Skanda Purana (Sahyadri Khanda) as well as Brahmanda Purana are very harsh towards Karhade Brahmins.[1] According to Sahyadrikhanda, Karhades are fallen Brahmins from the polluted land of Karashtra, and made offerings to the wicked goddess Matrika. The text derives their name from the word Karashtra ("evil land"), as well as the words "donkey-bones" (khara-ashti), stating that they originated when some semen spilled on a heap of donkey bones.[2][1][3]
The reference to Padye Brahmins is found in the section of KarahastrabrahmanotpattiofSahyadrikhanda. It is commonly believed that Padye Brahmins are not different from the Karhades and are a section of Karhade Brahmins. However, even now Padye Brahmins have retained their identity.
The name Padye is supposed to have its origin in the Sumerian word Patesi.[4]
With due course of time, they seem to have undergone thorough Sanskritisation and have been included into Brahminic fourfold system and attained status that of a Brahmin (i.e. during the rule of Yadavas and Kadambas in Goa when they were given lands by the monarchs and the title of Deshapati (now corrupted as Dessai) was bestowed upon many of them).[4]
The Padyes are from Goa and are believed to have migrated to Maharashtra, then returned to Goa a few centuries later. It is believed that the name Karhade comes from the place Karhatak (present day Karhad) in Maharashtra, where they lived. The Shiledars of Kolhapur conquered south Konkan and got these priests with them back to Goa.[5][6]
Padhyes later were included in to the Pancha Dravida group of Brahmins and are now commonly considered a sub-caste of the Karhade Brahmin community, though not historically. Padhyes belong to 13 Gotras and are predominantly Smarthas and worship different aspects of Shakti and Shiva.[citation needed]
Karhade and Chitpavan were regarded as inferior by Rigvedi Deshasthas, who refrained from interdining with them due to their perceived lower ritual status.Karhades who settled in Desh considered Padhyes, a subsection of Karhades as inferior.Padhyes were farmers and Khots.Deshasthas considered Chitpavans as inferior due to their menial origin.[7]
^ ab"A socio-cultural history of Goa from the Bhojas to the Vijayanagara" By Vithal Raghavendra Mitragotri Published by Institute Menezes Braganza, 1999, Original from the University of Michigan, Pages:50.
^"Shree Scanda Puran (Sayadri Khandha)" -Ed. Dr. Jarson D. Kunha, Marathi version Ed. By Gajanan Shastri Gaytonde. Published by Shree Katyani Publication, Mumbai.
^ abSinai Dhume, Ananta Ramakrishna (1986). The cultural history of Goa. Panaji, Goa: Broadway book centre. pp. 116–164.
^"Nivadak Loksangrah", Page-197, by Trayambak Shankar Shejwalkar, Mumbai
^"shilahar rajvanshacha itihas" by Dr B.V Mirashi.1974
"People of India: Goa" - Page 107 by Kumar Suresh Singh, Prakashchandra P. Shirodkar, Pra. Pā Śiroḍakara, Anthropological Survey of India, H. K. Mandal - Social Science - 1993 - 283 pages
Gomantak Prakruti ani sanskruti Part 01 to 03 By B. D. Satoskar.. Page 160,161,162.
Rosalind O'Hanlon (2013). "Performance in a World of Paper: Puranic Histories and Social communication in Early Modern India". Past and Present (219). Oxford University Press / The Past and Present Society: 87–126. JSTOR24543602.
