CHAPTlR II

Heliniaus Forces in Maharashtra

Before we try to study more in detail tha philosophical trends in

19th century Maharashtra and their relation to relipinn us must analyse the vprious religious forces ooth in their historical and cultural con­ text. In this chapter loe shall give a broad outline of the historical evolution of v/arious reliqious mo\/ements anti then try to shouj the place of these mov/ements in 19th and 2Dth century rlaharashtra.

1• The Historical Background:

Hinduism uas not -founded Dy any particular proohet; no one can find a date uhen Hinouism started to exist; actually Hinduism can ue unper- stood as a gradual assimilation of religious and cultural elements during a long procBSS of ev/olution. The Aryan triires coming fro-ri the north seem to hawe had a deter.nining role to play in the oroceas of unifica­ tion. This process of gradual assimilation marked tha evolution of

Hinduism in early Maharashtra as uell.

Politically the Deccan plareau, south of the Narbada and of the l/indhya range, had from the very beginning an independent; status. From the 7th century the region uas doninated by the Chalukya dynasby; the greatest ruler of this dynasty, Pulakesin II (602-6^^2) fought against the invasion of king Harsha of Kanauj and rajactsd his efforts to gain dominion over the Deccan. After 753 the Chalukyas were replaced by the

Rashtrakutas ujho fought often against the pouer of hanauj and Kanshi.

After ll'^u tha souSh uias divided into three parts and the region nouj known as Maharashtra was made part of the Yadava kingdom ujith its -36-

capital at Devagiri, The reign of the Yadawa continued till ths coming)

till the coming of the Muslims at the end pf the 13th century. Uuring

this oeriod the danger of Kiuslim invasion uias at first insxistent but

the menace becomes more obv/iDus in the last years. Hinou-dharma CDulct exoano ano exoress itself freely and naver thought of tne need of de­ fending itself.

Although the Muslim influence started to be felt in the 12th cen- tury, it is only at the end of the 13th century that ix oecame a very serious dancer.the Muslim invasion under Ala-ud-din in \Z3k and tne submission of rdmacnanaradeua in 1307 marked tfie beginning of thg Muslim domination over the Deccan. The rulers of Devagiri had to submit to the ruler of Delhi; this domination uas short lived and in 13^7 Devagiri revolted and founded a neu independant kingdom under the leadership of the Bahmanl dynastry.

The Bahmani domination lasted till 1527 when the kingdom ujas divid­ ed into five sultanates: Ahmadnagar, 3erar, 3ijapur, 3idar and

Golconda. ^These five sultanates ujare weakened oy their mutual fighting and in 1630 Shah Jahan cSne douin and subjugated a good oart of the territory.

LJhat ujere the feelings of the oenpla during this long period of

Muslim rule? The rich Muslim rulers levied heavy taxes on the peasants so as to keeo uo their oun standard of living ana their military pouar; there uere many cases ujnere the Muslim rulers had little resoect for the Hindu religion; temoles ujere desecrated, destroyed and sometimes transformed into mosques. The Hindu majority felt more and more the economic and the religious oopreasion and hoped far a return of t

1. Ahmednauar and Hijaour forms the major part of ujhat is known to-day as F'aharashtra. -39-

kingdom ujpre their situation ujould ba imoroved. Under -cha Guidance of the Doet saints the peopl'J became mora conscious of their religious unity and of the ualue of th^ir ouin reliuiaus tradition. Houjever this sense of unity had yet no political exoression. It is uitn tha earning of Bniv/aji that the political unification started.

(2) Bhiv/aji uias born in the Bijaour tarritory in lb27. ^ He gradually built up a military pouer and started canquerinq various territories in the Bijapur Sultanate. In 1655 The Sultan decided to send Afzal Khan to deal with bhivaji; Shivaji cleverly murdered Afzal Khan and thg muslim trooos, ujithout their leader, lost couraqs and dispersed. In 166Q

Aurengzeb started to be concerned about the danger constituted by

Shivaji; he sent Shayfita Khan to deal ujith the nroblem. Shaysta Khan,

hiffi had initial success but Shivaji managed to enter the house of Shaygta Khan, ujounded him ana killed his son. Shaysta Khan retard.

In 1SS5 Jai Sinoh took the fort of Furandar and odliqed Shivaji to surrender. Shivaji was brought to Agra to submit himself to Aurengzeb.

Dissatisfied by the treatment he receiv?d, inivaji refused to submit and escaped from Agra. Back in Maharashtra Shivaji sxarted again to rule over the region. Aurengzeb's attention was nouj turned toujards the

Afghan's menace in tha north and he could not deal efficaciously with

Shivaji. Dhivaji croujnBd himself as king in 157^+ and exoanded his dominion far in the south. He died in 1680.

The movement started by Shivaji has a gr^at importance in Maharash­ tra. It uas the first examole of Hindu militant nationalism ana could in a uiay serve as a model for later nationalistic movements. It shamed the oossiblilitv and the need for Hindus to unite among themselves so

2. Bijaour uias not under the control of Delhi; this gave a greater freedom to Shivaji; he could start his conquest without facing Delhi at first. -kO'

as to defend their raligion against alien rulers.

From Shiv/aji's death in 1600 till 1713 the raqion was ruled ay his

succBssOi^; In 171^+ 3alaji Uisvanath was aapainted Peshuia; due to his

own qualities he took a v/ery iniDortanc; role in the administration.

3radually the King's position uias oecoming almost merely ornamental. uJhen Balaji died his position was inherited uy his son ^aji Kao. The post uas becoming in oractice hereditary thus concentrating the pouer

in a small Brahmin grouo. At the death of Shahu in 17it9 the noiuer of

the Peshuja became almost completR. This situation uas to last till the British rule.

Thus the very last period before the British rule uas to oe marked by the complete domination of small Brahmin group; in such a situation the poujftr of orthodox Hinduism and insistence on caste difv'erences uias to take a great place. There uas often tensionf oetueen tne Peshua and the old haratha rulers. As for the peasants they may not have been actually ccnscious pf the social inepualities present in the system.

These inecualities uere there all the same and 'uhe coming of the British rulers and the Einglish educational system uas soon tp make people con- scipus of this reality.

6 . Historical Background and Religipus MPuements:

The short historical survey oiv/en above nelps us to understand the social ana political backgrcund pf th-. period. Lde must nou give an idea of the more directly religious background. uJe shall do this by analysing tha role of the great religious movements in Maharash-cra in the Middle Ages. In this analysis ue shall start uiith a feui remarks on

tuip p Io mpvements; The Kahinubhava pafttha ana tne IMaxha Pantha. Ue

shall furthLT analyse the trends that have permeated more deeply the -IfU

Fiiddle Ages: the Uarkarl SamoradayB, the Ramdasi movyemant ana the

Oatta Bampradiya.

The Mahanuohava sect was started in the 12th century by Uhakradhara,

At that time xhe jain teaching and the cult of Krishna were very oopu- lar in Gujarat and in the reaions of Maharashtra close to Gujarat; Doth trends had a great influence in the shaning of the MahinuDhiv/a teach­ ing.''In the teaching of th^ect l o b may keep in mind three signi- fican pnints: (a) Its criticism of existing forms of Hinduism, (b) Its devotional cult centered around Krishna (c) its strong ascetical cen- dencey.

In their reaction against Hinduism they rejected the autnority of (4) the Uedas, they reacted against Hindu polytheism, and criticised the social system offered by Hinduism esoecially the caste system ujith its rigidity. But unfortunately they uere unable to orov/ids anotner social system to take tne olace of t. e caste system; their criticism uas only negative and unaule to operate a real transformation of socisty.^^^

Under ttie influence of the Krishnaite movament they insisted that

Krishna uias the unioue manifestation of the Supreme uod ana that g b v d - tion to him is essential to salvation/^^ Krishna uas accept?d but tiiB ujhole mythology ooout Ham and Parashuram ujas rejected; their vision of Krishna is tne one oroposed in the Gita, and theway to reach him is devotion.

3. Sardar, G.9., The saints poets of Maharashtra, o.kB. k. Cf. Kahiriahtra Jivan, o.li+6. 5. bardar, oo. cit. p.38. b. dhastri, B.M. Mahinuohiva i^ai’itha, o.^4l. -ifA-

Partly due to tha influencB of Jainism they Droooseri an ethics of withdraujal from the uarla. Involumsnt in tne uiarld has no value and man can be aaued only by renouncinq the ujorld, "Both the Jainas and the

Mahanubhava sects are directed toujards sanyasa, taujards an extreme form at renunciation. In their search for the duoreme there is a permanent schism betueen matter and spirit, betueen living and non-living, betuieen (7) the soul and the oady."

