Administrative System of the Marathas c20.s3.11

c20.s3.11

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.