000-strong force led by Peshwa Baji Rao II whilst on their way to attack the company-held Pune, were unexpe…

Untouchability

The term is commonly associated with treatment of the Dalit communities, who are considered “polluting” among th…

Mahar

Role in Indian politics

After the fall of the Maratha Empire in 1818, the Chitpavans lost their
political dominance to the British. The British would not subsidize the
Chitpavans on the same scale that their caste-fellow, the Peshwas, had
done in the past. Pay and power was now significantly reduced. Poorer
Chitpavan students adapted and started learning English because of
better opportunities in the British administration.

Some of the
prominent figures in the Hindu reform movements of the 19th and 20th
centuries came from the Chitpavan Brahmin community. These included
Dhondo Keshav Karve, Justice Mahadev Govind Ranade,Vinayak Damodar
Savarkar Gopal Ganesh Agarkar,Vinoba Bhave.

Some of the strongest
resistance to change came from the very same community. The vanguard
and the old guard clashed many times. D. K. Karve was ostracised. Even
Tilak offered penance for breaking caste or religious rules. One was for
taking tea at Poona Christian mission in 1892 and the second was going
to England in 1919.
The Chitpavan community includes two major
politicians in the Gandhian tradition: Gopal Krishna Gokhale, whom
Gandhi acknowledged as a preceptor, and Vinoba Bhave, one of his
outstanding disciples. Gandhi describes Bhave as the “jewel of his
disciples”, and recognised Gokhale as his political guru. However,
strong opposition to Gandhi came from the Chitpavan community. Vinayak
Damodar Savarkar, the founder of the Hindu nationalist political
ideology Hindutva, was a Chitpavan Brahmin and several other Chitpavans
were among the first to embrace it because they thought it was a logical
extension of the legacy of the Peshwas and caste-fellow Tilak,.These
Chitpavans felt out of place with the Indian social reform movement of
Phule and the mass politics of Gandhi. Large numbers of the community
looked to Savarkar, the Hindu Mahasabha and finally the RSS. Gandhi’s
assassins, Narayan Apte and Nathuram Godse, drew their inspiration from
fringe groups in this reactionary trend.

Gopal Krishna Gokhale

Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh)

Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh

A rare group photo of six initial swayamsevaks taken on the occasion of a RSS meeting held in 1939^[30]

Narayan Apte

Narayan Dattatraya Apte (1911 – 15 November 1949) was an Indian activist and entrepreneur who was executed for h…

Akhil Bharatiya Hindu Mahasabha

A group photo taken in Shimoga in 1944 when Vinayak Damodar Savarkar
(seated fourth from right, second row) came to address the State-level
Hindu Mahasabha conference. The late Bhoopalam Chandrashekariah,
president of the Hindu Mahasabha State unit, is seated to Savarkar’s
left.

The organisation was formed to protect the rights of the Hindu community in British India, after the formation o…

Hindutva

Many Indian social scientists[1] have described the Hindutva movement as fascist, adhering to the concept of hom…

Vinayak Damodar SavarkarVinayak Damodar Savarkar

Savarkar’s revolutionary activities began while studying in India and England, where he was associated with the …

Gandhism

The term “Gandhism” also encompasses what Gandhi’s ideas, words and actions mean to people around the world, and…

Chitpavan

Chitpavan

Bene Israel

Bene Israel

In the early part of the twentieth century, many Bene Israel became active in the new film industry, as actresse…

Bene Israel
Not to be confused with Bani Isra’il or Beta Israel.
Bene Israel Beni-israel-india-2.jpg
Languages
Traditionally, Marathi; those in Israel, mostly Hebrew
English, Gujarati, Malayalam, Hindi[1]
Religion
Judaism
Related ethnic groups
Cochin Jews, Baghdadi Jews, Marathi people

The Bene Israel (”Sons of Israel”), formerly known in India as the
“Native Jew Caste”,[2] are a historic community of Jews in India. It has
been suggested[3] that it is made up of descendants of one of the
disputed Lost Tribes and ancestors who had settled there centuries ago.
In the 19th century, after the people were taught about normative
(Ashkenazi/Sephardi) Judaism, they tended to migrate from villages in
the Konkan area[4] to the nearby cities, primarily Mumbai,[3] but also
to Pune, Ahmedabad, and Kolkata, India; and Karachi, in today’s
Pakistan.[5] Many gained positions with the British colonial authority
of the period.

