Caste and Race in India c5.127

c5.127

The decisions of the village-councils that have come down to us from the Maratha country, bear the signatures of almost all the village-servants, including the untouchable Mahar and Mang.² An entry in the Private Diary of Anandaranga Pillay of the middle of the eighteenth century refers to a village-meeting called to consider a case of temple-desecration "in which people of all castes—from the Brahmin to the Pariah—took part".³ Dr. Matthai quotes the description of a meeting of a village Panchayat in which both the Brahmins and the Śūdras took part. The Brahmin schoolmaster of the place was the accused, he having inflicted exceptionally severe punishment on one of the boys under his charge. The Brahmin members sat on a higher platform and the Śūdras on a lower veranda; both the sections indulging freely in betel and tobacco-snuff.¹ In the diaries of the Peshwas of Poona and the Raja of Satara there are a few references to meetings of the whole village community, assembled to adjudicate quarrels between Brahmins or to offer authoritative advice in their domestic matters. A Brahmin Kulkarni had one son who had married two wives, one of whom had borne him only two daughters. On the sudden death of the son, his senior wife resolved to immolate herself. The whole village, including all the village dignitaries, was called in conference. In view of the old man's helpless condition the assembly proposed that the lady should adopt a son before burning herself. This decision was agreed to by the old man and his daughter-in-law. The whole assemblage further, in consultation with the persons concerned, selected the person to be adopted and made a request for him to his guardian.² A quarrel between Brahmin cousins in respect of some hereditary rights was referred for settlement to the whole village. The assembly that was to give the decision included Marathas, Dhangars, Gurav, Sutar, Lohar, potter, Koli, barber, Chambhar, Mahar, and Mang.³