Administrative System of the Marathas c25.s3.8

c25.s3.8

Adultery was another offence for which very severe punishment was inflicted on the female offender. In the year 1746 one Bhikaji Gauli and his paramour were fined one khandi of ghi. The next year the wife of a Muhammadan carter was sent to prison; and in 1755 a Koli woman, Randki by name, was condemned to slavery, but she was saved from this terrible fate at the prayer of her kinsmen and was let off with a fine of Rupees fifty only. A fine of five hundred Rupees was inflicted on one Shankraji Chauhan for committing adultery in the year 1755-56; a girl was actually sold in slavery for failing to rise above the hankering of the flesh. ¹⁵ Under the administration of the elder Madhava Rao, it was decided that adultery with a willing woman deserted by her husband was no offence at all,¹⁶ but in two ordinary cases imprisonment was the punishment inflicted.¹⁷ In the year 1781-82 an adulteress, Ahili by name, was set at liberty after her nose had been cut off, while the male offender was let off with a fine only. A few years later another woman was released from prison on her father standing surety for her good conduct.¹⁸