The sect could never take solid root in :‘aharashtra. Rejecting the authority of the Wedas and the value of the caste system they could not OB acceoted oy the people. Horenver their insistance on the asce- tical life ano uiitndraujal from the ujorld nlaced them on the margin of the main current of thought and life.

"^he second movement ue have to mention here is the Natha Pantha; the movement ujas not directly from Maharashtra out it had a dpeo in­ fluence on Maharashtra. The (\latha Pantha teaching made a strong im- oression on the thought of Jnanesvara, the first great noet saint of haharashtra.^^^

The main orientation of this sect uas touards yoga, stressing the value of bodily control, aiming at making the body oerfect so as to transcend the limitations usually attached to it. This insistance on bodily control led some follauiers of the group to oractise excentric forms of uodily penance.

The greatest teacher of the sect was Gorakhnath; beside his

7. oaroar, op. cit. 6. Cn this point cf. Maharashtra aarasujat, p.130, -i¥l-

interest in yogic prgctices h9 uas cancarned aaout general questions ( ) on Dhilosaphy and religion. 3

To a large extent his teaching fnllouis the general trend of Aduaita philosoohy; he says: ''From the stand point of the absolute truth, there is really no originator of the cosmic order and the^plurality of indi­ vidual existence within us."^^^^ Here Gorakhnath makes the distinction

DetiiiBsn the wieui-point of absolute truth and other v/ieu-ooints. He accepts the idea that a creator of the universe can not be postulated at the highest level; hOLJsver ha does not-accept the advaitic th3orv nf illusion; "According to this school, this world originated not from ignorance out from fulness of knouledpe, which is characteristic of

Siva sakci... the world is the delightful play of cne suoremely loving motherly power, who is eternally full of affection and mercy for her children.

The Teaching of thg V/irkarl Paritha:

Of the teachers of the Uarkari oroun we mention four great names:

Jnanesvsra, Namdev, Zkanatha and lukaram. Ue sh'^,11 say a word of their contribution to metaphysies, ethics, social and political philosoohy.

The metaphysics of the school derives its main lines from the

Indian tradition, esoBcially the Gita; the advaitic school of inter­ pretation has an important place in the formulating of their interpre­ tation. Jnanesvara's thought was in the line of Advaitic thought although he was also influenced oy Saivism ano the teaching of the y. There are many oooks written about Gorakhanth cf. especially: Banerjea, rhilosoohy of bora

IMatha Pai*itha. Ranade says; '"aJhen uis come to the discussion of the nature of prakriti and purusha which are also designated as Siva and * Sakti, or God and Goddess by jnanadeva ue have to note that the relation

DBtiuean them is likened to that subsisting oetuieen liusband and uiife, thus clearly shouiing the influence of Saivism on the one hand and that ( 12) of the oualisttic trend of thought of the ^amkhya on the other."

Ekanitha comes still closer to the advaitic teaching/^^^ although he (1^ ) understood it in the light of jnanadeva.

We must note here that the metaphysics of these saints uas not based an purely rational considerations; it uas more a v/iaion of reality to iijhich they ujere committed. The metaohysical structure luas the basis for mysticism, or the rational explanation of mystical insights; thus uie could also say that the mystical experience of the saints ujas the oasis of their metaphysics. But the metaohysical categories were derived from the Hindu cultural heritage. Thi^act bacomes still clearer in the writings of Tukarama, where the language of metaphysics and the language of devotion are one. Inevitably the metaphysical

4 X , vision was less precise than it would be in philosophical study. liJa have a permanent tension between the dualistic vocabulary of the language of devotion and the monistic presentation of pure mysticism.

It was oossibla to read in their texts either theism or monism, although the main orientation of the .teaching might suggest more monism than theism.

12. Ranade, Pathway to God in Marathi literature, 0.113, 13. Cf. Bal, A study of the philosophy of Ekanatha. 0.73.

14. Ranade, op, cit. d .359. r

The ethical teaching of these saints starts from the oasic pre-

suapositians of the Indign tradition it takes for granted that the goal

of humsn life is liberation and that this liberation can be attained.

The role of ethics is (a) to indicate hou this goal can oe attained and

(b) to exhort people to search for this goal. The style is mare the Reacn. style of exhortation and encouragement with a descriotion on hou) tD^t^e

goal.

Ethics starts from a discovery of the distinction oetuieen xhe per­ manent and the imoermanent, the absolute and tha relptiue; it is an

invitation to aoandon uhat is impermanent and relative, to cling 1:0 the

permenent and the absoulte. To reach the Absolute, man has to kaeo all

his desires under control and reacn a state of equanimity. We find this

same teaching in all four writers.

Jninesvara says:

"Happiness and sarrouj affect a man only uhen ha lives like 3 fish in the ujaters of bodily feelings... But when he lives in his oun self, hapoiness is to him on a oar with misery."(15)

Wamadeva says; "Him alone ue may call a saint, uho sees iSod in all beings; tuho looks upon gold as a clod of earth^; ujho looks upon a jeual as a mere stone; ujho has driven out of his heart anger and osssion; Ljho haroours peace and forgiveness in hia mind... "(16)

ckanatha soeaks often in terms that see^m to suggest an ideal of

total ujithdramal from the uorld but aasing himself on the Uedas he sees

this process as one of gradual detachment. The vedic path ''does not preach like some other relioions a aiholesale renunciation. The gradual

□etachment Drought by the slou and sura path of control is the ideal (17) which the Uedas place before the world." The mean for reaching

15. Jnanesvari XJI; in rtanade. op. cit. p.98. lb. Abang. IGd, in Ranade, o.l55.

17. cf. iianade, d .193. □erfsctian is detachment from the impermanent end the path of faithful­ ness to one's duties is most useful in paining this spirit of detachment.

Tukarama insists on the imoassibiiity of reaching tuiD goals at the same time; man is attracted ay the worldly reality 'Prapanca' and dy the supernatural uorld 'Far mirtha'. There is an inevitaole opposition betueen these tuo goals; God is the only goal and tlid rest is evil;

"The feet of God alone, says Tuka, are our final resort; everything else / 1 p \ is a source of evil."'" e must learn to transcend the body and its (19) needs so as to reach the highest level. What is essential is a spirit of ausolute detachment; unce desires ana attachment are removed one need not faar the world.

The saints often snoke in terms imolying complete ujithdrakial from the liiorld, but tha ideal implied rather perfect detachment from the uiorld. Morality luas not directly concerned luith the welfare of society,

Houjever the saints preached and practised virtues like truthfulness, justice, charity, respect for the dignity of all men; tnese virtues were essential for the good of society; they ,indirectly invited rran to acquire the detachment needed to be an instrument of aeace, harmony and haooiness in society.

This leads ub to say a word aoout the social philosophy of the saints. Le have seen above in which way the ethics of the saints could serve for tha^elfare of society. The saints acceoted society as it was; they had no desire to create another social set up. They took the caste system for granted as a social structure. Rut they realised the

16. Aoang. 63, in ibid. 0.2^49. 19. Ibid. p.250. relative value of such a structurs. Before Gcd and in devotion to him all caste distinctions should disaooear. Tukirama says: "A Brahmin uho does not like the Name of God is not a Brahmin... An outcaste uiho loves the IMams of God is verily a Brahmin. Orthodoxy tends to start from 'karma', from the duties prescribed to each one; this appro­ ach gives more olace to caste distinction, since each one's 'karma' is based on caste. Starting more from devotion 'Shakti' the saints came to accept the idea tnat every man can be devoted to the Lord. Mo:§:Jver

Go d uas seen mnre as a God of love, uho loves all men alike.

Shouing the relative character of tiie caste system, the saints introduced an element in the system that uould have far reaching con­ sequences, It meant first the possibility of a religious life that would have a greater independance from the Brahmin community. It in­ troduced at least at one level of social behavioLir a claim for eouality,

Any one can go to the temple and nray to the Lord. If it is a mdstake to liik at the saints as social reformers in the modern sense of the

Luord it is also a mistake to say that they did nothinq for the cause of social reform.

The Teaching of Ramaoisa

Ramadiaa uias basically fDllouing thc\teacning of advaita vedsnta; houiever his concept of uod seems to shouj an inclination toujards theism.

