Susan Bayly says that they were formed from communities engaged in scribal work and commerce and were of "unclear status" until almost the end of the 18th century when they were "Brahmanised" into a caste by some touring Brahmins or gurus.
Historian Susan Bayly states that the Ramanandis, who opened up to almost any background were responsible for "Brahmanising" groups of unclear status and Chitrapur Saraswats are one such example.
[2] Specifically, she states, One such case in the Deccan was that of the mixed array of Konkani scribal and commercial specialists who came to be known as members of a single Brahman jati, the Chitrapur Saraswats.
Well into the eighteenth century, this group was still in the process of developing a sense of castelike cohesion; this was achieved primarily through bonds of preceptoral affiliation to a line of Brahman renouncer-ascetics with a network of hospices and touring gurus based along the Kanara coast.
But some researchers like Bertrand Renaud and Frank Conlon believe they migrated from the banks of River Saraswati in north India.