[7] The CKPs have the upanayana ( janeu or thread ceremony)[8][9] and have been granted the rights to study the Vedas and perform Vedic rituals along with the Brahmins.
The CKP performed three Vedic karmas or duties which in Sanskrit are called: Adhyayan- studying of the Vedas, yajna- ritual done in front of a sacred fire, often with mantras and dāna – alms or charity.
[24][25] Epigraphical evidences i.e. engravings from the Shilahara times have been found in Deccan to prove that many CKPs held high posts and controlled the civilian and military administration.
However, in this time period, these three as well as other communities, depending on caste, also contributed their share to Shivaji's "Swaraj"(self-rule) by being cavalry soldiers, commanders, mountaineers, seafarers etc.
As the Maratha empire/confederacy expanded in the 18th century, and given the nepotism of the Peshwa of Pune towards their own Chitpavan Brahmin caste, CKP and other literal castes migrated for administration jobs to the new Maratha ruling states such as the Bhosale of Nagpur, the Gaekwads, the Scindia, the Holkars etc.,[28][31] The Gaekwads of Baroda and the Bhosale of Nagpur gave preference to CKPs in their administration.
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.
[10] Modern scholars quote statements that show that they were due to political malice – especially given that the Gramanya was started by a certain Yamaji Pant who had sent an assassin to murder a rival CKP.
Modern scholars conclude that the fact that the CKPs held high ranking positions in administration and the military and as statesmen was a "double edged sword".
[10][38][39][40] University of Toronto historians and Professors Emeriti, Milton Israel and N.K Wagle opine about this as follows in their analysis: The CKP could undertake the six functions (satkarma) because they had the expertise to do so.
Aba Parasnis the CKP[in the early 1800s] could easily hold his own and argue intricate points from the vedas, puranas and the dharmasastras in a debate which resulted in his composition of the siddhantavijaya in sanskrit.He prepared the sanskara manual(karmakalpadruma), which was published by Pratapsimha.
[41][full citation needed] The British era of the 1800s and 1900s saw the publications dedicated to finding sources of CKP history[42] The book Prabhu Kul Deepika gives the gotras (rishi name) and pravaras etc.
[43] Rango Bapuji Gupte, the CKP representative of the deposed Raja Pratapsinh Bhosale of Satara spent 13 years in London in the 1840s and 50s to plead for restoration of the ruler without success.
At the time of the Indian rebellion of 1857, Rango tried to raise a rebel force to fight the British but the plan was thwarted and most of the conspirators were executed.
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.
[51] According to the studies by D.L.Sheth, the former director of the Center for the Study of Developing Societies in India (CSDS), educated upper castes and communities – Punjabi Khatris, Kashmiri Pandits, CKPs, the Chitpawans, Nagar Brahmins, South Indian Brahmins, Bhadralok Bengalis, etc., along with the Parsis and upper crusts of the Muslim and Christian society were among the Indian communities in 1947, at the time of Indian independence, that constituted the middle class and were traditionally "urban and professional" (following professions like doctors, lawyers, teachers, engineers, etc.).
According to P. K. Varma, "education was a common thread that bound together this pan Indian elite" and almost all the members of these communities could read and write English and were educated "beyond school"[52] The mother tongue of most of the community is now Marathi, though in Gujarat they also communicate with their neighbours in Gujarati, and use the Gujarati script, while those in Maharashtra speak English and Hindi with outsiders, and use the Devanagari script.
[citation needed] According to anthropologist Iravati Karve, their "ways of living, dress, worship, cremation" are exactly like those of the Brahmins except that they are not necessarily vegetarian.