The concept of God is the outcome of a constant feeling of a dire need for strong psychological support system to protect from or to get rid of feeling of social, physical and financial insecurity experienced by the individuals of a society, which is normally busy in the daily struggle for own survival. After all, the concept of ‘Mind’ is nothing but the ability to think.
Practice Among Chitpavans
The concept of Kul Devata is prevalent not only among the ‘Chitpavan’s of Maharashtra. It is widely accepted concept among most ‘Hindu’ castes. ‘Kul Swami’ is the one who protects the ‘Kul’ (Clan). ‘Chitpavan’s are worshipers of Lord ‘Shiv’ and Lord ‘Vishnu’. Most of the other ‘Kul Deaivat’s of Chitpavans are situated in the place of their primitive settlement i.e. in Konkan in Maharashtra. Surprisingly however, the deity ‘Parshuram’ who was supposedly the originator of the ‘Chitpavan’s is not the ‘Kul Daivat’ of any ‘Kul’. Although most of the ‘Chitpavan’ ‘Kul’s have ‘Lord Shiva’ as their ‘Kul Daivat’, some others also have ‘Lord Vishnu’, ‘Lord Ganesh’ and ‘Sun god’ as their ‘Kul Daivat’s.
As per the trends observed recently in last 15/20 years, in the western countries, the awareness of people about knowledge of their ancestors is on a rise. As such, many a genealogy sites have come into being, facilitating creation of family trees and making the records of US/ UK censuses, death records etc available to the participants to enable them to trace their ancestors. Some such sites are ancestry.com, myheritage.com, wikitree.com, Legacy.com, usgenweb.com, myfamilytree.com. The picture is not so rosy here in India, particularly in Maharashtra.
Practice Among Chitpavans
The concept of Kul Devata is prevalent not only among the ‘Chitpavan’s of Maharashtra. It is widely accepted concept among most ‘Hindu’ castes. ‘Kul Swami’ is the one who protects the ‘Kul’ (Clan). ‘Chitpavan’s are worshipers of Lord ‘Shiv’ and Lord ‘Vishnu’. Most of the other ‘Kul Deaivat’s of Chitpavans are situated in the place of their primitive settlement i.e. in Konkan in Maharashtra. Surprisingly however, the deity ‘Parshuram’ who was supposedly the originator of the ‘Chitpavan’s is not the ‘Kul Daivat’ of any ‘Kul’. Although most of the ‘Chitpavan’ ‘Kul’s have ‘Lord Shiva’ as their ‘Kul Daivat’, some others also have ‘Lord Vishnu’, ‘Lord Ganesh’ and ‘Sun god’ as their ‘Kul Daivat’s.