New History of the Marathas v1.c5.98

v1.c5.98

There are two particular services which these writers have rendered to society. The old precious store of learning and philosophy which till then had been confined only to Sanskrit and was consequently unintelligible to the masses, was rendered by them into various popular and attractive forms of Marathi verse, often set to musical tunes ; and secondly, they made an ardent and piteous appeal to God Almighty through their favourite deity to intervene on behalf of the oppressed peoples and bring them relief from Muslim persecution. The well-known story of Dāmāji Pant, a revenue collector of the Bedar district, is a typical instance in which he miraculously escaped the wrath of his master for having distributed grātis government stores of corn, through the actual intervention of the Vithoba of Pandharpur.¹⁶ A studied effort was made by some of the saints towards reconciling the two conflicting faiths in mutual recognition of the essential unity of Rāma and Rahīm, of Vithobā and Allāh. The warring sects of the Hindus themselves, the Shaivas and the Vaishnavas were reconciled in a symbolized installation of Vithobā at Pandharpur.¹⁷ Tukārām represented the Pandharpur movement of passionate prayer of complete non-violence and patient resignation to the Divine Will. "The pulsation of a new national life began to stir throughout the land and was accompanied in the popular belief by the revolt of the Hindu pantheon against the tyrannous deity of the Muslim."18