chapter one making of the chhtrapati - saints and...
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CHAPTER ONE
MAKING OF THE CHHTRAPATI - SAINTS AND IDEOLOGY
Politically, what, Fukazawa might conlcude that
Maharashtra was a Marcher's territory, in socio-cultural
terms Maharashtra was a playground for the interplay of
various sects and sub-sects. From the 13th century when
the Yadavas of Oevagiri were the ruling power in
Maharashtra, the religious stream was generally
brahmanical in its character. The Brahmins' pedantic
commentaries and abstruse metaphysics could hardly be
understood by people. The excess to which ritualism had
been carried may be infrred from the 'Vratakhanda' , a
compilation by Hemadri, a minister of the Yadavas. He
prescribed no less than 2,000 rites and ceremonies to be
performed in the course of 360 days. Hemadri's 'Chatur
Varga Chintamani' became not only an authority for
religious enlightenment but also an excuse for feeding the
Brahmins in propitiation of particular deities for almost
every day of the year. It has been summed up graphically
by Jnanadeva, "The villager worships god after god, goes
to a guru and learns some mantra from him, places an
image of his choice in corner at his house, and goes on a
pilgrimage to temple after temple. Forgetting the god at
home he worships the spirit of the dead ancestors with the
same devotion as his god, on ekadasis serpents on Nag a
Panchami, Ourga on the fourth of the dark fortnight, then
Narchandi on another occasion. He worships perpetually
without being silent even for a moment, at various
25
shrines, like a courtesan attracting man after man at the
entrance to the town; the devotee who thus runs after
different gods"
incarnate" 1 .
says Jnanadeva "is ignorance
It is more than simply misleading to allot the
concept of ideology primarily to the political sphere and
to treat belief systems as prototypically religious. It
is arguable that there has been too much emphasis in the
past on trying to define what ideology really is and too
little attention given to exploring the various levels of
social life on which cultural processes produce
ideological effects. Any component of culture can be
ideological. A more detailed study of the Warkari
movement will demonstrate how the various socio-cultural
processes had their in built ideological complexes. A
brief survey of various religious groups in Maharashtra
will enable one to establish the ideological links of
Warkaris and their political implications as it has been
articulated by various historians of different hues.
Before we get down to detailed discussion about
the Warkari Sampradaya and its ideological implications,
it will be relevant to briefly discuss about two
traditions, that is, Natha Sampradaya and Mahanubhavas.
Natha Sampradaya :- The main figures in
Maharashtra was Jnanadeva's elder brother Nivrittinatha,
1. 11 Sarth Jnanesvar i" published by Kisan Mahra j Sakhare 1972 Abhang-1801, (Alandi, Pune)
26
and Gahininatha. Mukundaraja one of the earlier Marathi
poets who complied 'Vivekasindhu' in A.D 1185 was also
Nathpanthi. This sect failed to popularise its tenets
probably due to over emphasis of Yogic Sadhana of a very
strict nature.
This sect2 was during the rule of Yadavas.
It's founder was Chakradhara Mahanubhavas accept only four
incarnations of the supreme being and call them Harsa in
Krtayuga, Datta in Tretayuga Sri Krsna in Dvapur Uga and
Chakradhara himself in Kaliyuga. According to this sect
Srikrsna is not an avatara of Visnu but the 'Parambrahma'
himself. The Dattatreya of this sect is 'one faced and
four handed.' Among their venerated texts like Lila
Charita, Govinda Prabhu Charita, etc. compiled by the
followers of the sect, may be traced the beginnings of
Marathi biography. A brief mention is articulated here in
order to.facilitate the background for Warkaris and their
social-cultural practices which is entwined with the rise
of Shivaji and the Marathas.
A discussion is necessitated about tradition and
its interpretation as generally viewed by people. The
unique techniques of expression d~veloped within the
2 . The sect had a rigorous code of conduct and produced a rich prose literature in the 13th and early 14th centuries. For a complete perspective of the sect see V.B. Kolte's works in Marathi especially, ~riChakradhar Charit~ Malakpur, Arun Prakashan, 1952). 'Leela · Charita' (Bombay, Maharashtra rajya sahitya sankriti mandal, 1978).
27
Warkari movement in Maharashtra was a long cultural
process which according to historions 3 culminated in the
rise of Maratha power in 17th century.
Before Warkaris, Mahanubhavas also had distinct
techniques of expression; bacause it offered equal status
to Shudras and women alike. In one of the Mahanubhava
texts, "The Deeds of God in Riddhipur' , three passages
taken directly from Anne Feldaus, translation of the 13th
century text indicate the Mahanubhavas unusual mode of
bhakti. It is about the Mahanubhavas eccentric saint
Gundam Raul. It concerns the Raul's wandering from the
untouchables' quarters to the Brahmins. 4
The village headmen make an ordinance.
The village headmen said "The Raul goes around
among the houses of Hangs and Mahars, and right after
wards he goes in to the houses of consecrated Brahmins.
In this way Raul has caused _general pollution. Put (the
Hangs and Mahars) houses outside the villages. Then the
Raul won't go.
Thus they had houses built outside the city. The
original Mahar quarter was razed. But the Gosavi would go
to the new one too (saying) "Oh! I shouldn't go, I say
I should go, I say .... No I must not go, I tell
you." In this way, he would amuse himself, going from
3. M.G. Ranade . 0 p-; c't t; '. -- 'V~K· ~~1 WQCc;k_J'Q:J. t :-- ~~' , :_,.;,.~ay; "' -~. ·, 'Marathanch Itihasanchi Sathaven ~ 2-.. Vols.
4.'The Deeds of God in Riddhipur! Anne Feldhaus, New York OUP, 1984, (tn a 13th cent. biography of Gunda Raul, also referred to as the Gosavi in the text, or simply the Raul~
28
house to house."
What is central to the question of ideology here
is the notion of tradition. Two themes which emerge out
of this trend is the concept of 'critique' and 'tradtion.'
The question of whether Shivaji was a nation-builder was
first raised by M.G Ranade5 The context within which
Ranade and other Indian intellectuals of colonial period
raised this issue will be discussed later in this part. A
careful consideration of the bhakti movements in general
shows that they tend to get organized and function within
the existing socio-cultural order; while they do take a
critical attitude towards this order, their activity
seldom transcends beyond a merely negative position. In
historical retrospect, their function appears to have been
to reinforce the existing order by chanelling discontent
into a negative form, rather than bring about a structural
change. It served as a safety valve, containing a variety
of potential challenges. For instance, it vaguely
castigated caste as an in equi tous system and, in
practice, provided for some extraordinary individuals some
escape from its crippling regime, but it tended to blunt
the consciousness of its victims through religious
mystifications. It is not, therefore, surprising that
individual dissent spills over into protest which is
somewhat organized within the framework of the established
socio-cultural norms. 6
5. M.G Ranade~ op.cit, p.7. 6. S.C Malik (eds) : "Indian Movements" p.2 (Simla l.I.A.S
1978).
29
SEC I - B
TRADITION, CRITIQUE, MOVEMENTS; THEMES OF IDEOLOGY
The early saint-poets make us aware of the fact
that a critique of contemporary institutions, is not a
prerogative of post industrial times but of all
oppressed classes at all times. The tradition of Warkari
Saints was more socially oriented, but this orientation
had the objective of making religions easier to be
practised socially. However, while not challenging the
content of traditional religious order, it made
institutional innovations with regard to religious
communication, such as the Kirtan mode. A hypothetical
impression which emerges from a brief survey of the bhakti
tradition is (a) that it was critical of the existing
social-order in a negative sense, as it was devoid of any
programmatic content; (b) that it was concerned with
strengthening the orthodox order by making it more
acceptable to the masses; and (c) that it was primarily
legitimising the concept of status quo of a particular
socio-cultural tradition (i.e. Hinduism per se) rather
than challenging it at the roots.
Saint-poets of Maharashtra offered a comprehensive
and immanent critique of contemporary social order. In a
span of five centuries Warkari's concept of critique and
simultaneously the 'political' appropriation of its
critique in the form of the rise of Shivaji marks the
comprehensive stratum of a tradition.
30
The concept of critique implies a dynamic re
appropriation of traditional meanings of texts and of the
tradition within which they are embedded. This is the
dimension of critique that is sensitive to the movement of
natural social life and natural social meanings through
history.
movement
What is central here in the context of bhakti
and their socio-cultural implication is the
restoration of tradition. It can be done in the manner of
exercise, which endeavours to make new sense of tradition
without over looking the historically embedded sense of
tradition, that is of the continuity of the people and
their community. The problem arises when this continuity
is understood in a linear way, as having developed without
tensions or other contradictions. By locating the
historial relevance of tradition one can render it
dynamic. In this socio-cultural dynamics of society,
tradition ceases to be a constant unchanging concept
against which 'modernity' is called upon to wage its
battles seeking its collective annihilation. Instead
modernity itself comes to be understood as "creative
release" of the essential core of tradition into its new
contexts.
Through the penetrating critique of
'interpretation(. Warkari saint poets were able to transform
the essential core of tradition or dominant ideology laden
- Hindu religion. It was not necessarily to alter the
structural frame of the its tradition though it reflected
31
the potential of alteration. Saint-poets made a different
and yet fully embedded source of their social order.
Jnanesvari, for Jnanade~a was an exercise in critical re-
appropriation of tradition that was encompassed in
Bhagvadgita. As Jhanadeva says "Even though Vedas have
said a great deal and have offered many paths, one must
choose only that which ensures one's well being. 117 Saint-
poets could penetrate beyond the veneer of ideology of
dominance as perceived within the tradition of one's
socio-cultural existence. Tukaram reflects on this
We all know the meaning of the Vedas,
Others carry them as dead weight,
The taste of food can be known only by those who have eaten, not by those who merely watch,·
Those who have not implemented these meanings in life, merely spoil them,
They are like coolies who carry other people's baggage. 8
Warkari movement which was spontaneous in the
beginning became organized later on, by articulating
itself as a sect. A movement implies change, and it
interacts with the socio-economic situation of the given
time. The element of critique and dissent in their
formative aspect form a part of the ideology of a
movement.
7. csarth Jnaneswari~ op.cit 2.260
a. 'sri Tukaramba vamcya Abhangamc i Ga tha' (Bombay: Govt. Central Press 1955.) Abhanga:2266
32
About the Maratha movement various hypotheses have
been advanced inorder to cater the different schools of
historiography. One seeks to equate it with the religious
policy of Aurangzeb. But the early phase of the expansion
of Maratha power under Shahj i and later under his son
Shivaji coincided with the reign of ShahJahan, during a
period when he had veered round to a policy of broad
religious toleration. 9 Another attempt later on was the
concept of nationalism embroidered with the socio-
religious content of Maratha movement. M. G Ranade sumbs
up in his book10 as We have thus noticed all the
principle features of "the religious movement, which,
commencing with Dhyandev who lived in the 15th century
(sic), can be traced to the end of the last century as a
steady growth in spiritual virtues. It gave us a
literature of considerable value in the vernacular
language of the country. It modified the strictness of
the old spirit of caste exclusiveness. It raised the
Shudra classes to a position of spiritual power and social
importance, almost equal to that of the Brahmans. It gave
sanctity to the family relations, and raised the status of
woman. It made the nation more humane, at the same time
more prone to hold together by mutual toleration. It
suggested and partly carried out a plan of reconcilation
with the Mohameddans. It subordinated the importance of
9. S.R.Sharma: "The Religious Policy of the Mughal Emperors" (Delhi, 1940) pp.103-4.
10. M.G.Ranade• op.cit. p.76
33
rites and ceremonies, and of pilgrimages and fasts, and of
learning and contemplation,
worship by means of love
to the higher excellence of
and faith. It checked the
excesses of polytheism. It tended in all these ways to
raise the nation generally to a higher level of capacity
both in thought and action, and prepared it in a way no
other nation in India was prepared, to take the lead in
re-establishing a united native power in the place of
foreign domination. These appear to us to be the
principal features of the religion of Maharashtra, which
saint Ramdas had in view when he advised Shivaji's son to
follow in his father's footsteps and propagate this faith,
at once tolerant and Catholic, deeply spiritual and yet
not iconoclastic."
Out of M.G Ranade's writings broadly three
elements, which are all part of the interpretation and
appropriation of a given tradition, emerge as Maratha
political achievement, termed broadly as Svaraiya. and
Maharashtra Dharma, and a religions parallel to
protestantism in western Europe.
