4. Maharashtra Before the Times of Shivaji Maharaj
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4. Maharashtra before the Times of Shivaji Maharaj At the beginning of the seventeenth Patil. He used to try to bring maximum century CE, most of the territory in land under cultivation. When there was Maharashtra was under the control of any dispute in the village, the Patil resolved Nizamshah of Ahmadnagar and Adilshah it and made peace. A Kulkarni helped the of Bijapur. The Mughals had entered Patil in his work. The Kulkarni kept the Khandesh. Their objective was to expand record of the revenue that was collected. their power in the south. There were There were various artisans in the village. settlements of Siddi people, who had come They had hereditary rights regarding their from Africa, along the coastline of Konkan. occupation. The peasants gave a share of The competition and conflict amongst the their agricultural produce to the artisans Portuguese, the British, the French and the for the services they rendered to the village Dutch, who had come from Europe, was community. This share was known as getting intense during this period. There baluta. was stiff competition amongst them to Kasba : A kasba was like a big village. capture the markets for trade. The Portuguese It was usually the headquarters of a had already established their rule in Goa pargana, e.g., Indapur kasba of Indapur and Vasai on the western coastline. The pargana, Wai kasba of Wai pargana were British, the Dutch and the French had found the headquarters of those parganas. an entry through the medium of trading Agriculture was the main occupation. There companies by setting up factories. All these were skilled artisans like carpenters, powers assessed the strength of other blacksmiths, etc. in a kasba. There was powers, kept themselves safe and tried to usually a market (peth) adjacent to a kasba. dominate as much as possible. This conflict The Shete and Mahajan were the watandars had created instability and insecurity in of the peth. Every village did not necessarily Maharashtra. These different people from have a peth. The setting up of a peth was Europe were called ‘Topkar’ on the basis the job of the Shetes and the Mahajans. For of their customary headgear. that, they received some land from the It is necessary to get acquainted with government and some rights from the the village (mauja), Kasba and pargana to villagers. The Mahajan maintained the understand the nature of settlements in that accounts of the peth. period as also of the officers that formed a link between the rulers and their subjects, Do you know ? and also the markets and the craftsmen. Pargana was made up of many villages. As per the order of Veermata Jajabai, Generally, the headquarters of a pargana a peth was established in Pashan near was called ‘Kasba’. A village smaller than Pune. It was called Jijapur. Malpura, a Kasba was called ‘Mauja’. Let us get Khelpura, Paraspura, Vithapura, in acquainted in brief with Village, Kasba and Aurangabad are also new peths established Pargana respectively. in the name of Maloji, Kheloji, Parasoji Village (Mauja) : Most of the people and Vithoji respectively. ‘Shivapur’ lived in villages. A village was also called adjacent to ‘Khed’ was a peth established mauja. The chief of the village was the in the name of Shivaji Maharaj. If it did not rain, crops would fail. The Let’s learn. prices of foodgrains rose. It became The words ‘Budruk’ and ‘Khurd’ difficult for the people to get foodgrains are used to show that the two villages and other things. There was no fodder for are different. The original town is the cattle. Water became scarce. It became ‘Budruk’ and the new one is ‘Khurd’. difficult for people to live in the village. For example, Vadgaon Budruk and They were forced to leave the village. A Vadgaon Khurd. famine was a great calamity for the people. Pargana : Many villages together made a pargana. But the number of A great famine occurred in villages was not the same in all parganas. Maharashtra in 1630 ce. People were For example, the Pune pargana was a big greatly distressed due to this famine. It pargana. It consisted of 290 villages. has been described in these words – There were 64 villages in the Chakan ‘People were ready to sell themselves for pargana. The Shirwal pargana was small. a piece of bhakri, but there was nobody It had only 40 villages. The Deshmukh to buy them’. There was a severe scarcity and the Deshpande were the watandar of foodgrains. Entire families were officers of the pargana. The Deshmukh destroyed. Cattle and farm animals died. was the chief of patils in a pargana. The Agriculture was devastated. The famine Deshmukh did at the pargana level, what put an end to industries. All financial the Patil did at the village level. The transactions came to a standstill. People Deshpande was the chief of all Kulkarnis