He speaks of the supreme God (Thorla Deva) uno is "The Supreme Creator or tne first cause; he has produced everything in this universe right from tne sun, the moon, the myriad species of animal life. He is also

20. Sfciang. 7Q7 in Ibid, p.259. -^8-

the origin of such Godheads as Brahma and Mahesh, the earth is also his (21) handiujork."^^-^^

The moral ideal which he proposes is similar to the one oropoasd by the other saints. Apte sunmarised it as follouis: "If the moral of

the uhole Dashbodh could be told in one statement it would be that the realisation of the Divine should be the objective, and devotion the path."^^^^

The emphasis is on devotin (bhakti), but the value of good ujorks is also stressed; he says: "One must be fully engrossed in one's uork and eat uhat is earned by honest labor. One uho is equally alert in worldly and spiritual life gradually loses interest in material happiness (23) and by constant discrimination escape tha worry and sorrows of life."

Just like Tukarama, Ramadasa makes the distinction between two worlds, pripanca and paramartha; but he insists that the duty of man is to accept to live at both levels; "bJith unbounded faith in the divine the prapanchika drives cheerfully his twin horses of the pranancha and the - - (2U) paramartha,"

In the social field Ramadasa comes closer to the orthodox tradition.

Sardar says of Ramadasa: "He dreamt of reviving orthodox Uedic tradition througn Maharashtra Dharma. He wanted to preserve the distinction of

Uarnisramadharma and the superior position of the Qrahmana. The vedic tradition is guarded when Srahminhaod is oreserved. The whale structure — ( — — of Uarpasramadharma is based on it." If we compare Ramadasa's

21. Apte, S.S, Samartha Ramdas, p.231. 22. Ibid. p.217. 23. Ibid. p.142. 2k. Ibio. p.22^t. teaching uiith the teaching of the previotjs saints we find a difference

of emphasis. Ldhile the previous grouo insisted on the relative charac­

ter of the Hindu social structure, Ramadasa tried to preserve these

structures. He uias more struck oy the need of reasserting the tradi*^

tional values of Hindu dharma and uanted to re-establish saciety on

tnese values.

Much has been said on the difference of oolitical commitmsnt oet-

uieen Rimadisa and the Uarkari Sampradiya. Ravinder Humar sums up the

difference as folloujs: "Ramdas substituted the suard for the syrnbals

as the symblo of the ohakti inovement, in doing so he created suitable

conditions for the emergence of a oolitical leader seeking to unite (27) Maharashtra on the basis of resurgent Hinduism." According to many historians hhivaji ujas deeply influenced by the teaching of Ramadasa; although most historians uould say that Bhivaji did not meet Ramadisa { 28) before 1632, it is quite possible that the movement started oy

Ramadasa had influenced Shivaji even before thisdate. It is however

Difficult to see the exact relation between Shivaji's political action and Ramaoisa's teaching. It is clear that .Rimadasa's ioeal of dharma

stesafts implied a return to Hindu rule and uas in that sense a re­ action against the Muslim rule. Ramadasa has become in later times an example of religious nationalism ano served as a model to th- reli­ gious nationalism that ue see in the 19th and 2Jth century. His role

in the political struggle of Shivaji may have been sametimes exaggerated,

25. Sardar, op. cit. p.125. 2V. Ibia. p.88. Mote that in this text Sardar shouis how Ramadasa and Ekanatha folloiu the same pattern of thought, thus indicating possible similarities betussn riamadasa and the Uarkari. 21. Kumar, R., uJestern India in the 19th cent. p.11 -§f>~

(29) The Qatta Sampradaya

Tne africial uriqin of the Datta bamnrada.'a in Maharashtra can be

traced back to the beginninn nf the l^fth century, fvlarasaihan Sarasuati

Loas chs founber of the movement.

In his teaching Aiarasihan proposed a kind of religious revival,

uith a mouement uf stricter obser\/ance of the Hindu rituals and en

effort (to defend and strenghten the caste system. His aparoach

folloujs the line of thouoht of aankara's scnool.*'^^^

His teachinn, especially the attsmnt to return to the Wedas and

strengthen the Hindu social structure can be understood against the

historical oackoround. The beginning of Muslim rule at the time was a

schock for the Hindu community; there ujas a oreat need to give the Hindu

community a neu sense of its identity and the value of its trac^tion.

This is Drecisely uhat the saint uias doinn.

In the 15th century the movement influenced greatly the more oopu-

lar yirkari movement, ssaecially through its influence on Ekanathp. It i^ound its aujn exoression in a few saints like Mukteavar and Jadarna-

3u)ami. A neu important element uas introduced at that time; the movement preached a synthesis of baivism and v/aisnavism and, still more

surprising, a synthesis of Hinduism and Islam,

2p. Some authors claim that ahivaji met Namadasa for the first time in 16U3 uihile otners say that the first meeting uaj in 1672. In this second hypothesis the meetinq would have been only after the main struggles of Shivaji. ^anade suggests that actually the political influence may be mors from Shivaji to Ramdasa: "Lde had rathe., say conversely that the influence came from the other side, and that Ramadasa uas made atuare of the political condition of the country through bivaji's exolcits." Ho. cit. n,2B7. The fig ure of uati.atreya is a ouranic figure. It is spoken for the first time in the Mahabharata. Oattatreya is often seen as an avatara of Jisnu. 30. .;here, R.C, Ogtta Sampradaya, q.197. 31. laid. p.196. II. The Modern Period;

A. Hinduism

Modern Hinduism appears as a coinolex reelitv difficult to analyse clearly; it contains a diversity of elements and aspects unich n&ue to oe clearly distinguished. Commentina on the census af 1921 L.S. Sadg- ujick gives an idea of this complexity. He ujrites: "Hinduism of to-day is not the uedic relipion ncr is it tne pauranic religion, nor is it the philosophical pantheism of the highly educated 3rahmin. It is a vast mixture, in which the 'Jedic uorshio of the great forces of nature, the pauranic avatars, the philosophical doctrine of karma, and - ae it noted- the pre-aryan reverence for trees, stones, animals and tribal totfjms are inextricably intermingled.

Hany have tried to distinguish betueen classical or orthodox Hindu­ ism and papular Hinduism; so as to respect Pett.er the complex reality of Hinduism in modern Maharashtra I think it is areferaPle to look at it unaer three headings: Orthodox or classical Hinduism, pooular Hin­ duism and the tradition of the saints. Actually the saints reoresent a very important force in modBrn Maharashtra; this force takas elements from orthodoxy and from pooular Hinduism but it cannot be reduceo to either of these.

a) Drthodox Hinduism

LUhdt do Ljs mean uhsn ujb speak of classical or orthodox Hinduism?

One luay of defining Hinduism is to refer it to the yedic traaition. If

The 'i/eoas are the norm of orthodoxy, ooviously orthodox Hinduism is

1. In Maharashtra state Gazetteer, Holaba dist. 196^, p.162. -52-

Uedic Hinduism. This is however an imcomplete description; the orthodox tradition as it aopears in the modern period includes also the V/edantic tradition of thought as it evolved from the beginning. It includes also a coijipleA orthodox code of conduct expressed in the sastras. We may speak of orthodox Hinduism as the form of religion practiced especially l-y the Srahmin caste; again here it is clear that the Brahmins had already taken many elements from popular Hinduism in their life and uiorship.

However it is possible to distinguish elements of religion especially practised oy the firahminjor at least the high caste pepoie, elements which refer either to the v«das or to other classical sources. This more or less clearly defined area constitutes the orthodox Element in

Hinduism.

Since 1713 and more comDletely since 17^*9 Maharashtra was dominated politically by the Peshwas; this meant that a small Brahmin group had, for a hundred years the political power in their hands. This fact may have ccntributed towards strenghtening the force of orthodoxy in the region. Although there is no clear sign that people resented this domi­ nation.at the time, the coming of Brithish rule and the currents of thought that arose at the contact of the western world soon brought a strong reaction ®gainst this domination.

A little more should be said about the Brahmins of Maharashtra. The dominant group at the time and the group that has provided most thinkers is the group of Honkanasta Brahmins. However the great majority, as far as number is concerned Delong to thfajQeshasta group. Most of them were 'smartas'

(i.e. followers of Sankara) or 'bhagavatas'. Their outlook at life was •<^3 -

(2) shaped doth by the ad\/aitic traditinn and by the bhaqavata tradition;

the teachina of the saints of Maharashtra, esaecially jnanesvar had a great importance in shapinn their visuis.

Orthodox Srahmins constituted themselv/es as a rsligio'js 'elite' lonking douin at popular forms of Hinduism as louer and debased manifest­

ations. We receive the impression of a small group of the initiated, or 'tujicB born'^^^ uho are the pure and the oerfect. On -chs other side udB have tiie rest of/^Deoole. In soite of thc\efforts made by the saints

to shouj that these social distinctions should haws no religious signi­ ficance the sentiment of superiority and seoaration was still strong.