Protest against the spiritual
institutional priests (brahmans),
authority of the
against self-
mortification, penances and fasts, liberation from the
thraldom of scholastic learning, emphasis on the
vernacular as against the classical language for religious
instruction, these were some of the common features of the
two movements. But in terms of comparitivity the
essential characteristics were entirely different in these
34
two movements. In the writings of M.G Ranade and R.S
Bhagvat, 11 this parallelium had an element in the essence
of Maharashtra Dharrnu and Svarajya.
Unlike the European concept of territorial
sovereignty, the conception of Svarajya is only
determined by its complementary opposite the Pararajya,
the 'enemy's sovereignty. 12 As such the Maratha Svarajya
was most commonly identified as the non-Moglai. This
dichotomous process of the construction of Maratha
identity comprised with Maratha rights laid the claim for
svara.jya. When Svarajya is territorially defined, as in
the treaty with Mughals of 1719, it was in the nature of
asymmetrical balance of power which laid down the claim of
Svarajya per se. A territorial reference to Maratha
homeland is present furthermore in alternative
conceptualisations as Maharashtra Rajya but there also it
is secondary13 . This secondary reference to territory
stands out most sharply in a definition of the term
Svarajya given by Govind Rao Chitnis in 1765 in reply to a
query about its meaning : "The Svarajya is the country,
west of the Bhima, and all else which you call Svarajya,
beyond that is Zabardasti." 14
11. V.K Rajwade (ed.): MIS, VOL.4, p.106
12. ibid.1 VOL 12; p.22; VOL 4, p.54
13. BISM- Varsik Itivrit (1913), p.234(document of 1707), D.V.Apte and N.C.Kelkar (eds.); "Sivacharita Pradipa", p. 43; (Poona, 1925).
14. James Grant Duff: "History of Mahrathas," Vol. 1, p.548. (New Delhi, 1971) originally published in 1826.
35
But at the same time Grant-Duff could not equate
the resurgence of bhakti movement or mainly Warkari
movement with protestantism. The anonymous author of the
"Sivadig vijaya' also does not attempt a systematic
elucidation of Maharashtra Dharma, but merely mentions th~
wretched condition of Hindu dharma in the first and second
quarter of the seventeenth century and he further expounds
that :
"the dharma of establishing sovereignty svami tra
(sivamitra) enjoins us to bring everywhere holders of
rights (adhikaris), inamdars, zamindars, and rayats under
its sway, to everyone's estate (vrtti) to its charge and
so sovereignty is established" 15
The compound Maharastra Dharma occurs for the
first time in a fifteenth century Marathi work, the Guru
Charita, where the author rather than vaunting a conscious
national or proto-national self-awareness and legitimation
reached out towards the pan-Indian, universalist ideals of
Sanskritic Hinduism, the acceptance of the Yeda, the
varnasrma scheme and so on. Again in the seventeenth
century Ramdas 16 , Vigorously advocates its spread and
Shivaji in effect appears as the !protector of gods,
brahmans, holy places and the cow.' Still this
Maharashtra Dharma never became anything else than a
15. MIS, op.cit. Vol.4, p.113
16. B. V Bhat "Maharashtra Dharma" ( 'Maharashtra Dharma Granthamala' issue no. 4) (Dhule, 1925)
36
parochial blend of elements of Hindu Dharma that prevailed
everywhere in India.
The goal of establishing 'Hindu padapadsahi' and
promoting Maharashtra Dharma appears to have been
reiterated by his successors and later rulers as well. In
the 18th century there were several attempts to bring the
sacred cities of Hindu pilgrimage under Maratha control.
These took the characteristic form, for the first time in
1736, when Peshwa Baji Rao I demanded Prayag, Benares,
Gaya, and Mathura in jagir from the Emperor . 17 The term
Maharastra Dharma even appears before the articulations or
utterances of Ramdas. From another kind of closer study
of the documents, especially of the contexts in which the
ten~ is used it becomes clear that Maharashtra Dharma
implies nothing but Hinduism of the established (in
correspondence with institutionalised articulation of
Brahminism) variety. For instance, according to the
documents referring to the Basse in campaign by Chimanj i
Appa, tbe Patils and Vatandar ryots from Basslin told the
Peshwa that the portguse rules of Bassein compaign by
Chimanji Appa, the Patils and Vatandas from Basseiin had
desecrated the temples and holy places in that part and
converted the Hindus, and that the Maharastra Dharma was
on the wane in that area, and requested the Peshwa to re-
establish the region and re-in-state the deities and
17. G. S Sardesai (SPD) Vol. 15, 1934).
(ed): "Selection from Peshwa No. 86. (Govt. Central Press,
37
Daf!ar" Bombay,
restore the Svadharma in that area. Accordingly Chimanji
Appa conquered Basse in and re-established Svadharma, and
religious practices continued. 18 Another document draws
the distinction between Achardharma (caste and religious
obligations) and Maharastra Dharma. In this document, one
Venta Agari, though a Hindu by caste, having been brought
up in the house of someone who followed a Muslim way of
living, paid only lip service to Maharastra dharma.19
Apart from Ranade's generalisations about the
interlocked structure of the religious and cultural
movement with political articulation by Shivaj i, in the
form of Maratha nation, various others like Rajwade too
emphasized on this score. He observed that the Marathas
of that time had clearly realized that in order to
establish Svarajya and Hindu religion and to give
protection to cows and Brahminse, there must be unity
among the people. "It was the spirit of the common men of
Maharashtra that crushed to shambles the religious empire
of Aurangzeb. Theological despotism reached its doom at
the hands of the sons of Mavalas, Bhandaris and Hetkaris
of Maharastra. 1120
18.R.B.G.C Vad and D.B Parsnis (eds .. ) : "Selections from the Satara Rajas' and the Peshwa Diaries' (SSRPD) 9 Vols. (Poon~and Bombay) 1905-11.
19.BISMR. Vol. 24, issue-4 (April 1944), No. 83. '
20. K.L. Mahaley; Shivaji: The Pragmatist', p.60 (Vishwa Bharati Prakashan, Nagpur, 1969).
38
The notion of Maharastra Dharma came to be fully
articulated by the 19th century onwards. There appeared
in the last decades of the century an unusually large
number of Marathi works celebrating Shivaji's exploits. 21
This upsurge of interest in Shi va j i was not
confined to the vernacular literature. Stories from this
period of Maratha history had always formed a central part
of Maharashtra's rich oral tradition. These stories were
most commonly told in the Marathi ballad form, the
'pavada.' They were sung by Goudhalis, a sub-caste of
professional musicians who would be called in to perform
for most village festivals and entertaiments. In their
accounts of deeds of heroism by Shivaji, and his
background, it is possible to gain some understanding of a
world view that was shared by most sections of
Maharastra's traditional rural society, from the ordinary
cultivator to the elite Maratha landowners. In various
'pavadas' a different ideological ~tandpoint was
embroidered in the 19th century. The traditional pavadas
which Harry Acworth22 recorded tended to serve a social
and ideological purpose.
21. Works published towards the end of the century were Antaji Ramchandra Harodikar~ "The Triumph of Shivaji," Bombay 1891 (Marathi); S.N. Dhavale; "A play about the child Shivaji," Ratnagiri, 1884 (Marathi); Krishnarao Arjun Keluskar• "The Life of Shivaji, of the Kshatriya line," Bombay 1907 (Marathi), etc.
22.Harry Acworth, "Ballads of the Marathas," Bombay 1890. According to Acworth, the rise of popularity of pavada singing can be dated to early 17th century, with the spread of the cult of 'Tulja Bhavani.'
39
These 'pavadas' tended to serve the reinforcement
of group loyalties and integrate the quite disparate
social and territorial groups led by tr.e Maratha princ~s
and their sardars.
But from the late nineteenth century onwards the
'povadas' and other verse and prose works, happened to
serve the opposite purpose and were socio-culturally
negative articulations. In these accounts, the depiction
of Shivaji was sought to elevate one leader or social
group at the expense of others, and thus to advance
contradictory and competing interpretations of
Maharastra's history and culture.
There articulations tended to generate a discourse
in which Maharashtra Dharma could be placed. Therefore
sources like sivadigvijaya also tended to endow Shivaj i
with a certain sense of miraculous attributes.
This cue was taken from earlier Maratha
chroniclers. For them, Shivaji was guided by a divine
mentor. According to 'Shivdigvijaya', Shivaji dedicated
his life to the cause of his religions and people. He
argued to himself, "I should risk my life and all (that
belongs to me) for preserving my religion by overthrowing
them. 1123 Then his wife Sai Bai said, "You should found a
kingdom, restore the gods and the Brahmans (in their place
of honor) and your desire to preserve the religion is
2 3. K. N Sane ( ed.) : •Kaveyatihash Sangrah• Bakhar !' Poona. ~No p~tic.c:~.~··~n fto ~ctAc) P·'3·
40
\\Chitnis
worthy of you. Depend on god and proceed with your work.
He is powerful enough to grant you success. 1124 The
representation of Shivaji in the Bakhar is, as one who is
possessed with in born hatred for the Muslims.
The author of 'Shivdigvijaya' while describing the
incidents of his childhood at Bijapur makes him exhort the
Hindu officers not to "live upon the bread of Muhammadans
and witness cow-slaughter. Death is far more desirable.
I shall no longer tolerate any slite upon religion or any
act of Muhammadan justice •• 25 Narratives such as the
Bhusan's (Bhukhan) about Shivaji that "he was the death of
the Muhammadans" also occur. 26
In a broader framework historians tended to
portray Shivaj i' s rise to power with three interlocked
accounts. One was his linkage with the Warkari movement;
second the directly active teachings from Ramdas; And
third, that Shivaji achieved his goal due to the Bhagwat
Dharma or Maharastra Dharma.
For G. S Sardesai the "vein of Mahar astra Dharma
not only sustained the nation through their most terrible
trials during their long struggle with Aurangzeb, but was
faithfully kept up through subsequent transformations and
-------------------------------------~--------------------24. ''Chitnis Bakhar\
1op.cit,f-3.
25. 'Shiva digvijaya' p.66 (Trana~~en op.cit p.l57-159
26. '~hitnis Bakhar' op.cit. p.BB
41
later expansions of the Maratha Empire. 27 B.R.
Suntthankar contended that the 'Saint agitation' was mass
agitation, and this agitation provided base to Shivaji. 28
For these historians, this construction of
national movement in Maharashtra (as they had premised)
had a two fold nature. There were two factors in this
movement, one representing political power wielded by
different sardars and Jagirdars scattered in Maharashtra
and the other a moral force generated by the religious
development. Shivaji synthesized both these factors in the
national movement. Limaye agrees on the whole with Ranade
in holding that the Pandharpur movement largely
contributed among other factors to the establishment of
Svarajya, whereas Bhandarkar29 opines that there was no
connection whatsoever between the Warkari tradition and
the establishment of Svarajya by Shivaj i, since the
Warkar i tradition came into existence only for the
eradication of caste-hierarchies.
Rajaram Shastri Bhagwat's "The Dharma of
Maharastra" 30 asserted the existence of a pool of common
social and religious culture, the integration of an all-
India world view of HindUism into a distinctive local
27.G.S.Sardesai: op.cit 'The Main current of Maratha·I·Hs-\o•y SoW'I'co-y' \134~ • P·l4-.. 1
2 8. B. R. Sunthankar ~ (Introduction) "Maharas..tr iya Sant Mandalche Eitihasik Karya," Belgaon Printing Press and Publishing House, 1928
29.R.G. BhandarkQ.r; Collected Works, (ed.) Utgikar, Bombayc"'·()·"'-d·)
30.Rajaram Shashtri Bhagwat: "The Dharma of Maharashtra" ( 1895) and also "The Life of Shi vaj i', Bombay ( 1889) p. 8
42
religious tradition, largely through the work of saint-
poets. Bhagwat argued that the period of history under
Shivaji represented the second rise to pre-eminence of the
Marathas - the first having taken place under the Jadhavas
in medieval Maharashtra. He emphasized the role of
Brahmins as religious advisers, citing the influence of
Mukundraj, and the absence of caste divisions "At that
time, neither the Brahmans nor the non- Brahmins among the
Marathas paid any attention whatsoever to the divisions of
caste, but were concerned only for the good of the
community celebrating their own name with that of the
community of Maharashtra. He emphasized the religious
unity of all the Marathas, expressed in the writings of
the saint-poets, who saw God as everywhere the same and
had no regard for social barriers. 31
In these construction.s of history, the second
period of Maharashtra's prosperity came with the rise of
Shivaji. The strength of feeling for unity among all
Marathas was revealed in the co-operation between the
Marathas and the Muslims of Hyderabad. Shahu wrote to
cousin ~ambhaji, when latter leagued with Nizam, "this
kingdom belongs to gods and Brahmans, the blessings of god
Shankara and goddess Bhavani enabled our great and revered
ancestor Shivaji to rescue it from the hands of
Muhammadans. 32 Peshwa Balaji Baji Rao hinted his agent at
----------------------------------------------------------31.ibid:rp.9
32. Sambhaj Kalin Pa~asar Samgraha (ed .) S. N Joshi, Poona, 1949 p.54 56.
43
the court of the Nizam in 1752 AD. to remind the Nizam how
they were actuated by religious motives in their dealings
with various potentates of India. 33 Govindram Kale wrote
to Nana Phadnis from Hyderabad (2 July, 1792 "The epoch
makiing Shivaj i rose in a small corner to protect the
Hindu religion on the model of the great Shivaji.
