Sarpotdar is a family name found mainly among the

Maharashtrian people The Marathi people (Marathi: मराठी लोक) or Marathis are an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group who are indigenous to Maharashtra in western India. They natively speak Marathi, an Indo-Aryan language. Maharashtra was formed as a ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. It is derived from the Mughal title Sarpotdar. The

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

word "pota" which means "treasure": the

treasurer A treasurer is the person responsible for running the treasury of an organization. The significant core functions of a corporate treasurer include cash and liquidity management, risk management, and corporate finance. Government The treasury o ...

in Mughal times was called " Potdar" and the chief treasurer would be "Sarpotdar". Later on, the nature of this job changed to somewhat like

Inspector General An inspector general is an investigative official in a civil or military organization. The plural of the term is "inspectors general". Australia The Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security (Australia) (IGIS) is an independent statutory off ...

Currencies A currency, "in circulation", from la, currens, -entis, literally meaning "running" or "traversing" is a standardization of money in any form, in use or circulation as a medium of exchange, for example banknotes and coins. A more general def ...

Origin

Sarpotdars originate from

Ratnagiri Ratnagiri (IAST:Ratnāgirī ; �ət̪n̪aːɡiɾiː is a port city on the Arabian Sea coast in Ratnagiri District in the southwestern part of Maharashtra, India. The district is a part of Konkan division of Maharashtra. The city is known for ...

district in the

konkan The Konkan ( kok, कोंकण) or Kokan () is a stretch of land by the western coast of India, running from Damaon in the north to Karwar in the south; with the Arabian Sea to the west and the Deccan plateau in the east. The hinterland ...

region of

Maharashtra Maharashtra (; , abbr. MH or Maha) is a states and union territories of India, state in the western India, western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. Maharashtra is the List of states and union te ...

(

). They are predominantly from Anjanari, Nadivali and Padvan and one of their branches had settled at

Godhra Godhra is a municipality in Panchmahal district in Indian state of Gujarat. It is the administrative headquarters of the Panchmahal district. Originally the name came from ''gou'' which means "cow" and ''dhara''- which have two meanings dependi ...

Gujarat Gujarat (, ) is a state along the western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the fifth-largest Indian state by area, covering some ; and the ninth ...

. Their surname earlier was Orpe and was subsequently changed to Sarpotdar possibly in the 16th century. Their ''Kuladaivat'' (family

deity A deity or god is a supernatural being who is considered divine or sacred. The ''Oxford Dictionary of English'' defines deity as a god or goddess, or anything revered as divine. C. Scott Littleton defines a deity as "a being with powers greate ...

) is

Laxmi Lakshmi (; , sometimes spelled Laxmi, ), also known as Shri (, ), is one of the principal goddesses in Hinduism. She is the goddess of wealth, fortune, power, beauty, fertility and prosperity, and associated with ''Maya'' ("Illusion"). Alo ...

Ravalnath Ravalnath ( knn, रवळनाथ, ), also widely known as Roulu, (रवळू, ) is a popular Hindu deity in Goa and the Sindhudurg district of coastal Maharashtra, in western India. Shrines of Ravalnath are also found in border areas of Be ...

of marcela (Mashel) and Pernem (Pedne) in

Goa Goa () is a state on the southwestern coast of India within the Konkan region, geographically separated from the Deccan highlands by the Western Ghats. It is located between the Indian states of Maharashtra to the north and Karnataka to the ...

Historical background

The first known ancestor of Sarpotdars Ravalopant Orpe Sarpotdar came to Fort

Vishalgad Vishalgad (also called Vishalgarh, Khelna or Khilna) was a jagir during the Maratha Empire and then later part of the Deccan States Agency of the British Raj. It was governed by Deshastha Brahmins, who were feudatories of Kolhapur State. Fort ...

i.e. ‘khelana’ from

Bidar Bidar (/ biːd̪ər/) is a city in the north-eastern part of Karnataka state in India. It is the headquarters of Bidar district, which borders Maharashtra and Telangana. It is a rapidly urbanising city in the wider ''Bidar Metropolitan area ...

, a political city in

Karnataka Karnataka (; ISO: , , also known as Karunāḍu) is a state in the southwestern region of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act. Originally known as Mysore State , it was renamed ''Karnat ...

, in the late 16th century. Since then various generations of Sarpotdars worked on the Fort

as administrative officers on different posts. Evidences show that Narayan Timaji alias Naropant Sarpotdar was the in charge of ''Kothi & Ambarkhana'' i.e. ‘Food stocks & treasure’ in pre-

shivaji Shivaji Bhonsale I (; 19 February 1630 – 3 April 1680), also referred to as Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, was an Indian ruler and a member of the Bhonsle Maratha clan. Shivaji carved out his own independent kingdom from the declining Adils ...

times.

