The Tribes and Castes of the Central Provinces of India Volume IV Part 18

"The physical type of the people of this region accords fairly well with this theory, while the arguments derived from language and religion do not seem to conflict with it.... On this view the wide-ranging forays of the Marathas, their guerilla methods of warfare, their unscrupulous dealings with friend and foe, their genius for intrigue and their consequent failure to build up an enduring dominion, might well be regarded as inherited from their Scythian ancestors."

4. Exogamous clans

In the Central Provinces the Marathas are divided into 96 exogamous clans, known as the Chhanava Kule, which marry with one another. During the period when the Bhonsla family were rulers of Nagpur they const.i.tuted a sort of inner circle, consisting of seven of the leading clans, with whom alone they intermarried; these are known as the Satghare or Seven Houses, and consist of the Bhonsla, Gujar, Ahirrao, Mahadik, Sirke, Palke and Mohte clans. These houses at one time formed an endogamous group, marrying only among themselves, but recently the restriction has been relaxed, and they have arranged marriages with other Maratha families. It may be noted that the present representatives of the Bhonsla family are of the Gujar clan to which the last Raja of Nagpur, Raghuji III., belonged prior to his adoption. Several of the clans, as already noted, have Rajput sept names; and some are considered to be derived from those of former ruling dynasties; as Chalke, from the Chalukya Rajput kings of the Deccan and Carnatic; More, who may represent a branch of the great Maurya dynasty of northern India; Salunke, perhaps derived from the Solanki kings of Gujarat; and Yadav, the name of the kings of Deogiri or Daulatabad. [213] Others appear to be named after animals or natural objects, as Sinde from _sindi_ the date-palm tree, Ghorpade from _ghorpad_ the iguana; or to be of a t.i.tular nature, as Kale black, Pandhre white, Bhagore a renegade, Jagthap renowned, and so on. The More, Nimbhalkar, Ghatge, Mane, Ghorpade, Dafle, Jadav and Bhonsla clans are the oldest, and held prominent positions in the old Muhammadan kingdoms of Bij.a.pur and Ahmadnagar. The Nimbhalkar family were formerly Panwar Rajputs, and took the name of Nimbhalkar from their ancestral village Nimbalik. The Ghorpade family are an offshoot of the Bhonslas, and obtained their present name from the exploit of one of their ancestors, who scaled a fort in the Konkan, previously deemed impregnable, by pa.s.sing a cord round the body of a _ghorpad_ or iguana. [214] A noticeable trait of these Maratha houses is the fondness with which they clung to the small estates or villages in the Deccan in which they had originally held the office of a patel or village headman as a _watan_ or hereditary right, even after they had carved out for themselves princ.i.p.alities and states in other parts of India. The present Bhonsla Raja takes his t.i.tle from the village of Deor in the Poona country. In former times we read of the Raja of Satara clinging to the _watans_ he had inherited from Sivaji after he had lost his crown in all but the name; Sindhia was always termed patel or village headman in the revenue accounts of the villages he acquired in Nimar; while it is said that Holkar and the Panwar of Dhar fought desperately after the British conquest to recover the _pateli_ rights of Deccan villages which had belonged to their ancestors. [215]

5. Other subdivisions

Besides the 96 clans there are now in the Central Provinces some local subcastes who occupy a lower position and do not intermarry with the Marathas proper. Among these are the Deshkar or 'Residents of the country'; the Waindesha or those of Berar and Khandesh; the Gangthade or those dwelling on the banks of the G.o.davari and Wainganga; and the Ghatmathe or residents of the Mahadeo plateau in Berar. It is also stated that the Marathas are divided into the _Khasi_ or 'pure' and the _Kharchi_ or the descendants of handmaids. In Bombay the latter are known as the Akarmashes or 11 _mashas_, meaning that as twelve _mashas_ make a tola, a twelfth part of them is alloy.

