A History of the Mahrattas v1.c5.s4.44

v1.c5.s4.44

In addition to the classical poetry of Mahārāshtra, described above, Acworth draws attention to two other orders of poems in the Marāthī language, viz. the Lāvanis or love-songs, and the Pavadas or historical ballads. The former are frankly erotic, and have been justly described as both licentious and coarse. ‘The greatest of the Lāvani-writers, Rām Jōshi, is however free from this imputation. He was the son of a well-to-do Deshasth Brahman of Sholāpur, was born in 1762 and died in 1802. He has written many hundreds of Lāvanis, and they are, with some exceptions, morally unobjectionable. He is said to have travelled from place to place, expounding sacred tales from the Purāns, and reciting his own verses and those of Moropant, whom, like other Brahmans, he held in high esteem. He has also written several interesting Pādas and some descriptive ballads in Lāvani style, one of which gives a beautiful and touching account of the great famine of 1803.’¹ This poem is included in a collection of Marāthī ballads published by Mr. Acworth and Pandit Shāligrām in 1891; while another of Rām Jōshi’s poems, describing Jasvant Rāo Holkar’s raid in Poona and Khāndesh in 1802, is included in Mr. Acworth’s later collection of ballads, published in 1894. At the present day lāvanis are largely sung by Murlīs, i.e. women dedicated to the god Khandoba, who wander into the larger towns, accompanied by two or three musicians, and support themselves and their adherents by singing and prostitution. They also take part in the tamāshas or lalitas, which represent the modern form of old village dramatic representations, played by the Gōndhalīs or wandering minstrels of the Deccan, and which were much in favour two centuries ago with the people of Mahārāshtra.¹