Family heroes

*Narayan Timaji's son Ranganath alias Rango Narayan is supposed to be the first family hero who joined

Shivaji Shivaji Bhonsale I (; 19 February 1630 – 3 April 1680), also referred to as Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, was an Indian ruler and a member of the Bhonsle Maratha clan. Shivaji carved out his own independent kingdom from the declining Adils ...

and worked for him and his successor

Sambhaji Sambhaji Bhosale (14 May 1657 – 11 March 1689) was the second Chhatrapati of the Maratha Empire, ruling from 1681 to 1689. He was the eldest son of Shivaji, the founder of the Maratha Empire. Sambhaji's rule was largely shaped by the ongoing ...

as their officer throughout his life. When

escaped from ‘Fort

Panhala Panhala (Pronunciation: ənʱaːɭa is a city and a Hill station Municipal Council (3177 feet above sea level) 18 km northwest of Kolhapur, in Kolhapur district in the Indian state of Maharashtra. Panhala is the smallest city in Maharash ...

’ and reached ‘Fort

’ (after Baji Prabhu episode) with

Adilshahi The Adil Shahi or Adilshahi, was a Shia,Salma Ahmed Farooqui, ''A Comprehensive History of Medieval India: From Twelfth to the Mid-Eighteenth Century'', (Dorling Kindersley Pvt Ltd., 2011), 174. and later Sunni Muslim,Muhammad Qasim Firishta's ...

troops on his back,

ordered Rango Narayan to attack the enemy at once. Rango Narayan, the then In-Charge of the Fort

, attacked the

troops (headed by Shiddi Masood, Suryarao Surve and Jaswantrao) camping around the fort, defeated them and turned them away back to Fort

. Delighted with his great victory, Shivaji awarded Rango Narayan handsomely. *In the last decade of the 17th century, Kashi Ranganath; the elder son of Rango Narayan bravely fought with the troops of

Aurangzeb Muhi al-Din Muhammad (; – 3 March 1707), commonly known as ( fa, , lit=Ornament of the Throne) and by his regnal title Alamgir ( fa, , translit=ʿĀlamgīr, lit=Conqueror of the World), was the sixth emperor of the Mughal Empire, ruling ...

and captured Fort

under the leadership of Parshuram Pant Pratinidhi in 1692. For this, Chhatrapati Rajaram rewarded him village 'Shembavane' near Malkapur. *In 1702, a memorandum of understanding was signed between Pratinidhi &

as a result of which Fort

was handed over to the

Mughals The Mughal Empire was an early-modern empire that controlled much of South Asia between the 16th and 19th centuries. Quote: "Although the first two Timurid emperors and many of their noblemen were recent migrants to the subcontinent, the d ...

for a huge consideration. The younger son of Rango Narayan namely Shamji Ranganth, however, made a conspiracy with other two officials and handed over the Fort back to the

Marathas The Marathi people (Marathi: मराठी लोक) or Marathis are an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group who are indigenous to Maharashtra in western India. They natively speak Marathi, an Indo-Aryan language. Maharashtra was formed as a M ...

in 1707. Shamji Ranganath had worked as

Havaldar Havildar or havaldar (Hindustani language, Hindustani: or (Devanagari), (Perso-Arabic script, Perso-Arabic)) is a rank in the Indian, Pakistani and Nepalese armies, equivalent to sergeant. It is not used in cavalry units, where the equivalent ...

for more than six years. *1702 onwards Rango Narayan's nephew Govind Purushottam Sarpotdar was in the civil service of the

Maratha empire The Maratha Empire, also referred to as the Maratha Confederacy, was an early modern Indian confederation that came to dominate much of the Indian subcontinent in the 18th century. Maratha rule formally began in 1674 with the coronation of Shi ...

as 'Deshadhikari' that is

Governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

of the

prant. *Sarpotdars remained as officers even in

Peshwa The Peshwa (Pronunciation: e(ː)ʃʋaː was the appointed (later becoming hereditary) prime minister of the Maratha Empire of the Indian subcontinent. Originally, the Peshwas served as subordinates to the Chhatrapati (the Maratha king); later, ...

s’ times and worked on different posts such as 'Governor', 'Finance Controller' & 'Chief Administrator' over generation by generation. Vitthal Apaji 'Sabnis' was the last Sarpotdar working as Administrator on the Fort until its demolition in 1844 by the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

. Nrusinha Mandir on the fort was built by Vitthal Apaji. The well known 'Pant Pratinidhi Bakhar' was researched and written by him on request by the British Government.

Legacy

The recent well-known personalities from Sarpotdars are the Ex Parliamentary Leader of ‘

Shivsena Shiv Sena (IAST: ''Śiva Sēnā'') () was a right-wing to far-right Marathi regionalist and Hindu ultranationalist political party in India founded in 1966 by cartoonist Bal Thackeray. Originally emerging from nativist movements in Bombay ...

’

Madhukar Sarpotdar Madhukar Sarpotdar (1936-2010) was a leader of Shiv Sena and a member of Lok Sabha elected from Mumbai North West. He was trade unionist and a member of Maharashtra Legislative Assembly The Maharashtra Vidhan Sabha or the Maharashtra Le ...

References

*‘History of Sarpotdars’ b
Harshad Sarpotdar
*'Pant Pratinidhi Bakhar'(

Marathi Marathi may refer to: *Marathi people, an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group of Maharashtra, India *Marathi language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Marathi people *Palaiosouda, also known as Marathi, a small island in Greece See also * * ...

) *'Kille Vishalgad' (

) by P.B.Shirwalkar