Not only have territories and kingdoms been acquired
by this victory (of Mahadji Scindia) but the protection of
the Vedas and the Shastras, the foundation of religion and
unmolested worship, the preservation of Brahmans and cows
all have been achieved. 1134
Dharma, as Rajwade35 says has four implications
like virtue, duty, charity and a way to remove intense
misery. Both M.G Ranade and R.S Bhagvat, have in their
opinion applied the fourth meaning to the word Dharma and
interpreted Maharashtra Dharma as a new order against the
exclusive Hindu religion. This interpretation was in
contrast to earlier Ramdas's and other Bakhar authors.
Ramdas according to Raj wade, seemed to believe that
Maharashtra Dharma was the duty of the whole of
Maharashtra, of the entire Maratha society. 36
Rajwade concludes that Maharashtra Dharma is a
political concept. To Rajwade, the opinion of Ranade that
33. G.S. Sardesai, op.cit, p.15
34. ibid.; p.16
35. MIS, op.cit. Vol. IV (Introduction) p. 3-6
36. ibid; p .113
44
the cult of devotion rose against the traditional religion
removing the exclusiveness of the Maratha mind, and that
there arose consequently an intense desire all around to
become free leading to the establishment of Svarajya, is
not comprehensive. For him, Ranade has misappropriately
identified Maharashtra Dharma with the cult of devotion
followed by the saints. Maharashtra Dharma Rajwade
clarifies as preached by Ramdas was responsible for the
political revolution of the times of Shivaji, and not the
cult of renunciation of the saints. 37
In the hagiographical text 'Gurucharita' a
discussion is existent about the Maharashtra Dharma. It
says that a Muhammadan king of Bidar became a follower of
Sri Narsimha Sarswati who was seen as an incarnation of
lord Dattatreya. The Muhammadan king was accused of
worshipping Hindu gods, of showing respect to the Brahmins
and of deserting the religion of Islam in general. The
king of Bidar is supposed to have been Ala-ud-din II, the
Bahmani king, 1455-1458. The Gurucharita says that the
whole Brahmin class became happy and exclaimed: "The king
has become the servant of Brahmins. It augurs well for
the kingdom. When there is such a king who acts according
to Maharashtra Dharma, ve~ily he wili not hate us."38
37.ibid, vol.I.
38.Sri Gurucharita, Chapter 50. "Everyone is satisfied and are praising the king, now the king is servant of the masses, (Brahmins ?) ; Now he looks after the state well, this type of king we have, who follows Maharashtra Dharma. Then who won't be jealous, who won't hate us!' (Translated from Marathi)
45
In the Mahikvati Bakharm the word Maharashtra
Dharma seems to have been used in the traditional sense of
a complex of spiritual and moral rules, regulations and
conventions. Contents of this Bakhar has been written at
different times, by different authors and arranged without
any regard to chronology. The second and third chapters
were written by Keshvacharya as early as 1448 A.D. It
mainly deals with the genealogies of the kings who ruled
in Mahim. 39 f
The term tMaharashtra Dharma as used by
Keshvacharya applied neither to the political entity which
came to be known as Maharashtra nor to the religion or the
duties of the inhabitants. What Keshvacharya conceives of
as Maharashtra Dharma was not very different from Hindu
Dharma. For Ramdas, usage of the term Maharashtra Dharma
takes place on two occasions in his correspondences with
Shivaji and Shambhaji respectively. Ramdas compliments
Shivaji for having Maharashtra Dharma defended as "For the
protection of the temples, of dharma, of the cows, and of
the Brahmins. God became enshrined in your heart,
inspiring you. In this world, there is none who could
defend dharma. It is only because of you that
Maharashtra Dharma has been saved." 40 Maharashtra Dharma
as a political concept was articulated in Ramdas's letter
to Shambha j i . Here Ramdas exhorts Shambhaji to give up
39:Mahikvatichi Bakhar~ V.K. Rajwade (ed) Poona
40.N.K. Behere, op.cit. p.165.
46
p.53-58, 1923,
the vices and to extend the boundary of Maharashtra. 41
Maharashtra Dharma as a concept was not solely
religious or political. It had a socio-cultural function.
This socio-cultural function in relation with bhakti
tradition has led historians to declare it the ideological
ingredient for the Maratha state. Though Prof. Satish
Chandra strongly refutes the claim of nationalistic
elements of the Marathas, he does say that "the
intellectual or ideological framework was provided by the
bhakti movement which crystallised into the 'Maharashtra
Dharma.' 42 Raa Chandra Nilakanth Amatya of Shivaji wrote
his tribute in 'Ajnapatra'; The saints have said "The
corrupt Muslims have become our kings,
Everywhere misdeeds have cropped up,
Then He incarnated Himself
To reaove the sins of this dark age."
"Thus he elevated his Maratha nation consisting of 96
clans to an unheard of dignity, crowning the whole
achievement by occupying an exalted throne and assuming
the title Chhatrapati. All this he did for the defense of
his religion. Indeed this miracle is a special creation
of God almighty through Shivaji's instrumentality." 43
41."Gather all the Marathis together and extend our r
Maharashtra'\!?harma. Our acncestors will laugh if retain whateve~ you have and later try to earn more let the 'Maharashtra state grow and extend everywhere:·
42. Satish Chandra, ''social Back ground to the Rise of the Maratha lf!IQ)(; ''IESHR, Vol. 10, no. 3, 1973, pp. 216-17
43.Ajnapatra; (Trans.) s.v. Puntambekar in 3 Vols; also as 'Royal edict1 ' J.I.H. 1929
47
The mention of 96 clans of Marathas has been put
in question by R.E Enthoven. 44 According to him the Asal
Marathas claim to belong to four main branches or vanshas
each containing 24 kuls of families. These are: (1) Brahm
Vansha or Brahmin (2) Shesha Vansha or the serpent branch,
3) Somavansha or the moon branch (4) Suryavansha or the
sun branch. This classification owes its adoption from
for claiming the support of other Rajput states.
Harry Acworth in his "Introductim to the Ballads
45 of the Marathas" describes that 'Shivaji from the first
day kept his eyes steadily fixed on the vast project of
Hindu reconquest . . . . . . . Religion was a dominant feature
in both (Shivaji and Aurangzeb), but in Aurangzeb it was
degraded into pettiest, narrowest and most malignant
bigotry .•...• (Aurangzeb) opposed to such a national and
religious upheaval as is without a parallel in the history
of India and which was guided by an intellect as far
reaching II Various other accounts like
Eliphinstone' s observation that "His first care in his
conquest was, to restore Hindu endowments, and revive old
institutions. He had been brought up in a strong Hindu
44.R.E.Enthoven: "The Tribes and Castes of Bombay," Vol.III pp.19-20, Bombay, 1922
45.H.Acworth: "Introduction to the Ballads of the Marathas" 1927, Bombay
48
feeling, which perhaps, was at first, as much national as
religious, and out of this sprung up a rooted hatred to
the Mussalmans, and an increasing attachment to his own
supersition. This inclination fell in so well with his
policy, that he began to effect peculiar piety and to lay
claim to prophetic dreams and other manifestations of the
favours of the gods." 46
In an 18th century trench account Taldean
describes Shivaji rose 'from a torpor, where they had been
thrown by the conquests and tyrannies of the Moghuls.' 47
In otherwords, what the movement of Svarajya as
viewed by chroniclers, with Shivaji, was it religious
embroidery in the frame of Maharastra Dharma ? And did it
lead to the ideological backing from a popular cultural
tradition to Maratha political achievement. This is to
say that these accounts and other marathi bakhars have
been uncritically accepted as sources. Therefore, they
tend to create a politico-historical problems.
In 18th century influence of these sources are
evident in Peshwas, who according to chronicles appear to
have encouraged the practice of orthodox Hinduism and
stressed the strict observance of 1 achardharma 1 in the
Maratha kingdom. There is no evidence whatsoever in the
Marathas political ambitions and actions of having pursued
46.Eliphinstone: 1The History of India~ London, 1874,p.544
47.B.M Morrison~J.I.H April 1964: 42; 1, p.34,
49
the goal of a Pan-Hindu Empire. On the other hand in 1752
the Marathis had concluded a treaty with the Mughals48 to
protect the emperor from his enemies.
There is evidence enough to show that religion
could not have been a catch-word for Marathas. This is
reflected in the pol it ica 1 scenario of the period.
Shahji, Shivaji's father is supposed to. have written to
his son "that he had deserted the cause of religion and
treacherously joined the Bijapur Oarbar" 49 Chronicles of
Peshwas prepared by Nana Phadnis in 1783 says, "God did
relish the wicked part Shahj i had taken in helping the
Turks to conver.t India into a Muslim land and put down the
Hindu faith". Govind Vaidya describes for 'Kanthrayanalasa
- Charitam' that Shahji accompanied Bijapuri general
Randaula Khan during 1637-39 A.D. in conquest of western
Karnatak, "The Turk took possession of the fort, captured
women, plundered the temples and the town, insulted the
honour of virtuous ladies and slaughtered cows". 50 Shahji
wrote to Ali Adil Shah, "I will retire to some sacred
place of the Hindus and will serve there, my Almighty
Master and ever pray for your Majesty.n 51
The political expediency of the time led the 'gon
Brahman pratipalak' Shivaji to deal firmly at times with
48. Sardesai:'New History of the Marathas~ Vol. II, p.366 49. 'Shivaji's letter to his father' in 1Shivaji Souvenir'
(ed. Sardesai) Eng.Sec. p.l44, Marathi sec. p.ll8 50. G.B.Sardesai "The Main Currents of Maratha History,"
Bombay, 1949, p.l3 51. Shahji's letter~Ali Adil Shah (1656-72), published by
V.K. Rajwade in a monthly 'Ramdas and Ramdasi' (1916) also'Shivaji souvenir' (ed.Sardesai) Eng.Sec. p.140.
50
Brahmins per se. The Deccan! Brahmins had from the
beginning taken an important part in organising the
domi'nions and power of Shivaji, and many of them - the
Pingles, Abaji Sondev, Prahlad Niraji and others had shown
great abilit in the field of administration. 52 Shivaji
ordered that no mean employment was to be given to
Brahmins and he made several transfers accordingly. 53 In
Chi tnisi Bakhar it is aentioned that Pandi trav should
honor learned Brahmins; and the Nyayadhis should decide
all disputes with the co-operation of Brahmins learned in
the Shastras. 54
The existing narrative on Brahmins places
Shivaji's coronational event in an interlocking nexus of
explanation. When Shivaj i attempted to get himself
coronated, the Brahmins challenged his right to Kshatriya
status. Here lies the failure of the claim of the
protagonists of Saint agitation that the movement created
the background for Shivaji's rise to power. If the saint-
poets' movement was non-brahmin is tic in its
manifestations, why is then Shivaj i found to be so
helpless. The main dissatisfaction of Sambhaj i against
Shivaji is quoted to be his nimbleness against the claimed
superiority of Brahmins.55
52. M.G. Ranade, op.cit, p.201
53. Forrest's Selections, (Vol.I, p.254J From the minutes and other official writings of Eliphinstones, London, 1884.
54. ~hitnis Bakhar; p.168, op.cit
55. K.L. Mahaley; Shivaji; op.cit, p.60, 1969, Nagpur
51
The French Governor Martin writes about the
treatment which the Marathas meted out to the family of
his Brahmin servant during Shivaji's Karnatic campaign.
"There were even orders for arresting him After
his departure they caused to be sealed the door of his
house where his father and mother each aged more than 80
years, were shut with the women and the children, and it
was forbidden to let anything enter or leave. n 56 Dr.