Since they uere the only people comoetent to oerform the rituals they had a sort of monopoly of ujorshin and th^iy may have used it at times to exploit the reit, although, as u b shall see later this monaaoly may not aluiays have been absolute.

Orthodoxy uias houje\/er not so much an orthodoxy of faith as an ortho­ doxy in oatterns of behaviour. Life was regulated by rules about rituals ancj uehauiour ano one should be faithful to all these rules so as to remain 'pure', tnose who oroke these rules could oe excomunicaxeri or at ((4) least had to oe purified to be acceoted again in the grouo. Thus morality was centered around positive norms of behaviour. These norms were seen as an expression of the total order of universe 'dharma'. han nad to conform to these so as to be faithful to 'dharma'. The norms

2. Ravinoer Kumar writes; "The seminal intellectual influence upon the Brahmin caste of Maharashtra was the Advaita philosoahy of Sankara." cf. lilestern India in the 19th cent. p.7, 3. Hindus belonginp to the hioher ca3t^3 have to be initiated; this rite of initiation is so to say a 'second birth' by this rite they become twice corn. Speaking lOf the Hrahmins the census says; "The whole of their religion may be said to oe centred on caste observances; orovided th t a Hindu □□serves the rules of his casty he is at lioerty to hold any religious opinion he oleases." Census of India 1^6^+, -iatnagiri District, 0 .227. uere the concrets expression of the uniuersal order. Howev/er the con­

nection between individual norms and universal 'dharma' could not aluiays

be shown; it had to be accepted dogmatically. •here uere many beliefs

or supersitinns,that tried to show the relation ostween the universal order and the rules of conduct.Such supBrstitions had QoviouBly no

scientific oasis and were often cased on the relation oetwesn oeinqs in

this world and ghosts.

There was aoparantly a certain dv/narrism in the orthodoxy itsislf

leadino towards a slow transfnrmation of the norms of oshaviour. Justice

Telang after a study on the ctironicles of the time notes that even at

the time of the Peshwai there were cases of inter-dining, widow re­ marriage and crossing of the sea; thus showing that these cf-tangea are not due merely to the British rule but were necessities in the process of adaptation to new situations. He says that the Brahmanical system existed in a greater strength but "That there shouldljiave been so many

actual oepartur-isfrom traditionary rules that there should have aeen

such schemes contemplated as same of those which have o e e n m t i c e d , are facts which are not in harmony with the notion that prevails in some quarters, that laxity in these matters began with the introduction under

□ritish rule of Western ideas into this country.

The problem of orthodoxy seems to be that the orthodox in thie Isth century were caught in a tradition that changeo only very slowly while the world around was chanoinq fast in face of the new situations created

5. For instance some oeople were said to justify child marriage on the ground that if a child dies before marriage ha becomes a very danger­ ous ghosts. Similarly sati or later enforced widowhood was necessary oecause the dead husband would come back as a ferocious soirit in search of his wife. In 3ombay Gazetteer 1Bd 5, Uol XUIII, p.539-^2. 6. In Ranade, i-^ise of the Maratha aower. .pi318. Wote here that Telang, being a social reformer was keen on showing that social reform has its root in natural evolution andH«4 not in borrowing oat’cerns from tne western world. This may cojJjr his interoretation. by the coming of British rulR. The society in tuhich they lived uigs not aluiays ready to accept the oace of change ujhich they ujould have follouj- ed. Some of them luere able to see the situation; uhen Mandlik asked a sistri to back his plan for social reform he ansuered "'oJe shastria knouj the tide is against us and ut ia no use opposing. You people should not consult and uie shall not come in the way. But if you ask us and uiant us to tuist the shastras to your purnose and qo uiitn you, (7) uie must speak plainly and ue uill oppose,"

In spite of these signs of weakening in the orthodox position it seems clear that orthodoxy had still a tremendous hold on the people.

It had the pouier to excommunicate; this poujor could be a poujerful u-'saoon only because the majority ujould still respect thi^decree nf ex­ communication and consider those uho iiiare excommunicated as out^ide of their society. Even Ranade and Telang had to boiu down in some cir­ cumstances before the orthodox leaders.The reformers realised sooner or later how difficult it .uias to make their programme of reform acceptaole if they ignored the oower of the orthodox leaders. b) The Saints;

The saints have always olayed an important role in India. It is recognised that everyone who wants to live a deeply religious life must find a saint and a teacher to be his Guru and lead him in the right path. The saints play an important role in helping to shape tne common man's views about religion, morality and society. They

7. Chandavarkar, speeches and writinos. p.35. B, 1elang gave in to the orthodox in marrying his daughter oafoie the age a cepted oy the reformers, Ranade in accepting the penance im­ posed on him by the orthodox leaders for the oraaking nf caste rule in drinking tea at a missionary party. appears often as the link DEtuie-?n the 'nld religious tradition and the aeople. dy their teaching and actions they cantriduted to tne rafarm

□f sDciety.

There ujere \/ery many saints and pseudo saints in the period uje are studying and it is imposaii la to study' axhaustiv/ely this phenomenon.

Ue shall try to give an idea of the general movBment in its main out­ lines. \ue shall first say a wc rd aoout four ancient schools, Th®

(\latha Paiitha, the samarth sampradsya the l/arkari pantha, and Lna Datta Bampradaya zo shouj a little thEir role in the modern oeriod, Thsn ue shall see a fauj Dther saints wrm had a great importance.

a) The Natha Panth had Ins much of its imnortance in Maharashtra;

Lue can see a remnant of the mav/gment around the temple of Triamoe- keshvar in ro,-sik but this dci^s not seem to ha\/e any great influence on tna people. There is anoth. r manifestation of the (\latha Pafitha uiith the tuo DOpular saints Warayan .arasvati (Paramananda) who is said to have lived 127 years before hi; death in 1910, and his disciple Gajana

Maharaj. Tne teaching of Gajana Maharaj insists on thg value of yagic practices. Through these yogln oractices he tries to reacn an experi­ ence of tr.e Self. He says to l.is disciple: "I am searching however, seeking in myself my oujn self uidch is one and oeyond all these things and Luhich is joy incarnate.He seems to search for th'^ realisation of t a absolute Sel<^ seen as t‘':^ unity of being, basically through the path of yogic practices. He h r! a certain number of folloujers who ujsre attracted by his life and his ■ iracles. But he failed to make a domin­ ant imoression in the period.

9. Mate, M.S. Temoles and Lege'-.ds of Maharashta, p.15^. 10. Bunaji, Linht on the path f self realisation, p.65. -M-

b) The Ramadasi Havement or San irth 'dampradaya

The Hamadasi movemant aeer :3 to be reduced to a small Grnuo without much influence, although, due i,') the political situation th^^teaching of '^amdas gained mors imnortanca in the heninniiiq of the 2iJth century.

Among the saints of the HamdasiL oroup ue may mention 'Chounde Maharaj',

A Deshasta Brahmin oorn in Dai in 1877 Chounde devoted his life to the protection and defence of Hinduism. He ujorked at the re-conuBrsion to

Hinduism of those uho had decor 3 Christian or Muslims, but the mein line

□f his ujork uas tou.'ards the pratectian of the couj, for uinicn na founded the Gouardan 5amstha' His biographer says; "The teaching of KamdBS has haa an indeliole impression on ina life and teaching of Shri Chounde

Maharaj!' "Dasoodh has practic'^lly become his Biole. He himself puo- lished and helped the publication of the ujnrks of i^amdas and critical 12 liiorks on them." ( ) c) Warkarl Sampradiya

The strongest movement was still that of the Uarkari pantha. It remains, as a general movemBnt extremely popular among the villaoers.

Although xha uirkarl pantha, unlike others, does not rely on its actual gurus, ^^ate notes that "Recently there is seen the phenomenon of several gurus having their uielj.-knit groups and maths and monasteriss inside the Uarkari panth."''^^^ One oi’ these saints is Oadamaharaj Satarkar u)ho folloujed much in the traditional linw of the Uarkaris with qreat; insistance an the pilgrimage and on biakti. Philosophically he is

11. Deeming, Ramdas and the Ra'Tioasi, 0 .191-92. 12. Talcsikar, l/.R. Mother of rosperity. 13. i^iate, Op. cit. p,212. (1^) much influence by Jnanesuar's t-^achinrj. Another interesting saint is Saint Gadqe Maharaj.

Gadqe Maharaj aupeors to t ; to the movement uhat Mahatma phule uias to social raform. Like Phuie,, he was born of a lou caste, hs was by cast a 'oerit' ujasherman. i. ntil t h ^ g e of 28 he lived a normal life of villager, bearing his noverl ' uith resignation; In 190^ he is invited by a passing sadhu to take to r ’ligious life. After much difficulty he left his u-dfe ana three chi]'vrsn in 1^05 to devote hia^.ife to re- ligiauB pursuits.

