New History of the Marathas v1.c5.97

v1.c5.97

The Hindus in general—the Maratha forming no exception—have during historic times cared more for their religion than for political power. When the Ghaznivides and the Ghoris, the Khiljis and the Tughlaks practised fearful persecution in religious matters, they provoked opposition and revolt. The great Emperor Akbar wisely changed this policy and thereby strengthened his empire. Akbar’s policy was reversed by Aurangzeb and this generated the Maratha movement for independence, a repetition of the same experiment that had led to the foundation of Vijayanagar. This vein of rebellious sentiment runs through the vast Marathi literature of the three or four centuries that followed the extinction of the Yādavās of Deogiri; from the time of Mukundraj and Jnaneshwar to that of Tukārām and Rāmdās, the whole range of Marathi literature accurately reflects the workings of the popular mind. Viewed in this light the teachings of these saints are clearly marked by three successive schools of thought, first that of Jnaneshwar and Nāmdev (13th and 14th centuries), the second Eknāth and Tukārām (15th and 16th centuries), and the third of Rāmdās (17th century), the last being contemporary of Shivaji himself. These saints and writers were mostly men of learning and experience, having widely travelled on pilgrimages throughout India on foot, and gained first-hand information of local occurrences which they often actually witnessed. They can be likened to our present day newspaper reporters. They delivered orations and held *Harikirtans* which were avidly listened to, and which supplied the spiritual background to the political aims of workers like Shivaji.