Frayer, a surgeon in East India Company, in his account of
the Marathas, observed the administration in Kanarese
(Karnataka) country; "It is a general calamity, and much
to be_ deplored, to hear the complaint of the poor. People
that remain, or are rather compelled to endure the slavery
of SevaGi. The Desies (Desain) have land imposed upon
them at double the former rates, and if they refuse to
accept it .•..... they are carried to prison ..... ; They
have now in limbo several Brachmins (Brahmans), whose
flesh they tear with pinces heated red-hot, drub them on
the shoulders to extreme anguish (though according to
their law it is forbidden to strike a Brachmin) . This is
the accustomed sawce (source) all India over, the Princes
doing the same by the governors, when removed from their
offices, to squeeze their ill-got estates out of them,
And after this fashion the Desier deal with the
56. 'Foreign Biographies of Shivaj~ (Sen S.N), Calcutta, 1927, p.J08.
52
Combies (Kunbis); so that the great fish prey on the
little as well by land as by sea bringing not only them
but their families. 5? According to the Dutch writers
Shivaji was invested by the Brahmins with the insignia of
royalty only after "he had promised to not act or rule
tyrannically and badly as before. 58 Certain Brahmin
families ot Goa, being unable to bear hardships at the
hands ot Portuguese clergymen, at last abandoned that
place and settled down at Bombay. 59
RBADDICJ SOURCES
Sir Jadunath Sarkar in 'Modern Review' 1924, made
a stateaent which leads one to the exigencies of reading a
historical text. He said "All evidence in the Marathi
langua9e should be rejected as summarily on the ground of
its being tainted by national partiality. 60 In the
Persian and European sources he appears as doing even
those acts which were not only expressly forbidden by his
religion and which would naturally wound the
susceptibilities of his fellow Hindus.
The call to "understand the bias" of a source is
quite common in the reflective writings of historians.
57. The Sourca Book of Maratha History, (ed~Rawalinson and Patwardhan, Calcutta, op.cit. 1978, p.293
oP.c..if. 58. 'Foreign Biographiesi p.387
59. English Factory records on Shivaji ed.B.G.Paranjpe, Shiv Chartra Karyalay, Vol.II, p.110, Poona, 1931
60. Sarkar J.N. 'Mod. Review', May 1924 p.567
53
How exactly do historians put emotion back into the
inanimate texts that they read ? Though these questions
are beyond the scope of this research, still one perhaps
can understand the bias of language oriented reading of
the sources. The much talked about Maharashtra dharma too
was based on a kind of homogeneous linguistic identity of
Marathi. Even the critiques of the nationalistic
aspirations of Shivaji and of his portrayal as defender
of religion will have to concede, even through the
disparate European and Persian sources. The accounts of
Shivaji in all these simply confirms the problem of
legitimation. This problem of legitimation is further
problematized in the sphere of his guest for a politically
tolerate lineage vis-a-vis with his territorial
aspirations. As in the case of (Jay Singh - ? ) During
Shivaji's period a serious challenge was posed to Maratha
Brahmin hegemony in the form of a critique of established
interpretation of traditions. It was not merely a
critique of ritualism but a philosophical and practical
unmaking of the Brahmanical world view on which the social
order had come to rest.
The experience of falsehood of the ideological
claims of patriarchy and the Brahmanic path to salvation
generated reflections among the agrarian people. This was
articulated by the saint-poets, because, they were rooted
in life experience, which was simultaneously creative and
dependent. It took an authentic poetic form and came to
be expressed in a language that was genuinely a language
54
of the oppre·ssed. Before saint-poets who could take the
mantle ot the critique of oppressive institutions, the
usage of Marathi was in practice in terms of communicating
to the common folk. One inscription dated 1187 A. D at
Parel near Bombay elucidates about a grant of land by king
Aparaditya to a temple. It is in Sanskrit, but the last
three lines are in Marathi. The Marathi lines are in
correspondence with the local medium of threatening
proverbially and are specially written to warn the
ignorant common people from disturbing the gift. It says
"The mother of the man who will break this commandy will
sle~p with a donkey.n61
Shivaji's chronology of state formation simply
cannnot be ascribed to the binary construct of historians.
A deeper level analysis of socio-cultural and ideological
motifs can be done, by distancing the problematic from
religion. Putting religion in the cultural mode may
explain the interdependence of the concept of Maharashtra
Dharma, Svarajya and tradition of saint-poets.
The critique of oppression, comes from oppression.
Ideologies justify oppression in the name of a community
which can only be in the absence of oppression.
Two themes which interact on each other is the
Warkari Sampradaya as a discourse on tradition, its
insistence on, the use of the language of the people and
no consideration for the caste laden hierarchy. on the
61. N.K. Behere "The Background of Maratha Renaissance", 1946, Nagpur, p.98
55
other hand one sees the rise of Shivaji with a sense of
linguistic homogeneity and Ramdas' s sense of Maharashtra
Dharma. This process saw the establishment of Maratha
kingdom with the corresponding disappearance of Warkar i
tradition in the 18th century. It leads to the point of
hegemonic appropriation of tradition. The ideological
content is discernible only when one sees the agrarian
changes in rural Maharashtra. N.K Behere in his citation
of &a.das tends concede this point. As Ramdas says, "It
is a pity that places should be destroyed and Brahmins
persecuted. Goodmen should die, and sinners should become
immortal. Those who walk in righteous fear should suffer
afflictions. The religions frame of mind should be lost
and religions limitation destroyed. And still god should
remain unmoved like Buddha".62
N.K Behere further proceeds with his remarks that
"Vithoba was an emblem of peace and love. These great
quailities certainly raise mankind to a higher spiritual
plane. They cement unity among the people. But they are
after all passive virtues. They do not goad a nation to
activity and there can be no prosperity and power without
active work and support ...... The cult of Bhagwat Dharma
fulfilled its mission. People belonging to various castes
and sub-castes in Maharashtra became united (emphasis
mine). But were the Muslim rulers and their kinsmen
affected by Bhagwat - dharma ? 63 Prof. Behere seems to
62. 63.
1 ibid p.l63 ibid £).163
56
mobilise the historical processes of everyday life of
Maharashtra, with a tool of hegemonic appropriation under
the ideological embroidery of Maharastra Dharma. As he
further cites Ramdas's exhortation "let the Hindus awaken
and worship Rama instead of Vithobha.n64
This picture of binary socio-cultural mode
reflects the superficial social history of Maharashtra.
The notion of tradition comes to help in clearing these
dichotomies of ideological enterprise. Rural society
always has a two-fold dimension in terms of its world-
view. One which is lived and practiced in terms of
tradition. It is based on shared meanings. Peasant
units, village and caste are various levels of this
practiced rural society. Here the tradition is alive and
comprehensible to each member of the village society. In
agrarian societies like Maharashtra it was quite evident.
The holders of any status-based positions in the
village had a shared sense of existence. For instance the
holders of the Patil or Deshmukh's or some such Watan
were entitled many perquisites and privileges. Some of
these rights, like the precedence on· various ceremonial
occasions, using the seal, receiving Shirapar or presents
from village known as vadilkache man, i.e. rights and
privileges of seniority.65
----------------------------------------------------------64 • ibidt 1 p.l64
65. MIS, Vol. 24, No. 109, p.72
57
Familial sharing of property was considered as a
common trust in which each had a right irrespective of
one's status. The e~rnings of its members even if made on
individual merit; such as a piece of land obtained as inam
or property earned through service in the army, were
regarded as a part of the joint property of the family and
hence shared by a 11 members . 6 6 The head of the family
could only dispose the shared property on the condition of
the common cause of the family. 67
Even at the level of state the world-view was in
accordance with the reality of day to day life. In the
first half of 18th century this was practiced between
Marathas and Mughals on the border regions of Junnar and
Ahmadnagar. In 'Diaries' dated 1 Jan. 1742, a clerk
working under a Jagirdar who had three villages in Junnar
region assigned to him, petitioned to the third Peshwa.
It is stated as "The headman and mirasdar peasants (of
the 3 villages) have absconded owing to shortage of
rainfall and oppression by the Mughals. (But) the uparis
remain in the villages. If an assurance for 'batai' is
kindly granted to them, they will carry out the
cultivation for the next year." 68 In ~esponse the Peshwas
sent 'abhaya-patra' to each of the J villages; a similar
66. SSRPD, Vol.4, No. 249, p.214, MIS Vol.21, no. 263
67. V.T.Gune "Social Development in Maharastra••, P.K.Gode Commemoration vol.l ed. by H.L Hariyappa & Patkar p.l47
68. SSRPD Vol.3, No. 327
58
takid (order) was sent to the clerk; "Collect the produce
(mal) of rabi, deduct the seeds, divide the remaining as
well as the produce of Kharif into three shares. One to
rayat, one of the remaining two to our Svarajya and
another to Mughals." 69
This shared meaning of existence was not only
through shared productive activities but also through
language and rituals. Shared human existence has three
basic dimensions - the material world, the social world
and the world of the self. The other aspect of peasant
world-view was its potential! ty for another shared
existence, which was not practiced.
The practitioners of a given language, share
symbols and meanings which stem from the dual character-
natural and social at the same time of people. The
potential sharing comes out of the live tradition in terms
of its critique. This is well articulated in the peasant
saint-poets' critique of tradition. This notion of
projected, shared world-view of peasants, takes form in
the critique of the validity of beliefs and activities of
everyday life.
For Habermas, 7 0 in the actual community of
everyday life the principles of truth, justice and freedom
operate counterfactually. They receive interpretations
69. ibid~/ tiO· ~:l. 7 •
70. Jurgen Habermas: "Legitimation Crisis"; (Boston: Beacon Press, 1975.) (lntroduct~on).
59
and meanings which seek to justify rather than to over
throw the domination of nature and man over man.
Tradition as it remains alive in an actual community
constitutes a hegemonic moment, an ideology legitimising
domination. But it also carries within it the opposite
movement of critique, a reflection on oppressive social
practice which reveals as lies, the use of the principles
on which a potential world-view rests for justifying the
real and shared experience of peasant life.
So the other side of the tradition has to be seen
in the wider context of socio-cultural reality. What is
central to this problematic is the exploration of the view
of the notion of ideological mosaic which provided the
much huped Marathas' rise, with a cementing effect. It
tends to argue that despite of Ramdas' s rhetorics of
Jayishnu and ideological vegetarianism of Warkaris, the
cementing nature could give Shivaji a much needed
background which resulted in the rise of Marathas.
Before elaborating on the Warkaris and the peasant
followers who could take those annual pilgrimages and
follow the articulatious of the critical appropriation of
Gi ta from the days of Jnanadeva, and shared the common
element of critical tradition, with Tukaram through his
abhangas. This qrticulations were exhorted by saints one
has to locate the debate on the role of ideology in a
proper context.
60
CRXTXCAL RBAPPRAXSAL OP XDEOLOGY:- As is evident from
the above mentioned elaboration about tradition and its
critical appropriation on the one side and hegemonic
appropriation on the other side, in effect the role
assigned to ideology becomes one of cementing nature.
This aspect of ideology has to be examined in its
methodological instance.
While the desiderata seem clear, the results have
so far ~en disappointing. Numerous books on ideology
have appeared in English during the last few years; but
these books, however insightful, are .constrained in the
Indian perspective in many ways. While often expressing
an interest in language, the theorists of ideology have
done little to link the study of linguistic expressions to
the analysis of ideology. For it has been assumed that
ideology operates like a sort of social cement, binding
the members of a society together by providing them with
collectively shared values and norms. The pervasiveness
of this assumption is attested to by the number of times
that one comes across a body of research material
pertaining to the idea of ideological mobility in medieval
India. The stability of medieval Indian society may have
depended, not so much upon a consensus concerning
particular values or norms, but upon a lack of consensus
at the very point where oppositional attitudes could be
translated into protest and also in the discontent of
everydayness of peasant life.
The point of reappraisal of ideology here is to
61
take ideology away from collectively shared values
towards the study of the complex ways in which meaning of
Warkari tradition is mobilized for the maintenance of the
idea of the rise of Marathas and the relations of
domination. For this, in the following pages, a synoptic
representation of various notions of ideology is required.
:IDEOLOGY AS BBLJ:BI' SYSTEM : Martin Seliger in 1976
developed an approach which is premised upon a distinction
between two conceptions of ideology. 71 on the one hand
there is the 'restrictive conception of ideology' which
confines the term 'ideology' to specific political belief
systems; on the other hand, there is the 'inclusive
conception' which applies the term to all political belief
systems, irrespective of whether the beliefs guide action
oriented towards preserving, destroying or re building the
social order.
Ideologies according to Seliger, are action -
oriented sets of beliefs which are organized into coherent
systems. For Seliger the concept of ideology can be
applied to any belief system, whether revolutionary,
reformist or reactionary, and thus the concept is stripped
of the critical edge, the negative force which it had in
the writings of Marx. Having broken the connection
between ideology and the critique of domination, it is no
surprise to see that Seliger's conception of ideology is
related in only the most diffuse way to the institutional ----------------------------------------------------------71. ·~ Martin Seliger; Ideology ans Politics;
19 7 6 pp : , 91-2 ,
62
Lonodn;
ans structural features of society.