His maj.n orientation uaa tjuards action and his ideal ujas one of disinterested action; he exprewsad it in the uords '(\lrskama janaseva

Dharmi seDhaire^ca'His d! ^ire to spend his life in service leads him to the foundation of various dharmasala for pilgrims, uorkinp among the leners and building up insL^itutes for the orotection of the coljs.

In his kirtans he tried to inculcate to all the spirit of right devotion.

The first princiole is the ujor ;hip of God but Lue must also insist on practical virtues like helping the poor and non-vialence/ His attitude tousrds religion is v ry interesting. Firstly he says that nciSne should kill a hen or a gu^at or any animal to offer it in sacrifice, secondly no one uiould give mon v to the oriests or tne temple; this money should rather b»^::iven to nelo the .ioor. Finally ue should not (17) have faitn in tha various mirarles.

What is noticeable is th&u ''iadge tries to purify religion of l^t. Rnhilkar, Oadamaharaj Saterkar. 15. Umaravatikar, Gadge Mahara ani yanoa karya. 16. Ioid.36. 17. Potdar, ^hri Gadge Mahara;., 0.29. popular abuses like animal sacrifices and usalass ritualiam^he aaams also to react against tha tende .cy to respect a man as a saint on accQjnr oP his mlEacles. Gadge ujas not a social reformer, but a reli­ gious reformer uho belieued that religion siiould lead one to oe more concerned with the good of man. His whole life has been an sxpressiun

□ f this faith. His religion ujst oased on oura theism uith great imoor- tancs given to the spirit of devotion. d) Tne Datta Sampradaya:

The Datta Sampradiya seems to have had a real strenqifit in the 19th / 1 n N century, ujitn a number of saints in various regions of Msharsshtra.

Of these saints Dhere mentions hree who have had a.larger number of falloLuers, MsniK Prabhu of Kal' jn, bvamimaharaj of Akkalkot and 'v/asude- (19) vananda Sarasvati of Savantvadi.

As a uinale they continued he tradition of (Varasihan Sarasvati, and the other early saints, thfiv still had a conservative attituoe regarding questions like caste-. ihey folloujed to a lar,.e extent a non- I dualist philosophy, looking at lOd as devoid of qualities.Houiever they were not like Dayanand becii on condemning all forms of idol uorship, [ They realised the value of rspr'^sentation of God in the temjles.;

Among the other saints th are a feu who have been a sort of link between Hindus and Muslim ii. fManqe Maharaj of a'ashim was so popular among both Hindus and Muslims hat at his death Hindus and Muslims lb. Dhere mentions a number of saints in various regions: Uasudevananda Sarasvati was from Satara, :Jatmaharaj Balekrudikar was from Selqaum, Svami Maharaj and Hamanand-i ^adilkar were from Akalkot. Manik Prabhu from Kalyan... thus tha movemiant was well spread all over Maharashtra in the 19th ce r^ury. 19. Dhere, Datta Sampradaya, p,177, 2L1, Phadke, 5hridattupasana, 0.321. ^ 0 '

(21) fought togetner to have th;^ rigt t to his body. But the ijreatBst saint in that line was Sai 8aba of Shirdi; ha miqht be compared to Kabir in thg north. It is saicf that ^uas born a '^rahmin Out in youth hs uas handed over to a fakir who broui ht him up in the Muslim faith. He (22) embadiSG in himself thus both t a Hindu and the Muslim traditions.

In Selu he came again under Hindu influence, being under a guru uho kJorshiDBd the god Jenkatesa "Ba la naturally deueloped the feeling that the 3od (or Allah) that he kneu) in his earlit^st ysars under theY'akir was tne same as Uenkatesa that nis Guru at Selu worshipped, and that othervi gods of God-forms that^iiiire incidentally Drought to Selu or were ( 23) visited by his master were all farms of the same God. The twc important contrioutions of Sai aba were: his staunch Monothaism and the conviction that this Ronotf- y Ism was to be the source of religious unity.

Upasani Baba followed the line of his master Sai Baba; however he was more clearly in the line o1 Hindu tradition; He based hi isslf on the -it? which he understood in the light of spiritual monism, although this was qualified by his insirtance on Bhakti. He seems to have under- ( 25) stood Advaita through the infli'qncs of Jnanesvar. Ms in ths case of Sai Baba, in Uoansanl Baba ' le have very little i'loortance given to social reform, though in the fi^-^ld of religious reform he was bold enough to start an order of 'jio-• :n religious. Upasani Baba insists on religious and ethical values; For him religion is "M set of orinciples

21. _,f. Gunaji, Light on the p th of self realisation. 22. f'Jarasimha, Life of Sai Bab/, p.13. 23. Ibid. P.7B-75. 2k. Ibid. p.217. 25. Tipnis, Cantriuution of Up-^sani Baba to Indian culture, (thesis,) p.2'?D. ■G\-

that liberates ynu from the cycle of birth and death... the purpose of

religion is to ria ynu of all desires. It helps you to euolv/e and finally

to attain God.it destous uoon ynu both temooral and spiritual happi-

Upasani's Ethics manifests a desire for a great purity of life;

morality appears ss the oasis f r sniritual experience. Tne greatest

virtue is devotion to God, but t should practise other virtues like

humility, long-suffering, harml :3sness, purity, steadfastness, self (27) control, unselfishness...

UJe should also say a word nf The 'Chimad Samoradaya' ; The faunder

of tne^roup was Bhausaheb Mahar ij of IMimbargi (1789-180^); one of Inis

great disciples was BhausaT^'b IJiiadekar, uiho uas to be the guru of the

philosopher R.D. Ranade. Their teaching folloujs in the line of the

SHi* as te-es oasic teaching of tne Uarkarl oantha. "The Chimad sampradaya

is the same cult as was fDllDuEj by famous and uiorthy saints lika Onya* / n a N neshuiar, Ekanath, Tukaram, etc. in Maharashtra."

A saint wham loe should mertion lastly, although ue have no room

here to do justice to his vast Lsaching is Gulabrao Maharaj. From his X - - (29) youth he uias very fond of the siistras and the puranas; But the main

influence in his life uias the cTta and still more the teaching of

^nanesvari. His biographer savs "That he used to have in his throat

the Dhagvat and the jnanesvari as a mangal sutra.^^^^ He considered

26. Ibid. (edit,) p.93. 27. Cf. Tipnis, op. cit. p.99. 26. K.otnis, Life sketch of Tat'^-^saheb hotnis, n.2U. 29. — Aloukix Sant Nibhui.i, p.33. 3U. Ibid. o.lUl. himself as tha daughter of Jnane ^var. His teschinq was uasically the advaitic teafehing as understood n-/ JnanBsv/ar. He hopBd in fact to re­ form his oun village accordinn tto vedantic teaching. ^

E\/aluation;

The first thing that the spints contriduted to uas a spreading of monotheism. This monotheism uja?. contained in thd Hindu tradition, but it had to penetrate the various stratas of sociuty. The saints through their teaching gradaally tiraugh- this theism to the people. In the con­ text of Maharashtra this teachiin is usually seen as related to the tenets of the great saints of ti ^ past.

The second point is the spreading of a higher morai ideal. The / idea of detachment and service f others is present in the teaching of most of thssB saints. They ins:st also on virtues like non-violence, purity, truthfulness, humility, jnd self-contro].. Thus they lead man touards a batter life. However tiiis ethics is rarely based on reason and is sometimes relying much C'H oast traditions. This ideal was very lofty and very few could coma ciose^it.

Thirdly, they opened th;^cv for reform. However this reform is mostly of a religious nature ard rarely reaches social reform. Tnere is very little reaction agains things like casteisn, although the prac­ tical attitude of the saints ot\,9n shows a total disregard for CBste.

As far as religion is con irned, most of these saints preached a religion of devotion. This re'-iaion is not narrow minded. Soma have insisted . uch on religious uni ■/ out othsrs, like Chounde Maharqj, have

31. laid. p.50. '6:?-

shotun an attitude that might mak3 any true dialogue and unity difficult.

'uJe cannot end this section '.uithdut a short critical note. The

first point that strikes one is tiia irrational element in the disciple's

attitude. The disciple is experted to give an absolute assent of faith (32) to his Buru and acceot his teaching uncritically This irrational

character is also seen in the nnive acceptance of numoerlass miracles and fabulous feats from the saiirca.