6. Social customs

A man must not marry in his own clan or that of his mother. A sister's son may be married to a brother's daughter, but not vice versa. Girls are commonly married between five and twelve years of age, and the ceremony resembles that of the Kunbis. The bridegroom goes to the bride's house riding on horseback and covered with a black blanket When a girl first becomes mature, usually after marriage, the Marathas perform the Shantik ceremony. The girl is secluded for four days, after which she is bathed and puts on new clothes and dresses her hair and a feast is given to the caste-fellows. Sometimes the bridegroom comes and is asked whether he has visited his wife before she became mature, and if he confesses that he has done so a small fine is imposed on him. Such cases are, however, believed to be rare. The Marathas proper forbid widow-marriage, but the lower groups allow it. If a maiden is seduced by one of the caste she may be married to him as if she were a widow, a fine being imposed on her family; but if she goes wrong with an outsider she is finally expelled. Divorce is not ostensibly allowed but may be concluded by agreement between the parties. A wife who commits adultery is cast off and expelled from the caste. The caste burn their dead when they can afford it and perform the _shraddh_ ceremony in the month of _Kunwar_ (September), when oblations are offered to the dead and a feast is given to the caste-fellows. Sometimes a tomb is erected as a memorial to the dead, but without his name, and is surmounted usually by an image of Mahadeo. The caste eat the flesh of clean animals and of fowls and wild pig, and drink liquor. Their rules about food are liberal like those of the Rajputs, a too great stringency being no doubt in both cases incompatible with the exigencies of military service. They make no difference between food cooked with or without water, and will accept either from a Brahman, Rajput, Tirole Kunbi, Lingayat Bania or Phulmali.

The Marathas proper observe the _parda_ system with regard to their women, and will go to the well and draw water themselves rather than permit their wives to do so. The women wear ornaments only of gold or gla.s.s and not of silver or any baser metal. They are not permitted to spin cotton as being an occupation of the lower cla.s.ses. The women are tattooed in the centre of the forehead with a device resembling a trident. The men commonly wear a turban made of many folds of cloth twisted into a narrow rope and large gold rings with pearls in the upper part of the ear. Like the Rajputs they often have their hair long and wear beards and whiskers. They a.s.sume the sacred thread and invest a boy with it when he is seven or eight years old or on his marriage. Till then they let the hair grow on the front of his head, and when the thread ceremony is performed they cut this off and let the _choti_ or scalp-lock grow at the back. In appearance the men are often tall and well-built and of a light wheat-coloured complexion.

7. Religion

The princ.i.p.al deity of the Marathas is Khandoba, a warrior incarnation of Mahadeo. He is supposed to have been born in a field of millet near Poona and to have led the people against the Muhammadans in early times. He had a watch-dog who warned him of the approach of his enemies, and he is named after the _khanda_ or sword which he always carried. In Bombay [216] he is represented on horseback with two women, one of the Bania caste, his wedded wife, in front of him, and another, a Dhangarin, his kept mistress, behind. He is considered the tutelary deity of the Maratha country, and his symbol is a bag of turmeric powder known as _bhandar_. The caste worship Khandoba on Sundays with rice, flowers and incense, and also on the 21st day of Magh (January), which is called _Champa Sashthi_ and is his special festival. On this day they will catch hold of any dog, and after adorning him with flowers and turmeric give him a good feed and let him go again. The Marathas are generally kind to dogs and will not injure them. At the Dasahra festival the caste worship their horses and swords and go out into the field to see a blue-jay in memory of the fact that the Maratha marauding expeditions started on Dasahra. On coming back they distribute to each other leaves of the _shami_ tree (_Bauhinia racemosa_) as a subst.i.tute for gold. It was formerly held to be fitting among the Hindus that the warrior should ride a horse (geldings being unknown) and the zamindar or landowner a mare, as more suitable to a man of peace. The warriors celebrated their Dasahra, and worshipped their horses on the tenth day of the light fortnight of _Kunwar_ (September), while the cultivators held their festival and worshipped their mares on the ninth day. It is recorded that the great Raghuji Bhonsla, the first Raja of Nagpur, held his Dasahra on the ninth day, in order to proclaim the fact that he was by family an agriculturist and only incidentally a man of arms. [217]

