Pathare prabhu
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Pathare Prabhu or Pratihara Prabhu as they are known are one of the Hindu communities in the city of Mumbai (formerly known as Bombay). These people are among earliest settlers in the city.
They came to Mumbai around the 12th and 13th centuries AD. They are descendants of Rajput/Kshatriya nobility and aristocracy who migrated south from the regions of North India and Rajasthan after the Islamic attacks in those regions. According to their detailed chronicled lineage, they claim descent from King Ashwapati who was an emperor of the Solar clan of Lord Ram of Hinduism.
They were associated with Raja Bhimdev who ruled over the islands of Mumbai and during British times, they were absorbed in the administrative and official departments of the British Government.
Throughout the generations, despite their tiny number, the Pathare Prabhu have had many eminent civic leaders, doctors, engineers, judges, actors/actresses, architects, industrialists and philanthropists.
Clannish, traditional and religious, yet possessing a modern outlook at the same time, this community built major temples and philanthropic institutions in the Mumbai city of yore, e.g. the famous Mahalaxmi Temple in central Mumbai. They were amongst the first of the Hindus to be well-educated, occasionally even sending their women to study in foreign universities, and also advocated widow re-marriage—an act considered a taboo in the orthodox Hindu society of those times.
Known for their love of cuisine, arts, religion and philosophy, the numbers of this community are today dwindling in Mumbai with a non-conservative estimate of their numbers being around 15 to 20,000.
The Pathare Prabhu were amongst the pioneers in the formation of Mumbai and contributed much to the formation and growth of the city.