It is tne difficult to draw the line oetueBn the true and the false

saints. It is an accepted fact that many abuses were reported about pseudo-saints uho lived a bad life, like these 'saints' who took the u)i\/B3 or sisters of their devot ;es.^ But even saints uho are re­ cognised as Lrue saints can be so in STite of various defects. iJe have (3^+) at least three examples of saints yha uiere drunkards: Gajana Maharaj,

Mange Maharaj of lOashim and Bat^m Maharaj nf bauiantuiadi UJe also have a case like Tapkiri Mahars i uho uas aooarently insane. Dftsn these man realised thair oun uieaknesEt3s, as in the case of Gajana Maharaj uho discouraged people from follQiuing him and claimed that he uas spoilt;

"I am aluaya taKing the uine of sohan and thus I have been spoilt. You people should not spoil your lives by follouing

c) Popular forms:

Orthodox Hinduism had intiuence mostly on a small minorixy of

Hindus. The vast majority of tiRople are less directly influenced by

32, Ex. cf. IMarasimha, Life of lai Baba, o.llS.

33. b'unaji, op. cit. o.67.

3^. Ibid. p.65-b7 and llGf.

35. laid. p.b6.

3b. Ibid. d .113. this orthdox traaition, aased nn the v/edic literature and especielly an tne upanishads. For the coi on people Hinduism ia ambivalent. It is first the system that giv/es rise to a social structure ujhich may often be oporessive far them, ’ t is a tredition ujhich they can not euen knouj since they are not entitl d tn read the sacred books. Yet they find in Hinduism a living reliiiious tradition thit fulfils their need of carpfTiunion with God and reli iious exoression. The oopular forms of

Hinduism are not so easy to un.'-^rstand. The falloujing description can

DB taken as a starting point:

"The religious faitr, of* t.' ° rural population in general in the district (jalgaon) is a strange mixture of animism and the l-iigher philosophical tenets of H n d u i s m and morals. Roughly saeaking xhey may be described as hav/in faith in many gods and deities. Most of them aay homage to 'i/ithob of Pandharour snd are even Uarkaris.. . Besides there are several local field ano forest spirits in uihose aopeasement, the agridultfjrists and artisans ardently belisv/e."(37}

The author* says further .nat most psople are confirmed thaists yet they do not hesitate to invoque God according to v/arious nanes taken from Hindu mythology. This general descrintion can easely be extended to the whole of Maharashtra. robabl'y under the influence of the poet saints of Maharashtra, the old Hindu trends of monotheism, especially the GItS, and the influence of Islam the oeaple came to a clearer con­ ception of tne unity of God, any popular deities loere at first ex- oressions of a primitive type }f culture. They uere l/ithooa, rthandoba,

Tul jibtnavini, Renuka, etc. ■ But, gradually these pods ujere included in tne greater tradition nf Hinduism and seen as manifestations of ^iva or

WigQu. In this way these priiritive traditions were related to the great / "7 O') monothBistic tradition of Hinrrism. But this monotheism is not

37. Maharashtra Jtate GazettBE’/-, Jalgaon Dist., p.135. For a more com- olete didcussion of the pr^iiular forms of worshio in .•■'aharashtra, cf. Ohere, Marsthi Lokasan ikrutTce Upasak.

38. u f . Ohere, d o . cit., o.l^^-^6.

clearly articulated as a aystem; it is rather a general belief that the ujorlri is directed by orp absolut*; poujBr, althougn this pDkier manifests itself in uartotta ways and can t -2 called by different names. Even those uiho are under the influence of t; i poet saints were monotheists in this general sense; the saints kept t nlaca far various manifestations of God.

8ut the people as a whole are nci i. so strictly devoted to one God as the great saintsi w^jrejmost of tham worship various deities. Tne people of

Maharashtra rarely had an intolnrant attitude, opposing one God to ano­ ther. It is wall known that Jir.nQba is known oy tradition as wearing on his head the 5iva lincam; the e

As a whole tha people worfhio firstly their family deity, 'Muladai- vati', which is the chief deit\ of the family. Among the familv deities many families have the 'mother loddess in one form or the other, l^iva or Kandoba. Seside this the p :nple living in villages have their

'grimoaivati'; finally many peinle have permanently their own chosen oeity 'Ista daivata' for worshii.

The blind faith of peop1 ^ in God is accompanied oy a faith in the law of karma by which trie people see their lives as permanently in the nanus of God. Ultimately we r.;ily have to avoid displeasing the divinity ano to do what is necessary tt nlease it. Rules of behaviour are often conditioned by that. Thlflsaib to an ethic that is ritualistic and oassd

39. This remark as well as man; others in thio section is inspired oy Karve, I., ('Maharashtra Lariri and its peonle, Chapter 7. -G&'

merely on Bxtsrnal rules, deter ined by ujritten or oral traditions.

Faith in God as an absolut • nDLiier leads to the idea that tha real man of bOd filleo uiith divine piiu.Br,can oerform all kinds of miracles and that these miracles are signs of God's poujsr, A good example of such miraculous power is to bs founc around the Oattatreya .'jampradiya in

Gangauur/^*^^

Corresponding to these thr :e trends in the approach t;j God, through the family tradition, the villene tradition and through personal choice

LJB can see varying types of re]iqinu3 manifestations. Correspondinq to the ■ ' kuladaivati' uie have the riamestir; uiorshio, corresponding to the village deity ue have various fnrms of village uarship that often culmi­ nates in the village feast. Ipinally ue have the chosen deity. The

Ljorsnip of this deity often leenis one to search for common forms of ujorsnio outside his family circle. One sucn menifestation of faith is found in the pilgrimages. Pilnrimages have a great importance in the life of the people and in tha 'volution of ideas. They permit the people to break aujay from the narrow universe of their village, th^y Dreoare them to receive neu ideas, to have a broader morality and a uetter sense of numan equality and universality. They often present a higher ideal of relioion than that uhich pe^nle get at the level of thg villape.

Houjever, the places of oilnrimanes are not always altogethtET a ulessing. We find around thes- great centres many debased forms of religiaus exoEesBions. beverai such practices can be sean in ralation to the cult of khanaoba in Jej"ri. [me such aractics consisted in hanging a man on a nole on a e i?ro honk thrust in to his feack. (N^ore detrimental to social structur .s, is the custom of nfferinq tne child

kO. Mate, Temoles and legends jf Maharashtra, q.97. Dorn from a voui to tne service iF the tBtnole. The boya are calied

Uaghis and becoms, in soits nf "hemselvas, mendicants. The girls are called Muralis and became ternpl ^ dancea^ many of them havinq the dis­ rj. - reputable fame of Deing temple irostitutes/^^^

The ethics of the cDrnmon nan in modern Maharasntra comes from various sources. Basically it relies on the authority of tradition and religious authority. There are various sources of these traditions.

One source refers to the generel current of Hinduism, the Git5 and the

Puranas, the other main currsm comes from the teaching of the great meoiaeval saints of Maharashtrt. This moral teaching is transmitted through stories told ciy the elr^Rrs or reproduced in dramas. The moral ideal of the mediaeval saints is transmitted in pooular religious songs, in bhajans and occasionally in kirtans. This ethical teaching is often completed by various detailed rules of conduct drawn form local customs that have notifl infreouently been sanctioned by religion. In soite of many dsviationa and unnecessar'/ rules tha ethical teaching of the oeonla shared the general attitude af the Mahataharata's ethies:

"It does not sacrifice evi .-'/-day life in its exuberance for the quest of a life oeyond, but sets itself to the task of solving the proulems of different iderira opaosinq one another, the conflict of (i^2) society and the individual uith deep sympathy and f ar-sightt.ndness."

Ue have seen in a nut-she;1 the general attitude of oopular Hinduism toujards 'aod, religion and morajity. Iile can say something of the! relation

Detuieen oopular Hinduism and oithodoxy. In one way it seems that the loiuer caste peoole and still mi re the outcastes uere excluded from the main Hindu tradition. A text (j.dch, it is said, uias written by a fourth

41. Cf. Mate, Temples and Legei'ds of Maharashtra, p. 169-71; Cf. P.lso a study of Uaghis and M u r a H s in Dhere, op. cit. G.it8-67. U2. 3. Das Guata, Develooment r moral philosoahy in India, a.19'. -G8-

standard untcuchable nirl brinns this fact strikingly to our attHntion;

"Tha rahmin say that the Uedas ara their rnanapol'./. They aland coula

study them. It is evident frorr this th- t ui° have no religious □□□!<.

If the Wedas belong to Brahmins, it is tf-ieir duty to conform their daily

life to them. If we have no li i^rty to study books on religion, ue are (k3) Luithout religion."

