HISTORY

We, Karada(Karhada) Community is a small Maharashtrian community, which has played a very influential role in the country`s political and industrial development. Generations of intermarriage in this small community have connected all the families of this community. In appearance they tend to be of slight build and are generally dark in complexion though there are some who are fair-skinned. Perhaps, the most admirable qualities of these people are adaptability and a love for neatness.
The Karada Brahmins are divided on the basis of their belief in one of the Vedas. There are the Rigvedis, Samavedis and Atharvavedis. One more division, on the basis of specialisation in the shakhas also exists. For instance one group of Brahmins is known as Rigvedi Shakalahakhiya Brahmins. The Rigvedi Brahmins have lived in Maharashtra for a long time but were concentrated in the southern part, the region called the Karhatak province, extending over the modern Satara, Sangli and Kolhapur Districts. The capital was Karhatak, modern Karad. The Karhatak province was ruled by the Shilahars who enjoyed some autonomy even when they were vassals of the Chalukyas. When the Shilahars annexed Konkan in the 11th century they took with them their Ashvalayana Sutra Shakal Shakhiya Brahmin priests and settled down there. The people of Konkan called these newcomers Karhads as they came from Karhat. The latter was the capital of the Shilahars.
Karhada marriages are like those of other Brahmin communities and follow the usual Hindu rituals of kanyadan, lajahoma and saptapadi. Normally marriages do not take place across community borders though there are exceptions. The rules of exogamy prevent marriages in the same gotras or pravaras.
 The earliest reference in literature to those Shakal Shakhiya and Ashvalayana Sutra Brahmins is in Mitakshari Teeka by Vikramaditya (1076-1126).