8. Present position of the caste

The Marathas present the somewhat melancholy spectacle of an impoverished aristocratic cla.s.s attempting to maintain some semblance of their former position, though they no longer have the means to do so. They flourished during two or three centuries of almost continuous war, and became a wealthy and powerful caste, but they find a difficulty in turning their hands to the arts of peace. Sir R. Craddock writes of them in Nagpur:

"Among the Marathas a large number represent connections of the Bhonsla family, related by marriage or by illegitimate descent to that house. A considerable proportion of the Government political pensioners are Marathas. Many of them own villages or hold tenant land, but as a rule they are extravagant in their living; and several of the old Maratha n.o.bility have fallen very much in the world. Pensions diminish with each generation, but the expenditure shows no corresponding decrease. The sons are brought up to no employment and the daughters are married with lavish pomp and show. The native army does not much attract them, and but few are educated well enough for the dignified posts in the civil employ of Government. It is a question whether their pride of race will give way before the necessity of earning their livelihood soon enough for them to maintain or regain some of their former position. Otherwise those with the largest landed estates may be saved by the intervention of Government, but the rest must gradually deteriorate till the dignities of their cla.s.s have become a mere memory. The humbler members of the caste find their employment as petty contractors or traders, private servants, Government peons, _sowars_ and hangers-on in the retinue of the more important families.

"What [218] little display his means afford a Maratha still tries to maintain. Though he may be clad in rags at home, he has a spare dress which he himself washes and keeps with great care and puts on when he goes to pay a visit. He will hire a boy to attend him with a lantern at night, or to take care of his shoes when he goes to a friend's house and hold them before him when he comes out. Well-to-do Marathas have usually in their service a Brahman clerk known as _divanji_ or minister, who often takes advantage of his master's want of education to defraud him. A Maratha seldom rises early or goes out in the morning. He will get up at seven or eight o'clock, a late hour for a Hindu, and attend to business if he has any or simply idle about chewing or smoking tobacco and talking till ten o'clock. He will then bathe and dress in a freshly-washed cloth and bow before the family G.o.ds which the priest has already worshipped. He will dine, chew betel and smoke tobacco and enjoy a short midday rest. Rising at three, he will play cards, dice or chess, and in the evening will go out walking or riding or pay a visit to a friend. He will come back at eight or nine and go to bed at ten or eleven. But Marathas who have estates to manage lead regular, fairly busy lives."

9. Nature of the Maratha insurrection

Sir D. Ibbetson drew attention to the fact that the rising of the Marathas against the Muhammadans was almost the only instance in Indian history of what might correctly be called a really national movement. In other cases, as that of the Sikhs, though the essential motive was perhaps of the same nature, it was obscured by the fact that its ostensible tendency was religious. The _gurus_ of the Sikhs did not call on their followers to fight for their country but for a new religion. This was only in accordance with the Hindu intellect, to which the idea of nationality has. .h.i.therto been foreign, while its protests against both alien and domestic tyrannies tend to take the shape of a religious revolt. A similar tendency is observable even in the case of the Marathas, for the rising was from its inception largely engineered by the Maratha Brahmans, who on its success hastened to annex for themselves a leading position in the new Poona state. And it has been recorded that in calling his countrymen to arms, Sivaji did not ask them to defend their hearths and homes or wives and children, but to rally for the protection of the sacred persons of Brahmans and cows.

10. Maratha women in past times

Although the Marathas have now in imitation of the Rajputs and Muhammadans adopted the _parda_ system, this is not a native custom, and women have played quite an important part in their history. The women of the household have also exercised a considerable influence and their opinions are treated with respect by the men. Several instances occur in which women of high rank have successfully acted as governors and administrators. In the Bhonsla family the Princess Baka Bai, widow of Raghuji II., is a conspicuous instance, while the famous or notorious Rani of Jhansi is another case of a Maratha lady who led her troops in person, and was called the best man on the native side in the Mutiny.

