Administrative System of the Marathas c20.s10: 14. Consideration for the Prisoners Health
Administrative System of the Marathas c20.s10
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14. Consideration for the Prisoners Health
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At times some consideration was made for the health of the prisoners. In 1753-54 Tulaji Bhosle was transferred from Vyaghragad to Wandangad because the climate of the former place was very cold and unsuitable to the prisoner's health. Among the papers of the elder Madhava Rao's Daftar (1766-67), we find a list of nine persons imprisoned in different places for complicity in a plot with Tulaji Angre.³⁴ The eight male prisoners were all put in irons, while the single convict of the other sex was differently treated. The fact is worth noticing as the names of the male prisoners show that some of them were Brahmans, while the female was an ordinary Kunbin or slave girl. In 1776-77, the shackles of Dhondo Gopal Kelkar were ordered to be removed because his feet were swollen, and he was in consequence unable to stand or sit.³⁵ In 1773-74, Hari Sakhoji and his wife imprisoned in the fort of Sinhagad were released,³⁶ because they were seriously ill. The next year saw the release of nine persons belonging to the family of one Ramchandra Viththal,³⁷ for the climate of the fort Sinhagad did not suit their health. The cause of imprisonment in this case was evidently political, for the brother of Ramchandra, then at large, was ordered to be imprisoned in their stead. In 1781-82 four female prisoners in the fort of Ghangad got saris, bodices and blankets as the place was cold.³⁹ That one of these women was not a Brahman can be easily guessed from her name Darki Kayasthin. Keso Moreshwar Phadke and his wife Rakhma-bai were imprisoned at Revdanda. The lady became pregnant in 1806-07. The fort was an unsuitable place for her delicate condition and Baji Rao Raghunath ordered her to be released and to be sent to her relatives.³⁹
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³⁴ P. D., Vol. VII, p. 239.
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³⁵ P. D., Vol. VIII, p. 142.
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³⁶ P. D., Vol. VIII, pp. 136-137.
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³⁷ P. D., Vol. VIII, pp. 139-140.
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³⁹ P. D., Vol. VIII, pp. 151-152.
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³⁹ P. D., Vol. V, p. 225.
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The wives and relations of prisoners were sometimes permitted to live with them in their prison rooms to look after them whenever their health demanded it. The servants and the relatives in such cases were fed by the government during their residence in the prison. In 1777-78, during the administration of the second Madhava Rao, it was ordered that the wife of Mahadji Ganesh Phadke, a prisoner in the fort of Chandangad, and a female attendant should be permitted to reside with him, for the prisoner felt indisposed and the usual ration should be given them.⁴⁰ Similar permissions were given to the family of Madhava Rao Krishna Bhingarkar in 1785-86.⁴¹
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⁴⁰ P. D., Vol. VIII, p. 143.
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⁴¹ P. D., Vol. VIII, pp. 152-153.