Administrative System of the Marathas c25.s3.4

c25.s3.4

Let us now enquire why the Chhatrapatis and the Peshwas after them, deemed it incumbent on themselves to prescribe some religious penance for convicted offenders. The king was regarded as not only the chief magistrate, but also as the ecclesiastical head of the state, and regulator of social and religious customs and practices. "He shall protect the castes and orders," says Gautama, "in accordance with justice, and those who leave (the path of duty) he shall lead back (to it)."¹³ Certain crimes made the offender an outcast, and Vishnu tells us that "social intercourse with such criminals is also a high crime. He who associates with an outcast is outcasted himself after a year; and so is he who rides in the same carriage with him, or who eats in his company, or who sits on the same bench, or who lies on the same couch with him." ¹⁴ It is therefore clear that the Chhatrapatis and the Peshwas compelled the offender to undergo some religious penance in order to prevent the subversion of caste and order by contact with such offenders conscious or unconscious, intentional and unintentional. Moreover, it was the duty of the king, as Vashishtha tells us, to correct the evil-minded in every way.