Seliger exaggerates the unity and discreteness of
ideologies. If one wishes to study ideologies one is
invited to examine the articulated doctrines of organised
political acts; one no longer sees that the most effective
ground of ideology is not the domain defined as "politics"
but rather the domain of everyday life agrarian
productive activities, village community life, relgious
activity. Restricting the study of ideology to an
examination of certain political/state formations, will
tend to overlook the other aspects of historical proceses.
And finally to conceptualize ideology in terms of beliefs
is to divert attention away from the complex and crucial
problem of the relation between ideology and language.
Seliger speaks very loosely of ideology as a
'system of beliefs' a 'system of thought' and he describes
the ideolog~cal composite as comprising 'principles' and
"commitments," etc.
IDEOLOGY AS SOCIAL RELATIONS For Al thusser and his
followers ideology is not a specific creation of one
culture but is a necessary feature of any society, in so
far as any society must provide the means to form its
members and transform them to their conditions of
existence. "Human societies secrete ideology as the very
element and atmosphere indispensable to the historical
63
respiration and life". 72 It is customary to view ideology
as a form of consciousness or a realm of ideas; but this,
Al thusser argues, is a mistake. Ideology is not a
distorted represe-ntation of real relations but rather a
real relation itself, namely the relation through which
human beings live the relation to their world.
Ideological relations make up a specific instance
of the ~ocial totality which in a provocative essay,
Althusser analysed under the label of 'ideological state
apparatuses.'(ISAs) 73
Althusser's account of ideology falls, according
to Paul Hirst, into two parts. The first part concerns
the general notion of ideological state apparatuses. This
notion is introduced by Al thusser as a response to the
question with which he begins, namely the question of
"reproduction." In order to produce in society, it is
necessary to reproduce the conditions of production, and
so one must ask what is involved in the reproduction of
the conditions of production. Such production involves
reproducing both the forces of production. Althusser's
view is that the reproduction of· the relations of
production is secured essentially by the exercise of state
power in the specific 'apparatuses' (or institutions) that
72. Louis Al:husser;. 'For Marx,' (tr .) Ben Brewster (Harmondsworth, Middlesex, Penguin, 1969)p.232.
73. L.Alth~r; Lenin's .. -. Philosophy and other Essays', Ben Brewster NLB, 1971, P.l21-73.
64
make up the state.
distinguished by
Two types of state
Althusser: the
'apparatuses' are
repressive state
apparatuses comprising
courts, prisons and so
the government, army, police
on; and the ideological state
apparatuses which include the religions centres, schools,
family, legal system, political parties etc. Al thusser
then begins a more detailed discussion of ideology by
observing that, whereas the repressive state apparatuses
function primarily 'by violence,' the ideological state
apparatuses function primarily 'by ideology.'
The critical discussions of the previous two
aspects of ideology prepare
constructive contribution. In
the way for
the context of
a more
medieval
Indian society, the phenomenon of 'power' in social
relationships tend to generate an aspect of discussion,
which has been hitherto untouched. Despite the fact
regarding the Warkari sect which did display
confrontationist and other values; in general the
framework of hierarchichized society was balanced by a
certain network of 'power' at that time.
In medieval Maharashtra, there was a shifting
balance of ideo1ogical forces from period to period,
between fractions of the politically and religionsly
dominant and between different institutions or ideological
region. It is easy to discern dominant ideologies within
institutions, such as relation of Maharashtra Dharma to
the rise of Shivaji. But it is not simple to see, how
65
more general and disparate elements of culture relate
together to form an ideological ensemble. Shivaji while
referring to his kingdom as a 'hindavi svrajya' 74 and to
himself as a 'protector of cows and brahmins', does not
appear to have been biased in any way against the Muslims
in his realm. Under his sovereignty the inams of both
communities were sequestered but shrines and places of
worship and religions personages of either were
scrupulously maintained by allowances 'according to their
importance.' 75 There are many examples from Shi vaj i 's
early reign of new grants of land made by him to mosques
and Muslim saints as well as to Brahmins, temples etc. 76
The states articulation of religion and their
ideological legitimation are confined to specific
institutions only. As Ajnapatra says, 'to make a grant of
land for the purpose of dhar11a is an act of eternal
merit', and among the functions of the king it counts the
inquiry into the prevalence of Dharma and dharma, timely
dan (grants) ..... the gaining of the favour of gods and
good Brahmins devoted to gods, and the destruction of
irreligions tendencies, the propagation of the duties of
religion, the acquisition of merit for the eternal
world. 77
74. MIS, op.cit, Vol. 15, No. 269
75. V.K Vakaskar, ~d~'sabha Sadachi Bakhar: Poona 1973 pp.J0-1
76. A.R. Kulkarni~ ''social relations in the Maratha Country in the Medieval period".E!!:!£, 1970, 32nd Se.ss.C:.OY.)r/ p.256.
77. Banhatt\-.ed. 'Ajnapatra', chs. 4 and 7, 1974, Poona
66
The diffused field of culture pattern, is
difficult to analyse in its ideological constitution. The
notion of everyday life or 'popular culture' comes to the
rescue about the complexities of Warkari practice and
their critique of Brahminism. There are many layers of
different cultural elements, within the peasant cultures;
residues of old philosophies and practices, folklore,
superstitions, popular religion (as distinct from
intellectually formulated, orthodox religion), and so on.
Gramsci's discussion of the relationships between
intellectual philosophies, and 'spontaneous' philosophies
of the common people, and between official catholicism and
popular religion (including folklore), are helpful in
indicating ways of theorizing the connection between, on
the one hand, cultural layers and processes and, on the
other, social and political strata and their
relationships.
Gramsci 's use of the concept of hegemony and
consensus is instructive because it refers not to a static
condition but to an active and continuing process, to the
constantly contested ideological regulation of relation
between various sections of society. Gramsci illustrates
the problem of the cementing function of ideology by
reference to religion, "This problem is that of
preserving the ideological unity of the entire social
bloc which that ideology serves to cement and unify. The
strength of religions, and of the Catholic church in
67
particular has lain, and still lies, in the fact that they
feel very strongly the need for the doctrinal unity of the
whole mass of the faithful and strive to ensure that the
higher intellectual stratum does not get separated from
the lower. The Roman church has always been the most
vigorous in the struggle to prevent the 'official'
formation of two religions, one for the 'intellectuals'
and the other for the simple souls.n78
In Maharashtra in the 17th century instead of
Roman Catholic church, it was the notion of Maharashtra
Dharma which functioned as the ideological ensemble. It
was not simply from that of the dominant Maratha brahmin
fraction but included Kunbis and other cultural elements.
The content of such a complex ensemble can never be
specified in advance and its potentiality of dependence
may vary from historical and national (supposedby) factors
and also the relations of forces existing at a particular
moment in the struggle for hegemony. 79
In so far as there is ideological unity in such a
diverse cultural complex it is secured by its articulating
principle, which is provided by the class or stratum that
is exercising leadership/hegemony. Ideological struggle
is concerned with efforts to put such an articulating
78. A. Gramsci: "Selections from the Prison Notebooks, "(1~71) (London), p.328
79. Chantal Mouffe:~Hegemony and Ideology in Gramsci,u in Tony Bennett, G.Martin and J.Woolcott (ed~ 'Culture, Ideology and Social Process: London, 219-34.(1980)
68
principle into effect, which may entail 'disarticulation'
and 'rearticulation' of the various cultural layers or
discursive chains. Gramsci gives some clues as to what
will determine the victory of one hegemonic principle over
another when he declares that a hegemonic principle does
not prevail by virtue of its intrinsic logic but rather
when it manages to become a 'popular religion'. He
explains what this means by stating that a class which
wishes to become hegemonic has to nationalize itself, and
that, 'the particular form in which the hegemonic ethico -
political element presents itself in the life of the state
and the country is 'patriotism and 'nationalism' which is
'popular religion', that is to say, it is the link by
means of which the unity of leaders and led is
effected.' 80
In other words, to translate the problematic of
medieval Maharashtra, that is the rise of Shivaji and
subsequent appropriation of diverse socio-cultural
elements, like Warkaris' way of existen~e combined with
new identities of Marathas, logical dual articulation of
rural life provided an ideological complex. The hegemonic
ideological effect resulted from the articulating
principle which managed to resonate with the widest range
of elements of popular culture. Bearing these discussions
in mind, and Gramsci' s example of the relation between
80. A. Gramsci, "Quaderni del carcere~ ~ransJ (Mouffe) op.cit, p.232.'
69
official Catholicism and popular religion, it is
imperative to look in greater detail at certain elements
of popular culture and their ideological articulation.
This will be constructed in accorddnce with the discussion
on Warkari sect :-
A)
III
POPULAR CULTURE AND HEGEMONY : Here the purpose is
to identify the assumptions about culture and its
ideological content which have underpinned analyses of
popular culture since the 18th century. Debates about
popular culture are always crucially involved with other
debates or problems within the dominant culture.
Analyses of popular culture are always connected
to, and motivated by, problems and perceived limitations
within the dominant culture, rather than emerging from an
engagement with the material forms of popular culture
themselves. Thus for example, the interest in 'saint
poets' poetry in general lay in the extent to which it
could support particular theories about the relation
between nature and saint-poets' abhangas, rather than in
any desire to evaluate the cultural and social role of the
peasant world-view. The impression with Warkari saint
poets' poetry and its 'rediscovery' of a tradition was
used to support an 'imaginary' of national unity and
identity, and not to empower, or even recognise those who
have produc~d and preserved the traditions.
70
The articulation of the importance of popular
culture for the·dominant culture often involves notions of
'social control' and 'effects' The perception of .popular
culture as corrupting was the articulation of hegemonic
and institutionalised cultural form embedded in
Brahmin ism. The consistency of this refusal to engage
with, or analyse cultural forms that are seen as
corrupting seems to be unfortunate. This is not to say
that the extent to which cultural forms which were quite
congruous with the general tenor of medieval Maratha
society, had a spatial gap in terms of village-community
based existence of people. A document of the time of
Peshwa Bajirao II reveals that layers of Brahminical caste
hierarchy had crept into the Lingayata community. Despite
of the fact the lingayatas had struck serious blow to
caste ism and discrimination. The Mathapati Jangamas of
Poona had complained to the Peshwa that the Charanti
Jangam of Poona and Wai had defied the tradi tiona!
practices of Lingayatas and dined with the Lingayata
laymen and allowed non observation of ashancha or
impurities generated by birth, death etc. 81 to creep in.
This reflected that by the 18th century, Lingayatas had
come to observe not only caste distinction but also to
impose religions disabilities on some and to adopt false
notions of ceremonial purities.
----------------------------------------------------------81. SSRPD, Vol.5, No. 242
71
The need to see popular culture in its dimension
as ideology, as a space that in always contested and never
won, as the cultural sphere of people who are constantly
undermin~d and marginalised by social relations in which
they participate. This sort of judgement can only
usefully be produced, however, on the basis of a careful
analysis of the forms and practices of popular culture.
One reason is that Gramsci provides a framework of
analysis which cuts across the division in the study of
popular culture between 'culturalists' and, who are
primarily interested in the analysis of 'lived' cultures
and experience, drawing inspiration from such seminal
works as E.P Thompson's 'The Making of the English Working
Class' and Raymond William's Culture and Society 1780-1950
and, 'structuralists,' primarily interested in the
analysis of texts using methods inspired by Sassure' s
linguistics, Levi-Strauss's structural anthropology, and
Althusser's Marxism82.
