Administrative System of the Marathas c20.s1: 1. Social Affairs
Administrative System of the Marathas c20.s1
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1. Social Affairs
c20.s1.1
This combination of the secular with the religious authority naturally led the Peshwa to regulate social affairs, and he could not logically avoid this duty even if he would. We have seen how Sambhaji Maharaj had sanctioned the decisions of the Chhandogyamatya as the ecclesiastical head of the state. Similar orders were often issued in the name of Shahu Chhatrapati. Feudal chiefs like the Angrias had undertaken similar duties within their fiefs. On the *shuklatritiya* of Ashwin, Shaka 1656 (the third day of the lighter half of Ashwin or October 6, 1734) Sambhaji Angre Sarkhel with due salutations referred the case of a Brahman woman Savitri to the Dharmadhikaris and other Brahmans well-versed in the Vedas and the Shastras of Kasba Karhad.² It is to be noted here that on these social questions the decision of the *got* or caste people was often confirmed and the Panchayat was appointed for enquiry about old customs as well as decision thereupon. An unreasonable judgment of the got was seldom if ever upheld.
c20.s1.2
² B.I.S.M., Tritiya Sammelan, p. 93.
c20.s1.3
The Peshwas did not exercise this authority of regulating the social affairs because they were Brahmans. It formed part of their duties as the chief magistrates of the state. In one of the documents we find that cases of social customs and rights were sometimes decided by Muham-madan rulers like Aurangzib.³ As the Joshis assert, "On a previous occasion, the servants of the fort and from two to four thousand Mahars of the province applied to Aurangzib Padsha that the Jyotishis should be ordered to officiate in their marriages. After an enquiry about the old customs, he decided that the Jyotishis were not to officiate in Mahars' marriages and up to this time we have worked according to that decision."
c20.s1.4
³ P. D., Vol. VIII, pp. 279-281.