The Positive Background of Hindu Sociology c14.s9.t7.51

c14.s9.t7.51

The local or geographical colouring associated with the expression *mahārāṣṭra* in *mahārāṣṭradharma* should not by any means mislead us in regard to its real import as having bearing on the Hindus of all India. Rāmdās is not addressing his message to a Rajput. Nor is a Rajput or, say, a North Indian saint, poet or patriot (like Bhūṣaṇa) trying to inspire a Maratha ruler with a call to duty. That is why the pan-Indian category of, say, *Bhāratadharma* or *Dakṣiṇidharma* (Deccani *dharma*) or *Āryadharma* has not been employed. It is as a Maratha patriot that the saint Rāmdās is reminding Sambhāji of the great task that lies before him, and no regional category can possibly be more normal and natural than that about the land in which he is born and bred,—the land which has already shown the way to *Hindwī Svarājya*.