The importance of viewing popular culture as a
'negotiated order' can be illustrated by the example of
accounts of changes in popular culture. The advantage of
the Gramscian stress on negotiation is that it avoids some
of the deficiencies of theories of culture which put a
one-sided emphasis on either the social control or the
'social expression' functions of culture. Social control
82. Bernart Waites; (ed.);'Popular Culture; Past and Present: (London, Croom Helm, 1982).
72
theories tend to regard all cultural processes in terms of
the manipulative efforts of the dominant class to exercise
moral leadership and dominance over the subordinate
classes. Often they are couched in terms of the
explanation of a non-event - failure of the Warkaris to
develop a critic which could completely overhaul the
socio-cultural patterns of society. By contrast, social
expression ·theories explain culture in terms of its
function as a social expression of the experience and way
of life of a particular stratum of society. Hence, for
exaaple, Jnandeva' s is not merely a hermeneutic on Gi ta
but on original exercise in critical re-appropriation of
tradition. Jnanadeva explicity rejects the renunciation
of productive life and ridicules the claims of liberation
through rejection of activity. He identifies the
ideological basis of human life in materiality of
existence : "Perhaps one may be able to renounce the self-
ordaine~ activity in a conscious manner. However, since
the human body itself is actively oriented, it is
incapable of meaningful renunciation "and further" the
inaction of renouncer is like a claim that one can stop
breathing by falling asleep". 83
Furthermore, popular culture as a whole, has some
of the characteristics that Gramsci described as
constituting the 'spontaneous philosophy' and common-sense
of the people: a heterogeneity of elements, not rationally
83. Sant Jho.ne.shwo,.·, ·' (ed~(tr.) by M.S.God~ole (Poona 30, sri Vidya Prakasan 1977)~ sN; 18-22a~~~).
73
and systematically ordered as more 'intellectual'
philosophies and institutional normative structures tend
to exhibit. Popular culture, like common sense, contains
many traces of past struggles and of elements that were
once more prominent, these do not necessarily disappear
when new cultural forms come into being.
WARltAilZ PANTJI: A SITE OJ' POPULAR CULTURE :- Twice a
year, in Asadi Ekadasi and Kartika Ekadasi, a journey
takes from North and west to the city of Pandharpur. First
comes the red horseman holding a long pennon and mounted
on a dancing. horse. Next to it there is a white horse
which has never been saddled and is said to be mounted by
Jnanesvara. Pilgrims wearing rosary of 'tulsi' beads
round their neck singing abhangas of a tradition that is
live and throbbing. The Pilgrimage of Asadha is the
pilgrimage of Warkari Panth. The live traditions of
Warkaris comes alive with songs by Chokhamela; 84
84.
"Cane is crooked, but its juice isn't crooked,
Why be fooled by outward appearance ?
The bow is bent, but the arrow isn't bent,
Why be fooled by outward appearance.?
The river is twisting, but the water isn't twisted,
Why be fooled by outward appearance ?
Chokha is ugly, but his feelings aren't ugly
Why be fooled by outward appearance ?
Abhang 125;'sri Maharaj Sakhane Mandir, 1967). \:longa·:
Sakal Sant Gatha; vol. I (ed .) Sri Nana (Pune; Sri Sadrangmaya Prakasan The Marathi word for ''crooked ;/bent" is
74
Warkari sect or Panth was such which could provide an
ideological space for a Mahar like Chokhamela and his son
Karmamela could find a place among the hagiographical
politics of Santic tradition.
Various presentations to the Warkari sect, lost as
they are in books on Hinduism do not throw enough words on
its nature and its unique character, among other religions
movements in India. The presentiment of a tradition can
only be vindicated in its own terms. What is a Warkari ?
The word Warkari is composed of the two words, "wari and
kari". Wari has a very definite and almost technical
meaning. The root 'war' means time as in the expression
'time and again', it stands for the regular occurrence
of the pilgrimage to Pandharpur at the stipulated time.
And this is indeed the first characteristics of the
Warkari a regular pilgrim to Pandharpur. 85 Warkari
followers are people, who although living in the midst of
their families and carrying on their occupations, and
have pledged themselves to reach moksa through the way of
bhakti, and by devotion to Vithoba of Pandharpur.
Warkar i Panth, as perceived by many8 6 as another
variant of Bhagvata Panth. A panth is called Bhagvata
85. S.V.Oandekar~ •varkari Panthaca Itihas~ 1927, Poona, pp.l-2
75
when it teaches the Bhagvata faith, that is say, the bhakti
way of salvation.87 In Bhagvata Purana there is a
discourse on Bhakti as a way to cure the confusion in
Kaliyuga. 88 In this narrative Bhakti is portrayed as an
young unhappy woman in distress. As she tells Narada; "I
am Bhakti and two old menare my two saons Jhana and
Vairagya" She says further " I was born in Dravida and
grew up in Karnataka. I was honoured here and there in
Maharashtra" etc. In the end of the narrative there seems
to be great emphasis on the importance of Bhagwates
Purana.
In the context of Warkaris, Jacquesle--- Goff
observation about the popular culture becomes as an
inevitable citation. Le Goff speaks of two culture, the
leanred culture or culture of clergy and popular or
'folkloric culture' . He emphasizes that the relations
between the two cultures were highly diverse. There was
an antagonistic attempt to 'block out' 'folk logic
culture' by the civilization of the learned. Folkloric
elements mere supported by the chucrch or distorted or
partially adopted to the demands oe official ideology.
ANd there was also incomprehension by the clergy, of the
popular culture, since the latter, dualistically
ambivalent, stood in opposition to the 'rationalism' of
87. R.K.Dhurandkar; 'Tukarama Charitra,' p.24, f••f\a.,\92'6.
88. 'shagvata Purana'; Nirvaya Sagar Press, Bombay, 1905.
76
clerical cufture which divided the world neatly into good
a·nd evil. 89
The interaction of culture was facilitated by the
fact that in both cultures, earthly and supernatural,
material and spiritual planes merged. Cultural adaptation
to the common people was necessary for the clergy to
achieve its mission, ecclesiastical culture had to be
absorbed into folkloric culture. In Le Goff's argument
the idea of 'internal acculturation' (that is mutual
adaptation of cultures) is central. These propositions of
Le Goff and his pupils (Schmitt; 1979) shift the centre of
gravity from popular religiosity to the deeper and more
complex notion of 'folkloric culture'. The religion of
the common people is one epiphenomena of this culture.
This reformulation of the problem is very important and
helpful.
The underlying motif of the Warkaris in the
context of a living tradition was the very idea of social
change. And this created the difference from the rest of
the on going processes about Hinduism. Warkar i' s went
beyond the scriptural sanction of religion, which had
encompassed the terrain of politics and culture for
generations. Warkari leaders like Jnanadeva, were
brahmins pariahs, some like Narndeva, had to apologise to
the arrogant Brahmin for preaching his new ideas. 90
89. JacquesktG-cff!'Tirne, work and culture in the Middle Ages~ London, 1986 pp. 19-34.
90. Sri Sant Namadev Maharaj Yanchi Abhanguchi Gatha (Pune, Chitrasala 19571 p.824.
77
Here, one orthodox Brahmin Paras Bhagavat asks "you
Namadev 1 your parents used to fall at my feet, and now
you dare to call yourself a devotee of god What do you
know of anything? Do you know the Vedas ? " Thereupon
Namdeva replied, "Blessed by me soul today that you
uttered the names of my parents. Pray let me have the
holy water at your feet, as it washes away all the sins.
My place is truly at your fact " Tukaram, the greatest
exponent of the Warkari philosophy, was persecuted and
tried because though a Shudra he assumed the religions
leadership his time.91
Jnanadeva and Namadev, who tie together the two
names of Pundalika and of Viithala many a times in their
abhangs. It was the culturally creative period when
Jnanadeva was born. This was the time when the Chaupadi
of Chakradhar was composed in 1264. 92 The Lilacharita was
written in 1270 at Sarok in Ahmednagar. 93 By working in
Marathi Jnanadeva brought within reach of the common
people the understanding of their old Sanskrit heritage.
Thus the Warkari sect was endowed with the living medium
of cultural expression. The abhangs are the testimony of
a popular cultural site where Jnanadeva could articulate
the aspiration of peasant folk. The Warkari sect provided
a common platform where a community of direct producers
(Kunbis, Mirasi), could become a community of devotees.
91. Bhalchandra Nemade; 'Tukaram: Sahitya Akademi, 1980, p.29-33.
92. Deshpande,Y.K.~ 'Mahanubhaviya Marathi Vangmay~ Vidarbha Sahitya Sangra, Nagpur, 1925, p.ll.
93. ibid.,p.21
78
IV
LANGUAGE AN IDEOLOGY; MODE OF WARKARI EXPRESSION
In this section, emphasis is laid on Warkari
practices of cultural expression coated in religions
devotion, in continuation with earlier elaboration of
Warkari. The method will be of hermeneutical tradition of
Paul Recoeur, when the phenomenon of ideology is dragged
before one's eyes, the socio-historical world can no
longer be seen as a sphere of creativity and co
belonging. It must also be seem as a field of conflict
and coercion, a realm in which 'meaning' may be a mask
for repression and self deception. By calling attention
to the relations of force which bind individuals and
underlie their utterances and acts, the phenomenon of
ideology is a challenge to any author who wishes to
sustain the hermeneutical emphasis on the symbolic
constitution of socio-historical world.
CONCBPT OF HERMENEUTICAL TRADITION : From Dilthy onwards
the tradition of hemeneutics has emphasized the symbolic
constitution of the socio-historical world. This world is
composed of individuals who speak and act in meaningful
ways who create the very world which endows them with
their identity and their being, and whose creations can
be understood only by means of the process of
interpretation. In this context this particular position
can help us in locating the sense of protest in the
writings of Warkari saint-poets.
79
Against the backcloth of an illuminating analysis
of meaning and creativity in language, Paul Ricoeur94 has
formulated a concept of text which provides the basis for
a theory of interpretation. Ricoeur argues that this
theory can be extended beyond literary texts to the sphere
of social action, by virtue of certain features which are
shared by action and texts. To see action as a text is to
view it as meaningfully constituted behaviour which can
be interpreted in various ways, and to view action as
meaningfully constituted behaviour is to identify the
primary source of ideology. For ideology, Ricoeur argues,
is first and foremost a cluster of symbols and
representations which facilitate the meaningful
constitution and social integration of action.
Most important feature of Warkar is was their
adherence to oral culture. Their perception of social
reality was completely different from Brahminical inter-
pretations. As Namdev perceives muslims atrocities as
such, "Such Hindu Gods! when broken and sunk in water by
the Muslims, they would not even cry" 95 Warkari saints'
mode of expression was based on orality of their abhangs.
It is difficult to trace a distinctive line between saint
lines and poetic conditions in their works. They created,
in Ricoeur's term, oral literature as a substitute for
94. Paul Ricoeur; (Interpretation Theory: Discourse and the surplus of Meaning~ Texas, 1976, $_~
f • I 95. Sr~ Sant Namdev Gatha; Pune 1957, NOte 4, p.69
80
action, as action in any other form would have provoked
their enemies.
Just as a text is structured totality which may be
construed in various ways, so too human action has a
specific plurivocity which is a limited field of possible
interpretations. It is in the transition from the level
of action to the level of social relations and groups
that, according to Ricoeur the phenomenon of ideology
appears. For a social group must integrate itself by
means of images and representations which can be
collectively shared and which can co-ordinate the actions
and orientations of its members. Such images are provided
by interpretations of founding actions and events; it is
these on going interpretations, this hermeneutics of
'everyday life', which generates what Ricoeur 96 sees as
the fundamental form of ideology. In this form ideology
is the fabric which integrates a group, tying together its
members and preserving the traces of its past.
In the world view of Warkaris, the creative use of
language as action became a symbolic device with which the
saint-poets could penetrate the 'everydayness' of people.
The oral techniques of expression could become as a
powerful weapon within the broadly tolerant mode of
Warkaris' Vithoba. Tukaram glorifies the use of "words'
as :
96. Paul Ricoeur, op.cit, p.32
81
"We posses the wealth of words
With weapon of words we will fight,
Words are the breath of our life,
We will distribute this wealth of words among the people,
Tuka says, look 1 the meaning of word is God,
With word we will extol and worship. 97
In the Warkari tradition the forms of expression needed
some unitary approach from all section of society. The
oral culture evolved its own techniques of preserving the
expression of peasant society. It was certainly a more
effective and safer way, both for creator and for the
creation. It is also important to note that this oral
tradition ceased to produce great Warkari figure after
political authority of the Marathas was established in the
17th century, that is when Peshwas started patronising the
written culture in later part of 18th century. Tukarama
was tried on the charge of blasphemy, was excommunicated
and tortured and had to undergo the water ordeal for his
Gatha, the written verses. This was the price, one had to
pay for the innovation techniques of communication. Later
it was articulated in the form of Kirtan, as an instance
of oral culture.
The oral culture is dialogic and demands direct
contact between the speaker and listeners, thereby
implying the physical pressure of the speaker and
consequently a different kind of articulation. Warkaris'
97. Sri Tukaram bavan9hy Abhanganchi Gatha, Bombay; Shask1.ya Mudram a.,i" Lekhansarnari, 1973, Vol.! p.S.
82
mode of expression comprised the various elements of folk
and traditional forms of oral tradition. The traditional
forms like purana 1 pravachana 1 parayana and patha. The
creative literary forms like ovi 1 abhang 1 pada, bhupali,
gana, gavalan, virani, Leela and biographical accounts in
verse. In the context of social gatherings katha, pothi,
saptah, kala, palakhi 1 dindi, vari, bhajan and kirtan are
practiced. And following passages will focus on these
forms of Warkari tradition.
