Excerpts from the
Chitpavan@ Shandilya Gotri
Kelkar-Kul-Vruttant (or KulVruttanta) --- Kelkar Family Tree
2nd Edition - 1993
Source: http://kelkarkul.org/FamilyHierarchy
The website at www.Kelkarkul.org (Kelkar Kul Vruttant) has information about the 95 "gharani" (households) in the Kelkar Family Tree ... please visit the website for more information.
The surname "Kelkar" is not believed to be derived from another surname nor is it believed to be derived by appending "kar" to the name of a town or village. There is a village named "Kelye" in Ratnagiri Taluka, but there is no evidence in historical tracts or from other information sources to suggest that there is any connection of the surname "Kelkar" with that village.
It is believed that the origin of all Kelkars is the village of "Nevre" or a sub-division ("wada") of that village called "Dhokmale". Some say that the original place of residence was Someshwar or Kotwade, but the authors of the Kelkar Kul Vruttant have not found any evidence to confirm this hypothesis. From Nevre (or Dhokmale), various branches of the Kelkar family migrated to villages across Ratnagiri District of Maharashtra State in India, and they adopted those villages as their "mulgaav" or place of origin.
The gotra* of the Kelkars is "Shandilya", the veda** is "Rigveda", the shakha (branch) is "shakal", and the sutra is "Ashwalayan" with three pravar's - Shandil, Asit, and Daival.
The kulswami (family deity - god) of the Kelkar family is Someshwar and the kulswamini (family deity - goddess) is Bandijai. However, the deity of the village where each branch of the family took up residence often became the primary family deity for that branch of Kelkars. In our case, the Mahalakshmi of Kelshi is the family deity (kuldevi).
Kelkar Family Tree: Household #14 - Kelshi-Amboli
The village of Kelshi is in Ratnagiri District, in Dapoli Taluka, on the shores of the Arabian Sea, 20 km from the town of Dapoli. The village has two famous temples, those of Mahalakshmi and Beleshwar, and a big yatra at the Mahalakshmi Temple each year on Chaitra Shuddh Purnima (Hanuman Jayanti). This, the 14th household of the Kelkar family is from Dhokmale, and they moved to Amboli near Kelshi, which became known as Kelkar's Amboli. Some branches of this family subsequently moved to Kelshi. Family rites include a "nandadeep" for Beleshwar in the month of Kartik, and the lighting of "akhand deep" (lights) during Navratra along with flower pots. This branch of the Kelkars does not have a tradition of "bodan".
*: Vishwamitra, Jamadagni, Bharadwaj, Gautama, Atri, Vasishta, Kashyapa, and Agastya are the eight original rishis who are believed to be the patriarchs of the eight gotras.
** : Rigveda has two shakhas - Shakal and Bashkal
@ : Click here for research and information about Chitpavan or Kokanastha Brahmns from the Arabian Sea Coast of India.