Administrative System of the Marathas c20.s3: 5. Influence of Orthodox Views
Administrative System of the Marathas c20.s3
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5. Influence of Orthodox Views
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Sometimes the Peshwas were influenced by orthodox ideas. In 1744-45, the Peshwa was informed by a person from Bassein that during the Portuguese regime some Brahmans of the Yajurvedi class introduced the new unorthodox practice of giving their daughters in marriage to nephews (by sisters). But now as a righteous government was established and as the new practice was quite contrary to the *Dharmashastras*, a fine of Rs. 50 together with the punishment of excommunication should be inflicted on those who adhered to this practice. The suggestion was accepted and instructions were accordingly issued to the officers in charge of Bassein.¹²
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¹² P. D., Vol. II, p. 198. This custom prevails among the Ganda Saraswat Brahmans commonly known as Shenvis.
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The first Madhava Rao excommunicated Sakho Moreshwar Belsare Joshi Kulkarni of Jejuri and confiscated his Kulkarni and Joshi watan because he did not observe mourning for a death in another branch of his family. Copies of the order were sent to government officers and the Brahman community of Jejuri.¹³ In 1789-90 during the administration of Madhava Rao II the Prabhus were ordered to desist from pronouncing Vedic *mantras* and other practices peculiar to Brahmans.
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¹³ P. D., Vol. VII, pp. 360-361.
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They were strictly ordered not to obstruct the remarriage of a willing widow in their community.¹⁴ But it appears from an order of Baji Rao Raghunath dated 1796-97 that the Prabhus had the right of wearing sacred thread like the Brahmans.¹⁵ Baji Rao II tried to enforce the old Shastric regulations about marriage specially in the Brahman community. He ordered that no Brahman should sell his daughter or keep her unmarried after she was nine years old.¹⁶
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¹⁴ The order runs as follows: The Brahmans of Kasba Pen in Pargana Sakse came to the Huzur and complained that the Prabhus did not behave according to the regulations formerly made during the administration of the late Peshwa Narayan Rao about their religious conduct and secretly celebrate the Brahman rites. An enquiry should therefore be made and order passed. It has been found that during the regime of the late Peshwa Narayan Rao the following regulations were made and the Prabhus had signed an agreement to behave in accordance to these:
(1) That they would perform no religious rite accompanied by a recital of Vedic Mantras.
(2) That they would not pronounce Vedic Mantras, if any occurs (in course of their religious rites).
(3) That they would not use cooked rice in offering oblations to the dead.
(4) That in performing daily oblations, etc., they would pronounce Pauranic Mantras only and they would not feed Brahmans at their house.
(5) That they would not worship the Shaligram deity.
(6) That they would visit only the temples frequented by Shudras.
(7) That they would salute Brahmans by calling out the word Dandavat and use the same word in saluting men of their own caste.
(8) That they would not oppose the remarriage of any willing widow of their caste. The Peshwa orders strict observance of these regulations, made in his father's regime, and threatens any failure to do so with severe punishment. The Government officers in different Mahals are entrusted with the execution of the above order (for original document see Peshwa's Diaries, Sawai Madhava Rao, Vol. III, pp. 287. 292). This document does not prove the illegality or otherwise of the Prabhu claims, and is cited simply as an instance of state interference in social affairs. I have not the least intention of participating in a controversy which has already become acrimonious, and nothing will hurt me more if the quotation of this document here is given an interpretation likely to offend my many esteemed Prabhu friends.
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¹⁵ P. D., Vol. V, pp. 251-252.
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¹⁶ P. D., Vol. V, pp. 253-255.
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To Mamledar and other officers in Talukas and Mahals. "The Huzur has been informed that Brahmans sell their daughters to their castemen and keep them unmarried after the age of nine years. Thereupon this letter is addressed to you. You should strictly warn all Brahmans in every village under your jurisdiction against sale of girls and keeping them unmarried after nine years. Failure to observe this will not be excused. Make careful enquiry from the day of the receipt of this letter and excommunicate every one who may have sold daughters after the receipt of this letter. About their re-admission into the caste necessary orders will be passed by the Huzur."
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6. *Widow Remarriage:*
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Liable to be guided by superstition and orthodox views as the Peshwas were, a modern student will be struck more by the liberal spirit that pervades their social regulations than their occasional tinge of narrowness. We in Bengal are more concerned with the question of widow remarriage and readmission to society of students returning from foreign lands. We have often come across the tax known as Patdam (tax upon widow remarriage) in documents previously quoted and among the regulations about religious conduct of the Prabhus we have seen them stipulating that they would not oppose the remarriage of any willing widow of their caste. Widow remarriage was a common practice among the non-Brahmans of Maharashtra. There were two forms of remarriage—Pat and Muhurta; the Pat seems to have been more informal. Justice Telang says that the celebrated general Parashram Bhau Patwardhan had contemplated the remarriage of his young widowed daughter although the custom did not prevail among the Brahmans and it is said he got the sanction of no less an authority than the celebrated Nyayadhish Ram Shastri.¹⁷ Why Parashram gave up this bold idea is not known, and Brahman widows in Maharashtra like their unfortunate sisters in Northern India have been condemned to life-long misery and austerity.
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¹⁷ Vasudev Shastri Khare has proved conclusively that there is no evidence for this assertion; see his Adhikar Yoga.
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Among the non-Brahmans, however, not only widow remarriage but marriage of a woman to a second husband in case of prolonged and continued absence of the first, depriving her of any means of livelihood, was also permitted. An instance of such a marriage is found among the papers in the Daftar of Shahu Chhatrapati. The facts of the case are as follows: One Godji Gaikwad, Patil of Mauja Bahuli, Tarf Muthekhore, represented to the Huzur that Jani, daughter of Manaji Ghorepada Patil of Sayagaon was given in marriage to Jotyaji Savant of Kasba Dahigaon. Jotyaji however left her and went away. She waited for her husband for ten or twelve years but he did not return. In the meantime her parents died and there was nobody in her husband's family to maintain her. Then she went to the King and represented that as she had none to support her, she should be advised what she should do. The King, thereupon, ordered her to marry a second husband according to the Pat rites. Then she came back to Muthekhore and informed the Deshmukh, Deshpande, and the got of the purport of the Raja's order, and they married her to Godji Gaikwad according to the Pat rites. But the latter was arrested by Pant Sachiv and asked by whose authority he had performed the Pat ceremony. Godji answered that he had the authority of the Raja and as he was afraid that in future he might be similarly troubled by others, he requested the King to give him a written authority. An Abhaya Patra was accordingly granted to him.¹⁸
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¹⁸ P. D., Vol. I, p. 218.