BIOGRAPHY I AND TRADITIONAL APPROPRIATION :-
Here two points have to be mentioned. One is the
content of hagiographical element in biographies.
Secondly, to mention it with historical sketches it exists
as biography in its literal capacity. What is interwining
between the two is the religions ideology which is both
transcended and conditioned by time.
The practice of writing about one's life has its
origin in Christanity. St. Augustine's appropriately
entitled 'Confessions' (written in 397-8 A.D) is the
best known. The practice of writing about 'others,' was
more common in India. In its oldest forms, it consists of
quasi-historical writings about the lives of divine
incarnations, the vedic rishis, and such men as Veda
Vyasa, the Buddha and Mahavira. A little later, the
Charita literature began to appear giving rise to such
works as Sana's Harscharita, Hemadri's Leela charita, and
Bilhana' s Vikramanak - deva chari ta. They were largely
83
prashastis or eulogies commissioned by kings and generally
published after their death. They were not primarily
concerned with historical facts and aimed to glorify their
subjects deeds, legitimate their status and to trace their
real or fictitious genealogies. From about the eleventh
century A.D those copying the manuscripts of the Puranas
and the Dharmashastras began to write their own, their
ancestors' and gurus' names and to provide basic details
about themselves, occasionally refering to some important
events in their lives. From about the 13th century
onwards quasi-autobiographical works began to appear.
This was the time when Warkari tradition was gradually
broadening its as among the people. Jnanadeva, Namdeva
and Tukaram's writings in abhangas, reflect quasi
autobiographical verses. These contained the details
about their parents, brothers relatives, wives, domestic
quarrels and personal frustations, but little directly
about themselves. In a somewhat similar manner to
Christanity, the bhakti movement triggered off profound
changes in the religions lives of its adherents. Almost
every one of. there saint-poets saw their life as an
illustration of human life in general, and their trials
and travails as those of common men everywhere. For the
most part writings mere didactic sermons illustrated and
enlivened by occasional and reely interpreted personal
examples. Unlike the early Christian writings, these were
not confessions or passionate outbursts of self-pity but
84
devotional works laced with touches of self mocking irony
and self-deprecating humour. As Tukaram illustrates these
traits brilliantly in his abhangs.
"It's good you made me a Kunbi
If not, I'd have died of shame
You have done right, Lord God
Dancing, Tuka touches your feet.
If I had had learning,
It would have held me back.
I'd have failed to serve the saints
For nothing I'd be ruined.
I'd be stiff with pride,
I'd have gone down the path to death.
Greatness, says Tuka, causes one
to go to hell through pride. 98
Since these were socially meaningful, as Ricoeur
puts it these became immensely popular and widely
memorised, recited and used as common currency of moral
intercourse.
MAHIPATI'S ACCOUNT OF BIOGRAPHY AND HAGIOGRAPHY :
Historically Warkari Panth leads backwards to the
Nath through the spiritual genealogy of Jnanadev and
forwards with other ·tradition of bhakti in North India.
Warkari sect has recruited both its followes and gurus
from an unusually wide range of castes. It had and is
--------------·--------------------------------------------98.'Tukarambavanchy Gatha~ Vol.I,op.cit p.23, 1973.
85
still firmly roofed in the peasant cui ture with some
Brahminical embroidery work of devotion. Though David-
Lorenzen has argued that the social ideology of Warkari is
more compatible with the model of reform 'from above' than
with that of a popular upsurge "from belown 99 Lorenzen
follows a list given by Deleury . 100 in the context of
leaders of the Warkari movement. In this list, ten are
Brahmins, 9 non-brahmins, and two of uncertain caste
origin. Lorenzen bases himself on Mahipati's account of
Tukaram.
The problem with Lorenzen's account is that he
follows the dictat of culture theory where from 'high
culture' social elements come down to 'popular or lower
culture'. When he makes these comments. "The religion of
Tukaram nevertheless stops far short of dispensing with
the need for the Brahmin priesthood a 1 together. The
bhakti advocates is directed towards an anthropomorphic
(saguna) deity, namely Vitthal Krsna enshrined at
Pandharpur. Intellectualy (sic) it is grounded in the
devotional theology of the Bhagvad Gita as interpreted by
Jnanadev. Although the classical mythology of the
Sanskrit Puranas is not emphasized - as it is in the poems
of Surdas etc. neither it is rejected as it is in Nirguna
99. David N.Lorenzen; ·~ocial ideologies of Hagiography¥in M.Israel and N.K.Wagle(ed~ Religion and Society in Maharashtra; Univ. of Toronto, 1987.
100.G.A.Deleury:'The Cult of Vithoba~ Poona: 1960 p.222
86
tradition associated with Kabir. Brahmins remain in
charge of the temple at Pandharpur. 101
The stereotypes and saccharine mage of Warkari
tradition results from this perspective of research. In
this perspective the terms of the problematic are
drastically altered when one proposes to study in this
perspective, no "culture produced by the popular classes,"
but rath4;tr "culture imposed on the popular classes". One
question, which comes to one's mind is whether "popular
culture exists outside the act that suprresses it". The
question is rhetorical and the reply is obviously
negative. This type of skepticism seems paradoxical at
first glance since behind it stands the studies of Michel
Foucault; the scholar who, with his study on Madnessand
civilisation, 102 has most authoritatively drawn attention
to the exclusions, prohibitions and limits through which
our culture came into being historically. Before locating
Mahipati's Bhakti Leelaamrita text from chapter 25 to 40
on Tukaram, it will be worth while to discuss Foucault at
length.
What interests Foucault primarily are the act and
the criteria of exclusion, the excluded a little less so.
The attitude that led him to write 'The order of things'
and 'Archaelogy of knowledge' was already implicit in the
Madness treatise, probably stimulated by Jacques Derrida's~
101. David N.Lorenzen, op.cit p.101.
102. M. Foucault;'Madness and Civilization~ New York, 1965·
87
facile, nihilistic objections to the Madness .....
Derrida103
contended that it is not possible to speak of madness in a
language historically grounded in reason and hence in the
process, that has led to the repression of madness itself.
Evidence of this regression can be found in Foucault's
writings with various documents concerned with the early
nineteenth century case of a young peasant who killed his
mother, his sister, and a brother. The analysis is based
principally on the interaction of two languages of
exclusion, the judicial and the psychiatric, which tend to
cancel each other out. The person of assasin, Peirre
Riviere is relegated to secondary importance and precisely
at the time when the testimony he had written at the
request of his judges to explain how he had come to commit
the triple murder. The obscure and contradictory
relatioship of Pierre with the dominant culture is barely
mentioned. Instead he is described wandering in the forest
crime, a "man without culture," etc. This concept of
exclusion comes only from the perception of reality as
that of doctored by principal texts of social world.
Otherwise why Lorenzen could legitimize Tukaram's popular
verses with the intellectual tradition from Brahminism, whom
he always despised. As Tuka Mhane (says), 104 "If you
become a pandit, you' 11 recite the Puranas, But you
103. Jacques Derida; 'writing And Difference. 6altimQre. _1 ~ 1._4 L. _Q_. 68
104. cTukaram bavanchya , Gatha~ Vol. I
88
won't know who you are", "You will turn the pages of a
donkey's load of books; But you won't learn what only a
guru can teach."
Finally one would put again Le Goff's usage in the
context of Mahipati' s mode of documentation, about
Tukaram's life. To what extent are the possible elements
of the dominant culture found in popular culture the
result of a more or less deliberate acculturation, or of a
more less spontaneous convergence, rather than of an
unconscious distortion of the source inclined obviously to
lead what is unknown back to the known and the familiar ?
saint-Poeta And Kahipati
If the sources offer us the possibility of
reconstructing not only indistinct masses but also
individual personalities, it would be absurd to ignore it.
To extend the historic concept of "individual" in the
direction of the lower classes is a worthwhile objective.
The abhangs of Tukaram contain some of an auto-
biographical nature and correspond with Mahipati's
account. Mahipati' s obvious proximities to brahminical
traditions in Warkari panth was due to his own training in
Sanskrit and being a Deshastha brahmin. The life of
Tukaram appears in Mahipati's (1715-1790) in his
Bhaktavijay (1762) and in his Bhaktalilamrit (1774) 105 .
105. 'Bhakta Vijay'(Tr~ by J.E.Abbott and N.R.Godbole Vol.!,
Poo"'o, ltl~l.
89
The principal themes of Tukarams' life as
interpreted by Mahipati are those of his overwhelming
generosity and humility, especially towards Brahmins and,
of course, his deep devotion to Vithal of Pandharpur.
A nuaber of biographical studies have shown that
in a modest individual who is himself lacking in
significance and for this very reason representative, it
is still possible to trace as in a microcosm, the
characteristics of an entire social stratum in a specific
historical period. Is this, then, also the case with
TUkaram? Not in the least. He cannot be considered a
typical Warkari saint, as it has been projected oftenly in
the writings of historians. And this projection has found
acceptance in the form of his characterisation as
quietistic sant, which fits well with the general image of
Warkaris. But this distinctiveness had very definite
limits. As with langauge, culture offers to the
individual a horizon of latent possibilities - a flexible
and invisible cage in which one can exercise his own
conditional liberty. With clarity and understanding
Mahipati articulated the language that history put at his
disposal. Thus it becomes possible to·trace in his life in
a particularly distinct; almost exaggerated form, a series
of convergent elements in Bhaktivijaya and bhaktililamrit
which in similar group of sources that were contemporary
or earlier or lost. In Mahipati 's account Tukaram' s
generosity origins from his religions detachment from the
things of this world, but also reflects a naive gulibility
90
directly counter to the usual stereotype of the greedy
shopkeeper and in consonance with his ear 1 ier Kunbi
status. From a Kunbi stand point Tuka represents the oral
tradition and his ideas cannot be reduced or traced back
to any book in particular. on the other, from saintly
point of view; they recall a series of motifs, worked by
humanistically learned method of tolerance, tendential
reductions of religion to morality and devotion, so forth.
This is a dichotomy in appearance only. In
reality it reflects a unified culture within which it is
impossible to make clearcut distinctions. But Tuka comes
out of the layer of remote peasant traditions, when he is
linked with the unified linear traditions of Warkaris.
LBGINJ) Ol TUQ IN MADIPATI'S ACCOUNT ;- One particular
legend about Tuka in Mahipati' s works, Bhaktavijaya and
the Bhaktalilamrita; and also in one of Tuka's songs bears
the testimony of Warkaris' integrative ideology, where
text of a particular essence was viewed as action. This
legend/ episode is about his songs being thrown in the
river.< 106 ) It is about a confrontation between one
orthodox brahmin Ramesvar Bhatta and Tukaram. As Mahipati
elaborates; ( 34) "He learned from others of Tuka' s
exceptionally good fame. Hearing of it hatred arose in
his heart. Said he, "Heretics have increasedd altogether
too much. ( 35) Some proper scheme must be devised so as
to send Tuka out of the country. I will do something
106. Mahipati~'BhaktaVijai; Chap 25 to 40~rans~ J.E. Abbott, pp. 203 205.
91
however, now that will bring disgrace upon him." (36)
With this plan in mind, making use of the influence which
he had at court, he charged, that Tuka was of the shudra
caste, and yet was publicly preaching the substance of the
Vedas. (37) Moreover by performing Hari kirtans he has
reduced pious people, so that even Brahmins make him a
Namskar He has developed the path of bhakti which
seems to me heretical."
This hagiographical account further develops in
the form of Tuka's drowning his manuscripts in the Indrayani
river. Still people from different hues joining together
criticise Tuka's throwing of the scripts. (69) "Then
you composed poetry on the theme of the supreme
spiritual riches. And now you have thrown all that into
the water. Were there any one else in your place, he would
not have spared his life. (70) Now you have sunk both,
your worldly riches and your supreme-spiritual riches; and
still you show your face to people.n(lO?)
REPENTAlfCB : Mahipati seems to chalk out a narrative
in which the opposition is made between the orthodoxy of
tradition represented by Ramesvar Bhatt et.al and the more
egalitarian tradition of Warkari Sampradaya. As Mahipati
elaborates in his account of repententence. ( 128) "Now
while these events were happening to Rameswar Bhatt, the
hater of bhaktas, let us turn to Tuka and what events were
taking place with him. (170) "Turning now to the story of
107. ibid~p. 206.
