- Sarpotdar
Sarpotdar is a historical family name which is not very common in
India . It is derived from thePersian word "pota" which means "treasure". Thetreasurer in Mughal times was called "Potdar" and the chief treasurer would be "Sarpotdar". Later on the nature of this job changed to somewhat likeInspector General ofCurrencies .Origin
Sarpotdars are
karhade Brahmin s originally fromRatnagiri district in thekonkan region ofMaharashtra (India ). They are predominantly from Anjanari, Nadivali and Padvan and one of their branches had settled at Godhra inGujrat .Their surname earlier was Orpe and was subsequently changed to Sarpotdar possibly in the16th century .Karhade Brahmin s having surnames Potdar, Sabnis and Karkhanis also belong to this clan. Their "Kuladaivat" (familydeity ) isLaxmi Ravalnath of marcela (Mashel) and Pernem (Pedne) inGoa .Historical Background
The first known ancestor of Sarpotdars Ravalopant Orpe Sarpotdar came to Fort
Vishalgad i.e. ‘khelana’ fromBidar , a political city inKarnataka , in the late16th century . Since then various generations of Sarpotdars worked on the FortVishalgad 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 times.Family Heros
*Narayan Timaji's son Ranganath alias
Rango Narayan is supposed to be the first family hero who joinedShivaji and worked for him and his successorSambhaji as their officer throughout his life. WhenShivaji escaped from ‘FortPanhala ’ and reached ‘FortVishalgad ’ (afterBaji Prabhu episode) withAdilshahi troops on his back,Shivaji ordered Rango Narayan to attack the enemy at once.Rango Narayan , the then In-Charge of the FortVishalgad , attacked theAdilshahi troops (headed by Shiddi Masood, Suryarao Surve and Jaswantrao) camping around the fort, defeated them and turned them away back to FortPanhala . Delighted with his great victory, Shivaji awardedRango Narayan handsomely.*In the last decade of the 17th century, Kashi Ranganath; the elder son of
Rango Narayan bravely fought with the troops ofAurangzeb and captured FortPanhala under the leadership of Parshuram Pant Pratinidhi in1692 . For this, ChhatrapatiRajaram rewarded him village 'Shembavane' near Malkapur.*In
1702 , a memorandum of understanding was signed between Pratinidhi &Aurangzeb as a result of which FortVishalgad was handed over to the Mughals for a huge consideration.The younger son ofRango Narayan namely Shamji Ranganth, however, made a conspiracy with other two officials and handed over the Fort back to theMarathas in1707 . Shamji Ranganath had worked asHavaldar ofVishalgad for more than six years.*
1702 onwards Rango Narayan's nephew Govind Purushottam Sarpotdar was in the civil service of theMaratha empire as 'Deshadhikari' that isGovernor of thekonkan prant.
*Sarpotdars remained as officers even inPeshwa 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 in1844 by the British. 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 veteran historian and Ex-
Vice Chancellor ofUniversity of Pune 'Padmabhushan ' MahamahopadhyayaDatto Vaman Potdar and Ex Parliamentary Leader of ‘Shivsena ’ Madhukar Sarpotdar."'
References
"'
*‘History of Sarpotdars’ by [http://www.hsarpotdar1.wetpaint.com Harshad Sarpotdar]
*'Pant Pratinidhi Bakhar'(Marathi )
*'Kille Vishalgad' (Marathi ) by P.B.Shirwalkaree also
*
Battle of Pavan Khind
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.