Caste and Political Leadership in Maharashtra a Review and Current Appraisal Maureen L P Patterson
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September 25, 1954 THE ECONOMIC WEEKLY Caste and Political Leadership in Maharashtra A Review and Current Appraisal Maureen L P Patterson T midnight on August 14, for 33 per cent or more of the record keeping, and whose members A 1954, Keshavrao M Jedhe Hindus, and form the backbone of had had considerable experience in made an announcement of possible the agricultural population. Some government administration during far-reaching implications for the times when circumstances demand a the immediately preceding Peshwai. political scene in Maharashtra, show of numbers Marathas and As it became evident that in West From his family home in Poona, Kunbis are counted together, but ern .education lay the key to power Jedhe made public his decision to actually over the past fifty years no and betterment of socio-economic rejoin the Congress. Thus four two Census reports have agreed on conditions, it was the Brahmans who montlw after resigning from the how to handle the Maratha-Kunbi most eagerly and easily made the Shetkari Kamkari Paksh (Peasants' group, of castes. 'The Maratha caste transition from indigenous to West- and Workers' Party) Jedhe returned itself is by no means homogeneous, ern education, and who through it to the party he had quit in 1948. and there are strata within it between rose to positions of leadership in He described his return to the Con which there is little or no intermar all fields of endeavour. Thus by gress as " the return of the prodigal riage. There is a desire and a tend the end of the nineteenth century son cone astray clue to bad com ency among Marathas to override the Brahmans as a group had assum pany . these very real distinctions and to ed a position of dominance quite Jedhe's action must be viewed not encourage consolidation of the entire out of proportion to their numerical merely in terms of the changed poli Maratha community. strength in Maharashtra. The early tical outlook and beliefs of an indivi Next in numbers to the Marathas nationalist leaders were predomi dual, but in terms of a realignment is the Mahar caste, a scheduled caste nantly Brahmans, and most of and rebalancing of political power in which accounts for 10 per cent of them were Konkanasth Brahmans. Maharashtrian Hindus, and which is Maharashtra. For Jedhe is one of MARATHA AWAKENING AND ADVANCES the most respected leaders of "the by far the largest scheduled caste in Maratha caste—the caste that ac tliis region. At the same time Western ideas counts for over 25 per cent of the Finally, the third largest group is and education began to make a population of Maharashtra, and the Brahman group of castes. mark on the Maratha and Mahar which forms the largest single com These comprise some fifteen differ castes. 'The education of Marathas munity in this region. And the ent Brahman endogamous groups, was taken up in particular by the Congress is by far the most powerful amounting to 4 per cent of the Maharaja of Kolhapur, Shahu Chbat- political organization in Maharashtra. region's Hindus. The main Brah rapati, at the end of the nineteenth It seems pertinent, therefore, at this man castes arc the Deshasth. Konka century. Along with education came a rankling awareness of the domin time to present an analysis of this nasth, Karhade and Sarasvat. In ance of Brahmans in so many fields, development in the light of the terms of the traditional caste hierar and with this too came a develop Mahnrashtrian social structure and chy the Brahman 4 per cent is at ment of political consciousness on recent political history, and to assess the top of this three-tier social struc the part of the small number of its significance for leadership in this ture, the Maratha-Kunbi 33 per cent newly-educated Marathas. This poli- region, especially in view of the pos in the middle, and the Mahar io per cent on the lowest level. tical consciousness generated and sible formation of a Samyukta Maha centered on a frankly anti-Brahman rashtra State. The foregoing must be taken as a highly simplified picture of caste attitude, and the main manifesta THREE-TIER CASTE STRUCTURE in Maharashtra, admittedly doing tions of this anti-Brahmanism were The first background factor to be the injustice of omission to many found in Kolhapur State and Satara taken into consideration in this ana smaller but certainly prominent District. lysis is the caste structure of Maha castes; yet this outline should suffice The progress of education has, rashtra. There are altogether some for the present purposes of analysis however, not been rapid among 120 castes in the Maratlri-speaking of the relationship between caste Marathas in general, and a recent region, but in the present discussion and political leadership in the estimate places their literacy rate as we shall