New History of the Marathas v1.c13.15

v1.c13.15

During the reign of Akbar a learned Brahman of Benares named Krishna Narasinha Shesha wrote a work entitled *Shudrāchār Shiromani* (the head-jewel of the functions of the Shudra caste) wherein a theory was promulgated that there existed no Kshatriya caste in the present Kali age. The soul of Shivaji could not tolerate this humiliating position. The pronouncement of Krishna Shesha must be publicly refuted. So he sent a deputation of some learned Brahmans, Keshav Bhat Purohit, Bhalachandra Bhat, Somnathbhat Katre, to go to Udepur and other centres of Kshatriya tradition in North India and rally their opinion in favour of renovating the Kshatriya caste and declaring that caste being never extinct. The deputation was headed by Bālāji Āvji, the keeper of Shivaji's plans and a consummate diplomat. The avowed object of this regenerating movement was to purge society of stupid irrational notions, to put an end to the degradation that ignorance had inflicted in the spheres of the national language, the national religion and national patriotism.² The deputation sought out an equally versatile opponent to Krishna Shesha, in the person of Vishveshvar alias Gāgā Bhatta, whose ancestor Govind Bhatta, had left Paithan and taken up his residence at Benares early in the 16th century, and who was now ready to display his deep erudition and sharp dialectical powers and beat Krishna Shesha on his own ground. Govind Bhatta's descendants formed a large school of learning and opinion at Benares and produced numerous works of outstanding merit on religion, law and polity, which are even to-day taken as authoritative in Indian courts.³