92
Ramesvar Bhatt, we have seen that he had gone to the
sacred city of Alandi, and was sitting fasting while his
body seemed aflame. (172) Having this great desire in his
heart (to be free from his pain) , he prayed to
Dnyaneshwar, "Do this kindness at once to me of freecing
me from the curse of the fakir. ( 174) In this manner
Ramesvar Bhatt continued to praise Dnyaneshwar. Then by
night a vision was given to him. You saints please listen
with reverence to what it was (175) Dnyaneshwar said to
him (sic) "Amongst all the bhaktas the most excellent, the
noblest, is the noble Vaishnava, the Godloving Nama. Tuka
is his avatar, descended to save the world. 11 (108)
108. ibid~ p. 217
93
Mahipati in his hagiographical account offers on
behalf of the Warkaris a fusion of popular Hinduism and
peasant motifs that was apparently more to the liking of
saints than the orthodoxy of religions tradition.
Hagiographers like Mahipati wished to instill in believers
a lofty ideal which each Warkari was to strive to attain.
The most attractive thing about the saint was his ability
to work miracles. As we have seen in Mahipati's account
of Tukarama, the saint although the model of humility and
non-resistance, was at the same time a stern and pitiless
chastiser and avenger.
The relation between saints of Warkari tradition
· and the faithful were thought of in customary medieval
categories of mutual fidelity and aid. The peasant
population was ready to venerate and preserve a saint in
response to his patronage and healings. In the arena of
Warkaris the saint's image was the result of the
interaction of different tendencies. In him the ideals of
Hindu humility preached by the tradition were embodied.
Devotion to Vithoba; renunciation of earthly pleasures and
yet living a Grahastha life, mortification of flesh;
complete concentration on saving the soul and serving
Vithoba these motifs were the commonplaces of
hagiography. Their
aids the scholar
ubiquitous
in judging
presence in hagiography
the direction of the
audience's interests, for it was precisely in such common
places and in the constant repetition of the same motifs
94
that certain fundamental social values were conformed. In
Warkari tradition, even if the ideal of a holy life was
unattainable by the overwhelming majority of the Warkaris, d
the presence of the ideal in the context of culture was in
itself an important fact of Warkari's religions feelings.
Thus the society depicted in hagiography consisted
of people and saints. The people were in close contact
and mutual interaction with the saints, and the saints
actively participated in and influenced human life and
Guarded their own interests. The life of Tukaram had
become a living tradition of faith. His mode of kirtana
had healing touch. In Mahipati's account a person Navaji,
a gardener has the same to elaborate about Tuka 's
expressive power. The saint's speech also had enormous
power. Navaj i' s mispronunciation of the particular term
led him to become the object of redicule by some
Brahmin. <109 ) (177) "He used {a sentence) "The things of
Dvarka came gladly to Pandhari" For "Chojavit" he said
"Chodavit". A brahmin's rebuke to Navaji, boomranged and
the brahmin himself became dumb, which was cured by Tuka.
In hagiographical account worshippers did not only
pray to their saints and bring him affection they also
considered that these acts gave them the right to make
demands on him in those instances when he himself
109. ibid.,p.236.
95
apparently had not surmised the sort of help they were
expecting. In Bhaktalilamrita, one demand like that is
being elaborated. <110 ) (12) 11 Chintaman Dev, with the
intention of going from Poena, and arrived at Dehu, (14)
"The pilgrims were out in the open, so the merchants had
their tents pi.tched Chintaman then said to Tuka,
(15) "Give us some favour as we are here, you God loving
Vaishnava bhakta. If you can give us materials for
cooking sufficient for all, our desires will be fulfilled.
"(17) But Tuka brought only enough flour, dal, rice, and
ghi for one person. ( 19) "As the Vaishnava · bhakta was
thus praying, the lord-of-Pandhari came unseen; he had
provisions sufficient for one man, but in distribution
they were sufficient for all."
One could continue with such examples at length.
Despite their variations they exploit the same theme:
saints know and guard their rights. Humility, self-denial
and forgiveness were the basic Warkari values constantly
preached in the domain of peasant consciousness and
demonstrated in hagiography. The folkloric roots of many
of there scenes are obvious. A saint like Tukaram was
clearly modelled on human image and likeness, endowed with
human emotions, passions, interests and reactions-nothing
human was foreign to him. Yet his attractiveness for the
mass of parishioners was based above all on the fusion in
110. ibid~ Chapter 35; pp. 240-241.
96
him of sanctity and thematurgy. Saints in the line of
Warkari tradition venerated power supernatural power
capable of defending its own interest and protecting its
clients. Besides traditions from the Vaishnavite pantheon
of traditions, one can also trace popular fantasy and folk
tale motifs in the formation of the Vitthal. Their
structure, the selection of the facts in them, and the
suitable volume of information were subject to the laws of
collective consciousness. And in their opposition to
brahminisa as in the hagiography of Tuka brahmins are
usual diet for riducule and close mindedness.
Despite the fact that the hagiographers are
invariably learned men, the character of his work betrays
the features of a popular culture. As in the western
European context, according to one of their most
knowledgeable students, Delehaye, "Hagiographical texts
embodied •the memory of the crowd.n(lll)
The logic of collective memory had its own way of
grouping the facts, selected and few, in conformity with
the course of narrative. It retained primarily those
events which could engage people reared on myth, folk-
tale, legends; it easily fused together different heroes,
particularly bearers of the same name. As it is clear in
the context of Mahipati's characterisation of Tukaram. In
the quest of establishing the medieval mind, one can say,
111. Stephen Wilson• 'saints and their culture; Studies in Religious Sociology and folklore', Baltimore, 1986. p.r<f-
tJ"NO~~.tcrio"")
97
these texts provide a clue to the problematic of religion,
as how vital it was in the shaping of a polity of a
particular society.
WARKARIS' WAY TO ~AITH : There were several characte-
ristics ot Warkaris, which made them different from the
mainstream, Hinduism. With the linguistic collecti-
vization in the form of Marathi; various oral expressions
were integral to this tradition. Apart from pilgrimage,
which itself was and is, only a training in the simple
methods that the Warkaris advocate for progressing in
spiritual life: because the leading Warkari principle was
that god must be understood by everybody. As Tukaram
says, "Teachers themselves do not understand the secret of
the Vedas: what authority do others possess ? The name of
Vithoba is easily mastered; with one impulse it bears you
over the sea of the world. The wise know well that charms
are impractible likewise acts and Reasons prescribed;
other men are foolish."(ll2)
It is ·the reason why images are used: the clear
distinction drawn between worship of god and veneration of
saints was the important feature of Warkaris. Kirtan as a
means of collectivity was a theme which was initiated with
Tukaram. In this mode of expression each line
112. ·~ri. Tukarambavanchy Gatha: (ed~ S.P. Pandit, Indu Prakash Press, Poona, 1869.
98
of
the lyric is expounded with supporting verses and
illustrations from the Hindu epics, scriptures, lives of
great men and mythology, and from the numerous other
popular lore of Hinduism to educate the participants. The
kirtankar~ depending on his ability and courage, exposes
the social miscreants and criticises social evils
bitterly, thereby creating confidence in the local peasant
gatherinqs. For peasant(s) the occasion of kirtan is both
social .and religions. At the end of the kirtan, the
participants touch each other's feet as a mark of their
belief in equality and brotherhood. In the Warkar i
tradition, kirtan was the most effective instrument of
socio-cultural awakening of the peasants.
In the context of kirtan as new ritual, it is
important to show that the link between the ideological
attribut.ions of Shivaji's campaign and the folk-cultures
of the time, stood in deference (not in defiance) with the
establish.ed monastic Hinduism. One may agree in
hesitational manner with earlier historians, that the
Warkari's religions endeavour was part not only of an
ongoing struggle against brahminisim, but also an
agricultural field and finally to the de.fence of a new
identity of geographies and linguistics.
It may be argued that religions beliefs are
distinguished by their forms, per se Warkari sect, but the
form in question must be specified and religions facts
must be considered in their entirety, rites, symbolism,
99
dogmas and beliefs, etc. In the hagiography of Tukaram,
Mahipati mentions the meeting of Shivaji with Tukaram.
(92) "When the good deeds reached king Shivaji he
marvelled greatly. Said he "I must call Tuka here and
listen to his kirtans"< 113 >. In this account it is
portrayed that after Shivaji's message, Tuka retorted with
his characteristic humility; (95) "He cried, "0 God-
supreme - Lord of Pandhari why dost Thou entangle me in
this ? (96) The display of hypocrisy and honour are to
me, like swine-dung." And later the account demonstrates
Tuka's humility and saintliness. And Shivaji also becomes
indifferent to the worldliness. And his mother Jijabai
comes and begs Tuka (135) "My only son, through your
kirtans, has become indifferent to worldly
sits in the jungle worshipping.n(114)
things, and
How should we characterise this event mentioned in
Mahipati's account ? And more prominently in the light of
Shivaji's ascendance and Warkari tradition ? Although the
hagiographical text just disscussed is most pointed in
its effort to interweave the Warkari tradition with the
Maratha history. And this motif can be discerned in other
texts of 17th and 18th centuries. A hypothesis can be
discerned here to chalk out a problematic which can
account for the prevailing agrarian culture, which was
113. Abbott, J.E.: 'Mahipati Bhaktalilamrita (92) p.229.
114. ibid~ pp. 233.
100
marred by the internecine famine, wars and local sardars·'
recalcitrance. Hence the idea of Shivaji's 'Svarajya' had
to negotiate with the local folk-culture of the lower
stratum.
The interaction of popular religion with the state
in formation may have reflections of homogeneity at the
exterior. It will be shown later in the next chapter, how
different layers of Hindu religion co-existed. If there
is even discontinuity and incoherence at the symbolic
level, it is not surprising that there are difficulties at
the episte•ic level. Some writers on ideology, such as
Clifford Geertz, have greatly illuminated ideological
processes at the level of symbol systems.< 115 ) Warkari
tradition could encompass not only the religious and
devotional aspects of religion, but also could incorporate
the semi-religious elements, such as, dindis, festivals
and confraternities. In this tradition important
ingredient was the conceiving of religion as belonging to
the 'people' as against the Clergy, or to the locality as
against the outside world and its regulatory powers, and,
as the bias of our evidence suggests, this feature seems
to have become more prominant in the 17th century and 18th
century in the face of changes (caused by Shivaji's rise)
which tended to streamline the marginalization of certain
regions. Here the association of Warkar is saints' cult ~ ~. 115. C.Geertz; Ideology as a Cultural System 1n D.Apter
( ed.) , Ideology and Discontent, N.Y. , Free Press, 1q10 pp. 47-76.
101
with a vestigia 1 folklore is no accident. As Tuka
elaborated in his Kirtans;
"Now we shall eat together and we shall have a
provision for the future left. We have made a pottage
of Hari's name; Hari is allured by means of devotion.
Each monthful will yield an increasing favour, the very
nectar of Brahma. Tuka says, it tastes delicious; the
tongue asks for it more and more"(ll6)
The celebration of kirtan in Tukaram's world-view
which was in consonance with the situation of
differentiated peasantry. "We must look into sacred books
before we preach; then only will preaching bear fruit.
Otherwise it will be idle talk; the vestiges of desire
will survive it. Study the Vedas before you sing the
attributes of Hari; Your knowledge will then be truly
acquired."(ll?) This itself reflects the hagiographical
bearing of Warkari saint-poets and their interaction with
the political processes working at that time.
The Warkari modes of expression had their roots in
peasant culture. The peasant culture itself had roots in
the pre-organised religions forms and motifs. As the
construction of agrarian situation in 17th and 18th
---------------------------------------------------------
102
century Maharashtra will show, complex mechanism of watan
with substantial addition in their categories reflected a
steady pattern of
organised on loose
centralisation, which
terms. The village
was largely
scenario as
reflected in hagiographical account one will find the same
sense of individualistic enterprise in the local village
organisation. Though the village institutions are
generally viewed as anti individualist and assertion of
any person is generally interpreted as the questioning of
their authority. But we see, a large number of legal
property concerned documents and watan dispute related
documents refer naturally to individual names and even the
'Gota' assemblies of watandars listed those attending by
name.
This is to demonstrate that the conception of
ideology and its interpretation in the realm of popular
culture, clearly demarcated the sense of person with the
elaborate classifications down the lowest rung of village
society. Shivaji's case with local peasantry was
demonstrative of this fact.
It is indeed peculiar that the bulk of the
evidence we have on popular culture comes from the
repositories of hegemonic culture. As in the case of
village dispute records, issues of Jati, suppression, all
are from the records kept of Patils and Kulkarnis. So the
reconstruction of popular beliefs and practices must be
inferential and indirect.
103