Website Opening on 21-04-2015  
 

          On the auspicious occasion of Akshayy Trutiya, on 21st April 2015, the website ‘marathepratishthan.org’ was launched with a much needed makeover. The website was developed over past 4/5 months and is intended to be in both English and Marathi. WE at the Pratishthan wish that the website be visited by public in general. It remains the fact that the younger generations of Chitpavans and consequently Marathes are being trained mostly in English medium be it a metropolitan, urban or semi urban location. As such, the drastic need to connect to the younger generation, has prompted the Pratishthan Karyakarini to launch the English version to start with. The Marathi version would be in place in another 2/3 months after the English Version stabilizes. In all discussions on this website, a refrenece to 'Marathes' would include any individuals having gotra 'Kapi' and having either of the surnames 'chakradeo', 'Fadnis', 'Jaeel', 'Joshi', 'Khambete', 'Ratate' and 'Vidwans' apart from surname 'Marathe'. Extended Marathe Clan would include the husband and children of a Marathe 'Maherwashin' (girl/woman married into other family). 

   The organization of the website is in the form of a web database so that modifications/ alterations and deletions of text both English and Devnagari would not be a hassle. Further, in future, if required, some analysis can be undertaken on the available data about Hitguj and Kulvruttant. (Kulvruttant updatation would start after 4/5 months). 
 
        The website provides most of the information available on the earlier version of the website. In addition it will provide for submission of the information by the members of the Marathe Clan (even though they may not be members of the Pratishthan). A suitable algorithm is being developed to allow such updation of information without sacrificing the privacy concerns and data security aspects. Currently, no sensitive information is made available on the website and as such any individual is allowed an access to the website. Shortly LOGIN facility will be provided for the Marathe’s to enable them provide various types of information as detailed in the Tab 'Happenings'. 
 
Information that can be uploaded by members of Marathe Clan: 
 
  1. By heads of the family : Information about new arrivals, deaths, various ceremonies in their reespetive families like ‘eksashti’, ‘sahasrchandradarshan’, ‘barse’, munj’ ‘mangalagaur’ etc. 
  2. By students : About their academic and extra curricular achievements. 
  3. By any Marathe: About his/her achievements and felicitations like any honor conferred upon, medals/ certificates of appreciations received, ceremonies in their honor, honor by any institution of repute etc. 
  4. By anybody from extended Marathe Clan: His/her creative work in form of articles, poetry, drawings, photographs of public functions for publishing in Hitguj/ on website. The participants can also upload individual photograph(s) of the concerned person(s).   
Similarly any member of the Marathe Clan can apply to the pratishthan for educational / medical aid. 
 
The information provided on the website is as follows: 
 
  1. About Pratishthan: Formation, History and current status, Office bearers (past and present), list of Members  (with sort/ search options), List of beneficiaries of Financial aid (Educational/ medical) and a photo gallery. 
  2. About Marathe Clan: All information as per kulvruttant, Life sketches of around 50 Marathe  individuals of repute, list of those achieveing academic excellance and of those adult individuals who have been felicitated by the  society. 
  3. About Hitguj: The history and current scenario regarding hitguj. We have made almost all past issues of Hitguj available for reading. Selective reading is also possible by searching desired contents.   
  4. About our Kuldaivats and Kulachars: We have incorporated most of the available information and the rest will be done in a few days. However we need support from the members of the clan knowledgeable in this aspect to provide us information on some Kuladaivats and Some Kulachars. 
  5. About Chitpavans: We have tried to give unbiased information about the origin, arrival in Konkan, their nature, peculiarities, their food habits, their religious beliefs etc. A list of achievers from the Chitpavans, the list of surnames and Gotras among chitpavans is also given. The detailed information about these individuals would be given as and when available. 
  6. Kulvruttant: The replica of the information of some ‘Gharani’ from the 2nd edition of Kulvruttant published in 1992 is made available on the site. The information of the remaining gharanis will be updated shortly. The updation of the kulvruttant will be started in a span of 6 months from now and the members will be updated about the progress in this regard through the website.                  
We request all Marathe’s to visit the website for viewing and participating in this initiative by mailing to us your comments / suggestions/ critism (if any) and use the website for submission of various information as stated above.