tried to raise a rebel force to fight the British but the plan was thwarted and most of the conspirators were executed. However, Rango Bapuji escaped from his captivity and was never found. At times, there were Gramanyas, also known as "Vedokta disputes", initiated by certain individuals who tried to stop CKP rights to Upanayana. These individuals based their opinion on the belief that no true Kshatriyas existed in the Kali Yuga; however the upanayana for CKPs were supported by prominent Brahmin arbitrators like Gaga Bhatt and Ramshastri Prabhune who gave decisions in the favor of the community. In the final Gramanya, started by Neelkanthashastri and his relative Balaji Pant Natu, a rival of the CKP Vedic scholar V.S.Parasnis at the court of Satara, the Shankaracharya himself intervened as arbiter and he gave his verdict by fully endorsing the rights over Vedas for the CKP. The Shankaracharya's letter is addressed to all Brahmins and he refers to various Shastras, earlier verdicts in the favour of the CKPS as well as letters about the lineage of the CKP to make his decision and void the dispute started by Natu. When the prominent Marathi historian Vishwanath Kashinath Rajwade contested their claimed Kshatriya status in a 1916 essay, the CKP writer Prabodhankar Thackeray wrote a text outlining the identity of the caste, and its contributions to the Maratha empire. In this text, Gramanyachya Sadhyant Itihas, he wrote that the CKPs "provided the cement" for Shivaji's swaraj (self-rule) "with their blood". Gail Omvedt concludes that during the British era, the overall literacy of Brahmins and CKP was overwhelmingly high as opposed to the literacy of others such as the Kunbis and Marathas for whom it was strikingly low. In 1902, all communities other than Marathi Brahmins, Saraswat Brahmins, Prabhus (Chandraseniya Kayastha Prabhus, Pathare Prabhus) and Parsi were considered backward and 50% reservation was provided for them in by the princely state of Kolhapur. In 1925, the only communities that were not considered backward by the British Government in the Bombay Presidency were Brahmins, CKP, Pathare Prabhus, Marwaris, Parsis, Banias and Christians. In Pune, the descendents of Sakharam Hari Gupte donated premises for conducting thread ceremonies and marriages for the members of the CKP community and the facilities were available to other communities as well. According to the studies by D.L.Sheth, the former director of the Center for the Study of Developing Societies in India