In Brahmin centres like Ponna tha presence of the Brahmin and their

domination over other groups iuf;3 keenly felt, but it would seem that in other places there uas a relativa fr9‘-dom from this domination.

Ravinder Human says:

"ThB Joshi did not rank bf idgh in soicety as hid status in the scale of caste would led i to exoect. The kumbis cavalier attitu­ de towards the Joshis is ri^flected in tha fact that they permitted guravas, or non-Brahmin pi'issts to perform the ritual prescribed by hinduism. The great ti'arlition of Hinduism, and tha Joshis uiho claimed to represent this tradition in the villages, in fact ex­ ercised very little diract influence over the Kumbis. But tublle the Huiiiois submitted mechFiically to tha ritual prescribed by or­ thodox Hinduism, they disr^rned order,and meaning in their world exclusively through the spiritual insight which the bhakti move­ ment placed at their disorsal."(^^)■

In our survey of religious forr -y oresent in Hinduism we have seen three

areas in which these forces w b j a at work; In each of these three ue have seen the main at.itudes ti'wards tiie problem of Goo, religion and morplity. It anpears clear th; x the question of bod as a whole tends

towards a Monistic-monothBistic tradition. The popular movements tend

towards monotheism, although i I. is deeoly influenced by oopular gods which gije a polytheistic connLication to the whole. However the ohakti movement that has penetrated t '3 whole of Maharashtra brings the mono­

theistic ideal closer to the p g o Ip .

Ui. ~2f. Heer, D. Mahatma Phool -''/, p.^+1. UU. Humar, H., Uestern India i i the 19th cent, o. noranxy, aa a unnie is oasFd on autnorxty anQ^TrffaiTron. c t t x b the orthodoxv bases itself an the feastras ths ordinary men saarchss for hia source of authority in the t- ichinq of the saints ana in the puranas.

Drthadoxy tends touards a ritual stic tv/oe of ethics uhile the cornfnan man tends toujards the ethics nf jocial Hnuality and Iralance of life.

Faced uith forces from outs .■ e during this period Hinduism appears, unsure of itself; it feels cha^l -nnad. Us finu as a uhole two reactions one is to resist nsrvously anr.'^-lry to preseri/e Rverythino in the tradi­ tions, 'Ciie othdr is to adjust oneself continually to neui situations at the risk of losing one's own ide;n;ity.

B. Islam;

From the 13th to the 17th :sntury the whole territory now known as

Maharashtra was under muslim dO:n^nation. This fact led to (a)-a process of integration, by whici bothvtraditions were enriched and modified by thb other, (b) A state of tene.Jun betwsen the two forces of Islam and

Hinduism. In this tension eacl- olock tends to becoms more riyid and to opoDse itself more clearly to the other block.

The Muslim population of usstern India grew qradually throuph the conversion of Hindus, ano throuoh tha iHuslim invasions from the northern racions or from abroad. Most uslims in Maharashtra were Sunnis, be­ longing to four main groups;^5 yyids, Pathan, Shaiks and in som^ regions,

MophaiiiA. There is also, e joecially in the cities a fairly tjood number of Ismailis dhias, bafli .iqing either to tha Bahora or the hodja

^b. This is a summary of what ms can find in aach district in the Gazetter of Maharc;shtra. If uie axrlude 3ombay, were we have a bigrier Shia community, we find everyw 're the same majority of Bunnis. -Yt)-

• 4. (^6) communitv.

Ule have already menticnad in several places the cultural synthesis

betujeen Hinduism and Islam. Si/nh a synthesis finds its concrete express­

ion in popular Hinduism. Tha ri^^zetter says; "Due to lonq period of

Muhammedan dominance in the coimtry, customs, especially of louier caste

Hindus, show in several resogdsthe influence of Islam. (^7) In many

villages, for instance, the tor i of tne same saint is venerated by both (UB Hindus and Muslims equally.

The I'^uslims u)ho have been converted frpm Hinduism have brouph many

popular fprms of Hinduism uith ;hem. Tn spite of the strict monotheism

□f Islam they continued to u)or‘-hip the popular Hindu deities like Maahpoa, (US) hhandoba, Satvai, etc.

Even in the modern pericd t slam nossesses feui signs of a true rena­

issance; it remains very much its old pqttern of thought. Recently people like Hamid Daluai and A. ’. Bhah have brought this to everyone's

notice. Daluai savs: "Thus t, a Muslim mind is still under tne spell pf mediaeval faith. This haopens to the fpllpuer pf any religion at some

time. In every raligipus grpu :, pne finds such hard core orthodoxy which

clings tp obsalete traditions. But one also finds that in the Hindu

Bs ujBll as in the Christian sor:i3ty there emerged a class of reformers uho rejected such dogmas outri

US. For details pn Bohoras and Kodjas, cf. Briggs and Kramer, shorter Encyclopedia of Islam. U7. "Except Rohoraa and Persians, almost all P'^usulmans believe in saints to Luhom they pray fpr chil 'ren of for health and offer sacrifices and gifts. ;-i0 st craftsmen and almost all hifbandmen oelieve in Mhasooa, Kariai and satvai." Bomba; Gazetteer, ed. 1885, vol XUIII, Poona dist. a.UbS. ifii.Ioid. p.171. ■ US. State Gazetter, Amravati, n.l70; Mujeeb uirites about the Muslims of that region; "It could be ".aid qenerally that they uere thrae fouth Hindus". Indian Muslims, '.18. ! bO. Daloiai H., Muslim politics in India, 0.13-lU. { - 71-

A.B. Shah adds that Islam is still vary much bound by tradition and

has very little capacity of transforming itself; "So great has been the

hold of orthodoxy on the Muslim mind that nowhere has Muslim society so

far been aole to throu uo an articulate class of liberal Muslims committed

to modern values and to all that such a commitment means in various fields

of life."^^^^

Before 1857 the Muslim community uias faced by the new situation

created by the coming of British power in India. The raaction of the

orthodox was to work out a spiritual renewal of the community so as to

reach unity through religion. The greatest name in that line is that of (52) aJaliullah, His effort included a movement to purify Islam from all

Hindu elements. It has consequently a communalist bent. But it is

obvious tnat this effort has not penetrated the population at large in

Maharashtra. It shows a general trend among the more educated towards

a purification of Islam, but the Muslims as a whole kept their oopular

traditions with their tendency towards the integration of Islam and

Hinduism.

An effort was also made tn unify all the trends of thought that have grown up in Islam in India. This effort was to lead to endless theological discussions; consequently the aeat of Muslim thinking was directed to­ wards these theological problems and very little anergy was left for

the ±udy of how to face the madern world. MujeeP, in his analysis of

Islam in India says; "The theological outlook prevented the old Muslim concept of life from yelding to the pressure of new circumstances, and extending into an assimilating to itself new intellectual and emotional

51, In his forward to Dalwai's Muslim Politics in India, p.18. 52. Cf. Harandikar, Islam, India's transition to modernity, p.127. experiencBS by converting much .f the energy that cauld have aeen used

for otner purposes into sectari 'n zeal,"^^^^

Beside these sectarian dlEcussiona among Muslims their intellectual

life uias concerned ujith the prc ilem of the theological study of the new

situation created oy Rritish rul-s. In this repect the most important

euent was Shah Aodul Aziz's decision to declare India as ' dar-al-Hart-'.

This declaration amounted to seving that the british are 'Hafirs' and

□pposed to Islam. If this decree was taken seriously the Muslims in

India ujould have either to fight the British or to migrate to another

country. la the common uneduce i,ed Muslim the niceties of this teaching

uiere of little value; but tha r -ineral impression that the British are

to be considered as 'Hafir', ami therefbre disnissd penetrated the masses.

An other strong movement f ’ ms to take tha opposite direction and

to lean touiards a respect and; t ::c:ept8nce of the british rule in India,

viewing it as a God given diapi^isation. An outstanding effort in this

line can be sezn in the work of jayyed Ahtned Hhan. According to' him

the only way open to the Musliiuo was loyalism in oolitics and monernism

in institutions. To some extent his attitude could be compared to tfiat of M.G. Ranade in Maharashtra. 3ut there was also in Sayyed as in prac­

tically all the progressive mow aments in Islam, a fundamentalist trend which apLiears as an effort to indicate how orogress as it is seen now is (54) the crown and the centre of IsV-jm.