11. The Maratha horseman

This article may conclude with one or two extracts to give an idea of the way in which the Maratha soldiery took the field. Grant Duff describes the troopers as follows:

"The Maratha hors.e.m.e.n are commonly dressed in a pair of light breeches covering the knee, a turban which many of them fasten by pa.s.sing a fold of it under the chin, a frock of quilted cotton, and a cloth round the waist, with which they generally gird on their swords in preference to securing them with their belts. The horseman is armed with a sword and shield; a proportion in each body carry matchlocks, but the great national weapon is the spear, in the use of which and the management of their horse they evince both grace and dexterity. The spearmen have generally a sword, and sometimes a shield; but the latter is unwieldy and only carried in case the spear should be broken. The trained spearmen may always be known by their riding very long, the ball of the toe touching the stirrup; some of the matchlockmen and most of the Brahmans ride very short and ungracefully. The bridle consists of a single headstall of cotton-rope, with a small but very severe flexible bit"

12. Cavalry in the field

The following account of the Maratha cavalry is given in General Hislop's _Summary of the Maratha and Pindari Campaigns_ of 1817-1819:

"The Marathas possess extraordinary skill in horsemanship, and so intimate an acquaintance with their horses, that they can make their animals do anything, even in full speed, in halting, wheeling, etc.; they likewise use the spear with remarkable dexterity, sometimes in full gallop, grasping their spears short and quickly sticking the point in the ground; still holding the handles, they turn their horse suddenly round it, thus performing on the point of a spear as on a pivot the same circle round and round again. Their horses likewise never leave the particular cla.s.s or body to which they belong; so that if the rider should be knocked off, away gallops the animal after its fellows, never separating itself from the main body. Every Maratha brings his own horse and his own arms with him to the field, and possibly in the interest they possess in this private equipment we shall find their usual shyness to expose themselves or even to make a bold vigorous attack. But if armies or troops could be frightened by appearances these horses of the Marathas would dishearten the bravest, actually darkening the plains with their numbers and clouding the horizon with dust for miles and miles around. A little fighting, however, goes a great way with them, as with most others of the native powers in India."

On this account the Marathas were called _razah-bazan_ or lance-wielders. One Muhammadan historian says: "They so use the lance that no cavalry can cope with them. Some 20,000 or 30,000 lances are held up against their enemy so close together as not to leave a span between their heads. If hors.e.m.e.n try to ride them down the points of the spears are levelled at the a.s.sailants and they are unhorsed. While cavalry are charging them they strike their lances against each other and the noise so frightens the horses of the enemy that they turn round and bolt." [219] The battle-cries of the Marathas were, '_Har, Har Mahadeo_,' and '_Gopal, Gopal_.' [220]

13. Military administration

An interesting description of the internal administration of the Maratha cavalry is contained in the letter on the Marathas by Colonel Tone already quoted. But his account must refer to a period of declining efficiency and cannot represent the military system at its best:

"In the great scale of rank and eminence which is one peculiar feature of Hindu inst.i.tutions the Maratha holds a very inferior situation, being just removed one degree above those castes which are considered absolutely unclean. He is happily free from the rigorous observances as regards food which fetter the actions of the higher castes. He can eat of all kinds of food with the exception of beef; can dress his meal at all times and seasons; can partake of all victuals dressed by any caste superior to his own; washing and praying are not indispensable in his order and may be practised or omitted at pleasure. The three great tribes which compose the Maratha caste are the Kunbi or farmer, the Dhangar or shepherd and the Goala or cowherd; to this original cause may perhaps be ascribed that great simplicity of manner which distinguishes the Maratha people. Homer mentions princesses going in person to the fountain to wash their household linen. I can affirm having seen the daughters of a prince who was able to bring an army into the field much larger than the whole Greek confederacy, making bread with their own hands and otherwise employed in the ordinary business of domestic housewifery. I have seen one of the most powerful chiefs of the Empire, after a day of action, a.s.sisting in kindling a fire to keep himself warm during the night, and sitting on the ground on a spread saddle-cloth dictating to his secretaries.