be concerned primarily modern context of political demo low as 7 per cent. A partial expla with those three groups of castes cracy. nation for this lies in the fact that: which comprise about 47 per cent of Marathas are predominantly peasant- the Hindu population—and about EARLY BRAHMAN LEADERSHIP fanners, with powerful tics to the go per cent of the people here are If we look at the history of Maha land, and with little incentive to Hindus. rashtra in the past 150 years we will indulge in schooling. Many of those The largest of these groups is the see that effective leadership in socio- Marathas who have gamed positions Maratha caste, accounting for 25 per cultural and political life has been of leadership- in Maharashtra today cent of the population. The Mara drawn overwhelmingly from the come from among the top " 96 Fami thas are sometimes considered toge Brahman group of castes. There are lies " who have inherited wealth in ther with the Kunbis—a caste report many reasons for this, the principal the form of lands, and who can edly striving for assimilation into the one doubtless being that the British trace, their family prestige back to higher Maratha caste, but actually administration in the nineteenth the days of the Maratha hero, Shivaji, possessing customs, rituals and a diet century looked for clerical and minor in the seventeenth century.- Keshav ary which distinguish it from the administrative personnel to those rao Jedhe is a mar with such a Maratha caste-and if considered castes whose traditional occupations background, and it this as well as together, these two castes account involved scholarship, teaching, and his personal qualities (rather than 1065 THE ECONOMIC WEEKLY September 25, 1954 high educational qualifications) that as they do about 10 per cent of the the Non-Brahman Party and the saves him a place of honour and population of this region, Mahars are Satyashodhak Samaj petered out for respect in the eyes of Maharashtrians, an increasingly important and self- a variety of reasons, it was the Con and especially of Marathas. conscious community whose co-ope gress which provided a welcome to Other Maratha leaders, such as ration Maharashtrian leaders must all and sundry, and whose stated the 'late B S Jadhav, who was a gain, and with whom Marathas in principles of social equality were Minister at various tunes, during the particular will have to establish definitely acceptable to persons who 1920's, and V D Ghate—a promi closer and more harmonious relations were anxious to get away from alleg nent educationist and presently an than now exist Between these two ed Brahman domination. The fact MLA—rose to t h e i r positions groups. that Gandhi, though a non-Maha- through the channels of education rashtrian, was a Non-Brahman seems rather than of family lineage, At RECENT POLITICAL HISTORY to have played a significant part in the present time in view of the During the first World War a attracting Marathas and other Non- competitive examinations for entry large number of Marathas saw army Brahmans into the Congress. into the higher levels of adminis service in other parts of India and When Keshavrao Jedhe entered tration, Marathas are finding that if abroad, and as a result of this many the Congress m the early thirties, they are to gam positions of real ex-servicemen returned to their vil the top figures in the Maharashtrian leadership and responsible posts lages with considerably broadened Congress were Shankarrao Deo and commensurate with their proportion horizons. Furthermore, the Mon N V Gadgil, both Brahmans. in the population, they are going to tagu Chelmsford Reforms of 1910 jedhe brought with him into the have to pay greater attention to rais made provision for reservation of Congress a large number of his fol ing the general level of education in seats in the Bombay Legislature for lowers, and rapidly he rose to join their community than is at present " Marathas and Allied Castes ". At Shankarrao Deo and Gadgil at the the case. the same lime the various educa top. Jedhe's caste-membership was tion;)! programmes instituted by certainly not without significance, IMPORTANCE OF THE MAHARS Shahu Chhatrapati of Kolhapur for due to his personal prestige as a The Mahars constitute the largest began to bear fruit in the shape of Maratha leader, Congress influence and most important scheduled easte a number of enthusiastic young Non- was greatly strengthened in Maha in Maharashtra. A leading member Brahman leaders such as Bhaurao rashtra, and particularly among the of this community, Dr B R Ambed Paul, A B Latthe. Madhavrao Marathas. kar, has undoubtedly held higher Bagal and others. Actually, during the peak years of positions in the Central Government These and other factors combined the nationalist struggle overt caste than any other of the former " un to make the 1920's a decade of consciousness and inter-caste tension touchables ".