In the early part of the twentieth century, many
Bene Israel became active in the new film industry, as actresses and
actors, producers and directors. After India gained its independence in
1947, and Israel was established in 1948, most Bene Israel emigrated to
Israel, Canada and other Commonwealth countries and the United States.
History
Bene Israel teachers of the Free Church of Scotland’s Mission School and the Jewish English School in Bombay, 1856

Some historians have thought their ancestors may have belonged to one
of the Lost Tribes of Israel,[6] but the Bene Israel have never been
officially recognized by Jewish authorities as such. According to Bene
Israel tradition, their ancestors migrated to India after centuries of
travel through western Asia from Israel and gradually assimilated to the
people around them, while keeping some Jewish customs.[7] The medieval
Jewish philosopher Maimonides mentioned in a letter that there was a
Jewish community living in India: he may have been referring to the Bene
Israel.[8]

At a point in history which is uncertain, an Indian
Jew from Cochin named David Rahabi discovered the Bene Israel in their
villages and recognized their vestigial Jewish customs.[9] Rahabi taught
the people about normative Judaism. He trained some young men among
them to be the religious preceptors of the community.[10] Known as
Kajis, these men held a position that became hereditary, similar to the
Cohanim. They became recognized as judges and settlers of disputes
within the community.[11]

One Bene Israel tradition places
Rahabi’s arrival at around 1000 or 1400, although some historians
believe he was not active until the 18th century. They suggest that the
“David Rahabi” of Bene Israel folklore was a man named David Ezekiel
Rahabi, who lived from 1694 to 1772, and resided in Cochin, then the
center of the wealthy Malabar Jewish community.[12][13][14] Others
suggest that the reference is to David Baruch Rahabi, who arrived in
Bombay from Cochin in 1825.[15]

It is estimated that there were
6,000 Bene Israel in the 1830s; 10,000 at the turn of the 20th century;
and in 1948—their peak in India—they numbered 20,000.[16] Since that
time, most of the population have emigrated.

Under British
colonial rule, many Bene Israel rose to prominence in India[citation
needed]. They were less affected than other Indians by the racially
discriminatory policies of the British colonists, considered somewhat
outside the masses[citation needed].They gained higher, better paying
posts in the British Army when compared with their non-Jewish
neighbours.[7] Some of these enlistees with their families later joined
the British in the British Protectorate of Aden.[17] In the 19th
century, the Bene Israel did however meet with hostility from the newly
anglicized Baghdadi Jews who considered the Bene Israel to be
“Indian”.They also questioned the Jewishness of the community[18]

In the early twentieth century, numerous Bene Israel became leaders in
the new film industry in India. In addition, men worked as producers and
actors: Ezra Mir (alias Edwin Myers) (1903-1993) became the first chief
of India’s Film Division, and Solomon Moses was head of the Bombay Film
Lab Pvt Ltd from the 1940s to 1990s.[19] Ennoch Isaac Satamkar was a
film actor and assistant director to Mehboob Khan, a prominent director
of Hindi films.[20]

Given their success under the British
colonial government, many Bene Israel prepared to leave India at
independence in 1947. They believed that nationalism and the emphasis on
indigenous religions would mean fewer opportunities for them. Most
emigrated to Israel,[21] which was newly established in 1948 as a Jewish
homeland.[22][23]

Bene Israel

In the early part of the twentieth century, many Bene Israel became active in the new film industry, as actresse…