The Chitpavan Brahmin or Konkanastha Brahmin is a Hindu Maharashtrian Brahmin community inhabiting Konkan, the coastal region of the state of Maharashtra. Initially working as messengers and spies in the late seventeenth century, the community came into prominence during the 18th century when the heirs of Peshwa from the Bhat family of Balaji Vishwanath became the de facto rulers of the Maratha empire. Until the 18th century, the Chitpavans were held in low esteem by the Deshastha, the older established Brahmin community of Maharashtra region. As per Jayant Lele, the influence of the Chitpavans in the Peshwa era as well as the British era has been greatly exaggerated because even during the time of the most prominent Peshwas, their political legitimacy and their intentions were not trusted by all levels of the administration, not even by Shivaji's successors. He adds that after the defeat of Peshwas in the Anglo-Mahratta wars, Chitpavans were the one of the Hindu communities to flock to western education in the Bombay Province of British India. Origin The Chittapavans are also known as Konkanastha Brahmin. The etymology of their name is given in the chapter citpāvanabrāhmaṇotpattiḥ i.e “Origin of the Citpāvan brahmins” in the Hindu Sanskrit scripture Sahyadrikhanda of the Skanda Purana. According to this chapter, Parashurama, who could not find any Brahmins in Konkan, found sixty fishermen who had gathered near a funeral pyre near the ocean shore. These sixty fishermen families were purified and Sanksritized to Brahminhood. Since the funeral pyre is called Chitta and pure as pavana, the community was henceforth known by the name Chittapavan or "purified at the location of a funeral pyre". However, 'Chitta' also means 'mind' in Sanskrit and the Chittapavans prefer "pure of mind" instead of "pure from the pyre". Later Parshuram was displeased with their actions. S.A. Joglekar believes that the text was added to Sahyadrikhanda to denigrate Chittapavans by those who envied them. Deshpande states that Gajanan Gaitonde intentionally left some parts untranslated and omitted some parts completely in his Marathi translation of the scripture due to its offensive nature. The Kulavruttanta of the Khare (Chitpavan) family prefers a modified version of the scripture. They state that fourteen dead-bodies were purified by Parshurama. Since "Chiplun pleased Paraśurāma’s heart", the brahmins of that place received the name cittapāvana. The scriptures were also referred to in a 20th century case related to the Veerashaiva rights to perform Rudra-abhishek.