"The chief military force of the Marathas consists in their cavalry, which may be divided into four distinct cla.s.ses: First the Khasi Pagah or household forces of the prince; these are always a fine well-appointed body, the horses excellent, being the property of the Sirkar, who gives a monthly allowance to each trooper of the value of about eight rupees. The second cla.s.s are the cavalry furnished by the Silladars, [221] who contract to supply a certain number of horse on specified terms, generally about Rs. 35 a month, including the trooper's pay. The third and most numerous description are volunteers, who join the camp bringing with them their own horse and accoutrements; their pay is generally from Rs. 40 to Rs. 50 a month in proportion to the value of their horse. There is a fourth kind of native cavalry called Pindaris, who are mere marauders, serve without any pay and subsist but by plunder, a fourth part of which they give to the Sirkar; but these are so very licentious a body that they are not employed but in one or two of the Maratha services.

"The troops collected in this manner are under no discipline whatever and engage for no specific period, but quit the army whenever they please; with the exception of furnishing a picquet while in camp, they do no duty but in the day of battle.

"The Maratha cavalry is always irregularly and badly paid; the household troops scarcely ever receive money, but are furnished with a daily allowance of coa.r.s.e flour and some other ingredients from the bazar which just enable them to exist. The Silladar is very nearly as badly situated. In his arrangements with the State he has allotted to him a certain proportion of jungle where he pastures his cattle; here he and his family reside, and his sole occupation when not on actual service is increasing his Pagah or troop by breeding out of his mares, of which the Maratha cavalry almost entirely consist. There are no people in the world who understand the method of rearing and multiplying the breed of cattle equal to the Marathas. It is by no means uncommon for a Silladar to enter a service with one mare and in a few years be able to muster a very respectable Pagah. They have many methods of rendering the animal prolific; they back their colts much earlier than we do and they are consequently more valuable as they come sooner on the effective strength.

"When called upon for actual service the Silladar is obliged to give muster. Upon this occasion it is always necessary that the Brahman who takes it should have a bribe; and indeed the Hazri, as the muster is termed, is of such a nature that it could not pa.s.s by any fair or honourable means. Not only any despicable _tattus_ are subst.i.tuted in the place of horses but animals are borrowed to fill up the complement. Heel-ropes and grain-bags are produced as belonging to cattle supposed to be at gra.s.s; in short every mode is practised to impose on the Sirkar, which in turn reimburses itself by irregular and bad payments; for it is always considered if the Silladars receive six months' arrears out of the year that they are exceedingly well paid. The Volunteers who join the camp are still worse situated, as they have no collective force, and money is very seldom given in a Maratha State without being extorted. In one word, the native cavalry are the worst-paid body of troops in the world. But there is another grand error in this mode of raising troops which is productive of the worst effects. Every man in a Maratha camp is totally independent; he is the proprietor of the horse he rides, which he is never inclined to risk, since without it he can get no service. This single circ.u.mstance destroys all enterprise and spirit in the soldier, whose sole business, instead of being desirous of distinguishing himself, is to keep out of the way of danger; for notwithstanding every horseman on entering a service has a certain value put upon his horse, yet should he lose it even in action he never receives any compensation or at least none proportioned to his loss. If at any time a Silladar is disgusted with the service he can go away without meeting any molestation even though in the face of an enemy. In fact the pay is in general so shamefully irregular that a man is justified in resorting to any measure, however apparently unbecoming, to attain it. It is also another very curious circ.u.mstance attending this service that many great Silladars have troops in the pay of two or three chiefs at the same time, who are frequently at open war with each other.

14. Sitting Dharna