had to wander to faraway regions in in the pargana. The Deshpande did at the search of a livelihood. It was a great pargana level, the work that Kulkarnis challenge to bring back to normalcy, the did at the village level. These watandar devastated life of the people. officers were the link between the people The work of the Varkari movement : and the government. Society was greatly influenced by blind In case of enemy invasion or drought, beliefs and rituals. People had become these watandars represented the grievances fatalistic and inert. They had lost all of the people to the government. initiative. The condition of the common Sometimes, these officers misused their people was miserable. In such powers. They collected more money from circumstances, the Sants in Maharashtra the people than was due or did not remit endeavoured to inspire the masses. the money so collected to the government in time. On such occasions, the people In Maharashtra, the tradition of Sants suffered harassment. which began with Sant Dnyaneshwar and Sant Namdeo was carried on by Sants coming from various strata of the society. Do you know ? People from all strata of society were Vatan is an Arabic word. In part of the Sant tradition. For example, Maharashtra, it is used is refer to Sant Chokhamela, Sant Goroba, Sant hereditary land for which the holder Sena, Sant Sawata, Sant Narhari, Sant does not have to pay revenue. Shaikh Muhammad, etc. Sant Chokhoba’s The calamity of a famine : wife Sant Soyrabai, and sister Sant Agriculture was dependent on rainwater. Nirmalabai, Sant Muktabai, Sant Janabai, Sant Kanhopatra, Sant Bahinabai Siurkar way of worship and conduct which the and other women were also among them. common people could follow easily. He Pandharpur was at the centre of the Sant gave the prestige of a religion to the movement. Vitthal was the object of their Varkari movement. Though his life was worship. On the banks of the river spent in extremely adverse circumstances, Chandrabhaga at Pandharpur, the Sants he never lost the calm of his mind and and pilgrims (varkari) used to rejoice in never harboured bitterness. His their devotion (bhakti). There, equality ‘Pasayadaan’ in Dnyaneshwari uplifts the was propagated through bhajans, keertans, mind. The poetic compositions of his and unity meals (kala). brothers Sant Nivruttinath and Sant Sant Namdeo : He was a great Sant Sopandev and sister Muktabai are well- of the Varkari movement. He was a skilled known. organiser. He performed excellent keertans Sant Eknath : He was a great Sant of as well. He awakened the Bhakti movement the sense of equality in in Maharashtra. His men and women compositions are belonging to all castes many and diverse. through the medium of keertans. His pledge They include abhanga, gavalana, bharud, etc. was ‘ । He has stated Bhagvat ।। ’ His Dharma in detail and abhanga compositions Sant Namdeo in a simple manner. are well-known. Many He has portrayed Sants as well as common people were Sant Eknath people’s life in influenced by his teachings. He went up to Bhavarth Ramayana through the story of the Punjab, propagating his thoughts. His Ram. He explained in Marathi, the Bhakti compositions are included in the ‘Guru part of the Sanskrit work ‘Bhagwat’. His Granth Sahib’ of Sikhs. He propagated the abhangas show the warmth of devotion. He message of Bhagwat religion in all quarters. demonstrated through his own conduct that He built a memorial to Sant Chokhamela there is no need to renounce worldly matters at Pandharpur. His work is unforgettable. for attaining the highest truth, Paramarth. Sant Dnyaneshwar : He was a great He was a teacher of the people in the true Sant in the Varkari movement. He wrote sense of the term. He believed that our the ‘Bhavartha-deepika’ or ‘Dnyaneshwari’ Marathi language was inferior to no other which elucidates the meaning of the language. He asked the Sanskrit Scholars Sanskrit ‘Bhagavad forcefully. ‘ । Geeta’. He also ?’ He heavily criticised composed the those who hated other religions. ‘Amrutanubhav’. He preached the Sant Tukaram : He belonged to importance of the Dehu near Pune. His compositions or path of devotion abhangas are very pleasing and lucid, through his works reaching the greatest poetic heights. His and compositions. ‘Gatha’ is a precious treasure of the Marathi language. He asks us to find Sant Dnyaneshwar He showed a simple God by showing love to the unhappy and of Maharashtra. the tormented in the following lines : ‘ There was a deterioration of ethics । । and religion in the society. At such a time, the Sants came forward to protect । ।। ’ With the society. They taught the true meaning this viewpoint, he threw in the river Indrayani, the documents of the loans of religion. They showed the path of that people had borrowed from him and devotion by living amongst people and freed many poor sharing their joys and sorrows.