History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v2.c24.s1.443

v2.c24.s1.443

This question is now largely of academic interest. Whether a person is a śūdra or a member of the regenerate classes assumes great importance in adoption, inheritance and succession. Therefore the question, whether kṣatriyas exist in modern times, came before the British Indian courts over a hundred years ago. In *Chouturya Run Murdun Syn v. Sahub Purhulad Syn* 7 Moore's Indian Appeals 18 this question was argued and the Privy Council citing the authorities on both sides set the question at rest by remarking (p. 46) 'Their Lordships have nevertheless no doubt that the existence of the Khatri caste as one of the regenerate tribes is fully recognised throughout India and also that Rajputs in central India......are considered to be of that class......The courts in all cases assume that the four great classes remain'. The only question that is now permissible is whether a particular caste belongs to the regenerate classes or to the śūdra class. On this the courts often differ. Vide p. 75 under *Kāyastha*. In *Maharaja of Kolhapur v. Sundaram Ayyar* 48 Mad. 1 it was held (in an exhaustive judgment extending over 229 pages) that the Tanjore Maratha princes descended from Venkaji, the step-brother of the founder of the Maratha Empire, were śūdras and not kṣatriyas. The learned judges (at p. 51) quote Telang's *dictum* criticized by me above (note 923), but refrain from expressing any decided opinion about the claim of Shivaji to be of kṣatriya descent. In *Subrao v Radha* 52 Bom. 497 it was held after a careful examination of authorities that the Marathas of Mahārāṣṭra are sub-divided into three groups, viz. (1) the five families, (2) the ninety-six families and (3) the rest and that the first two groups are kṣatriyas. It was further held that the tests to be applied in determining the class (varṇa) of a particular caste are three viz. the consciousness of the caste itself, the acceptance of that consciousness by other castes, and lastly its customs and usages.