Shivaji and His Times c20.s5.3

c20.s5.3

(iv) Maratha history has been muddled also by the silly but very bitter quarrel between the Brahman and Prabhu castes, which began (with growing wealth and public safety) under Shivaji, burst into a flame in Shambhuji's reign (at the outcasting of Balaji Avji), and has been revived and widely extended in modern times by the help of a cheap printing-press, the multiplication of newspapers as sectional organs, and the easy means of distributing writings. Each caste interprets the past history of the country and "discovers" old documents so as to heighten its own glory and depress its rival caste. A historical statement or argument is valued differently according as it comes from a Chitpavan or a Karharé, a Brahman or a Prabhu!