The Muslims in India have had a basic oroblem, since the end of the

Muslim rule; the problem is to -nconcile thair loyalty to th^ country

53. Tne Indian Muslim, p.397. 54. Aziz ahmed in 'Islamic f-’od-rnity in India and Pakistan' trigs to show that at first Byyed w a something of a fundamentalist in the line of Lualihullah, out he grad j 'ily re-interpreted tfiis fundanantalism in the line of his revolut Miary modernism. p.^tiJ-^tl. ; -^ 2 -

and their loyalty to all the Muslim brothers. The Indian Huslims appear to belong to two ujorlds ujhich are often impossible to reconcile.

Their leaders have uiauersd from nne aide to the other in tha dilemma.

The common people were more conc rned uiith the concrete nroblem of suo- sistence and not much interested in these discussions.

The Hindus on their side co'ild nut easely farqet^ the brutalities and injustices in some periods the Muslim domination. There was thus constant tension between the tiuc nroups. This tension was oresent in

Maharashtra and was one of thg reuses of the riots that have occured in

Maharashtra and especially in B( '’oay.

C. Christian Forces:

Although there may have be^^n much older Christian grouos especially in Gna, it is in the sixteenth century that we have definite historical documents speaking of Christian establishments in Maharashtra. Christia­ nity had come to Bombay loni^iefnre British rule. The Portuguese, guided by Menoel de Albuouerque took E assein in Bombay in 1532 and the Portu­ guese Capucin missionaries lanriad there two years later and ^’Uifct a first Christian community. Thus we have a first community of Christians; but after 172D tnis community was somewhat paralysed by various diffi­ culties and could contribute v ry little if at all to the evolution of thought in modern Maharashtra.^It is with the coming of the Pro­ testant missionaries in the ISch century that the situation oegan to change.

The first grouo of Protestant missionaries came to Bomoay around

1814. It was composed of thr: American Wesleyan methodists, filled

35. For these historical details cf. Hanse, The Church at the Getaway of India. -7i+-

uith the zeal to preach the gospel to all men. But the group soon dis- cavered that conv/ersians did not come easily and they tuere obliged to temper their desire to convert ev/eryone. Pathak sums up the philosophy behind the- movement in the follouing way:

"The three most important feaiures of the evangelical mind mere its intense individualism and exaltation of individual conscience, its belief that human character could oe tota^lly transformed by a direct assault on the mind and finally its conviction that this required an educational process. As a natural corollary of this conviciion, introduction of Christianity and liJestern knouledge in India uias a duty as uell as a rB3pDn3iDility.''(56)

The scotch missionaries ujho ca^me a little later, had a similar approach and they did much to spread their ideals far and wide. They gave much imprtance to direct evangelisation.

The attitude of the Christian missionaries shaujs often a great contempt for Hinduism, hie can see this often in the uritinns of these missionaries, as for instance in the tone of Margaret Uilson's descrip­ tion of the feast of Holi: "ijJb saw fire lighted up, the te'iiples open in uihich are performed the most abominable and superstitious rites, and multitudes in succession passing before us, like those of old, mad upon (57) their idols." According to these missionaries Hinduism as a whole was to be condmmned. This criticism was meant in a spirit of lovBjin one of the very early issue of the jnanodaya we see that their aim is to free man from man made restrictions. It is intended in a spirit of love and compassion and violence is quite contrary to this whole spirit.

The attitude of the missionaries had two important effects on philosophical thinking in Maharashtra. Firstly, the criticism made by the missionaries influenced many reformers and progressive in the way

56. Pathak, American missionaries and Hinduism, o.ll. 57. M. Wilson, Memoirs, p.l6t>. 58. Cf. Jnanodaya 1,1, 18it6. ^ ------n------75-

they lookBd at various practices in Hinduism. The attacks from Chri­ stianity ooliged the Hindus to examine critically their religious practices and to purify Hinduism from all its unnecessary accessories.

This had its imaortance in the building up of monatheist uelief in modern Maharashtra. Christianity uiith its insistance on monotheisn helped the Hindus to express their teaching also in terms of local teachings. Later tne Christian missionaries, or at least some of them, ujorked at translating and commenting on the teaching of tliese saints shoiuing the real value of their teaching. Startina from this th$ re­ formers took often from the saints teaching ujhst is more in the line of their teaching.

At the same time the Christian attitude gave importance to conver­ sion and Drought a strong reaction from the Hindu thinkers. Even the most lioeral thinkers objected to the canversion ofwi Hindus. This can be seen for instance in the reaction of an early liberal thinker like flal Shastri Jamohekar on the occHsion cf the conversion of ^Jarayyn

ShBShadri and the alleged adbuction of his brother by Rev. f'Jesbit. 'jJb can see it also in tne reaction of M.G'. i^anade and other reformeys to the uork of Panoita Ramabai and her ujidoius home uhen it became clear that the home uas a missionary institution interested in conversion to

Christianity.

In this early period Christianity had to face extsmely strong appo­ sition. f'-'.ost missionaries oslieved that conversion to Christianity was the only uiay of salvation and thereby looked at their uork chiefly in relation to conversion. At first the reaction to conversion ujas, very strong but it tended to Decams milder after some time. All the earns, ujb have a continuous reaction against Christian propaganda and this; -76-

reaction luas ta influence many of the more orthodox thinkars like i/ishnuDuua Srahmachari and M.S. Gala.

LJe have seen so far that the Christian missionaries laid stress on monotheism and conyersion to Christianity; they also brought in a neuj aQoroach to ethics and society, 'ilhile Hindu society uas oased on the authority of the sistras and their ethics had oecome in many resp-^cts most formalistic the Christian missionaries proposed a more rationalistic epuroach, although their anoroach was oased on the Bible and especially the teaching of Jlesus. Their ethics was based on ]o \/b and the enuality of all men.

The effort to reach a more rational vieui of ethics and society in­ cluded a criticism of many practices in Hinduism. This criticism had a role to play in opening the eyes of educated Hindus to the situation,

Parvate says:

"There uas no doubt uhatever that the Christian missionsrieB had marked out a numPer of real shortBomings of the Hindu anu nuslim communities such as child-marriaoe, ban on widoiLi marriaoe, the pardah system... Hindus and Muslims justified all these in the name □f their religious injunctions uhile as a matter of fact religion had nothing to da with their maintenance. Tne criticisms mftde by the Christian missionaries set the neuily English educated Indian thinking and they sion found that their social and religious ideas and customs ano traditions needed drastic reuision and a neu orientEtion."(59)

More positiv/ely, the Christian influence proposed an ideal of society based on benevolence, bpeaking of the American mission pat^k says;

"It ga\/e uirth to a uider Christian philanthrooy and a spirit of dis­ interested benevolence. 'Jesleyan [^lethodism, in cnnjunction with

Hopkinsianism, oraathed the spirit into the religious auakenino.

Secular humanitarianism as oreached by jefferson reinforced the religious

Parvate, Mahadev Govino '^anade, A Biogranhy, a A 5 . -7 7 '

(60) mo\/ement,"

This trend ujasHe4 not so strong in the first period; it was mostly after 168G that the Americadi missionaries uere influenced oy tha social dimensions of their teaching. As ute have seen, tha first mouement was more individualistic and concerned uith indiv/ioual conversion. Phatak says:

"This luas a shift of emphasis from the regeneration of the indi­ vidual to that of society through the Christian gosoel. In the earlier period the emphasis had been on the salvation of the in­ dividual.Uy the 188D's the idea that not only the individual but all of society should be recreated through Christian love and oene- volence found concrete expression in American Protestant thouoht. It ujas emphasized that the teachings of Jesus had a message not only for tha individual, but for its uihole environment, social, moral and economic."(51)

Thus, as a uhole the oresence of Christian missionaries appears as both a power of dissolution*- and a nouier of reconstruction, offering basic principles of re-organisatinn. Amonn the values of reorganisation ue may mention tha monotheistic faith, the great respect for the indivi­ dual and his conscience, an ethic based on love and asnavolence and a society built on a more rational foundation, although not ujichaut re­ ference to revelation.

The first spontaneous reaction of the Christian missionaries to- uards Hinduism was one of comolBta rejection. Hinduiam uas *Lo Christi­ anity ujhat darkness is to light. This attitude changed gradually in the last century. bJe can see this new attitude in a missionary like, George

Bouien "It uias not, as he had first thought, a strainght fight oBtujaen good and evil. Those who turned resolutely away from the Christian gospel minnt sincerely bs obeying the categorical imaerativB as they

60. Phatak, American missionaries, p.30. 61. loid. 0.93. i knouj it." (62) This neu attitude orouqht tha Christian missionaries to

□ B po3iti\/Blv interestBd in values nf Hinduism. In Maharashtra it shoiL'S itself especiallv in thsir interest in tha works of the great saints of the stats. They started translatinq selections of their uiritinps and various commentarijs on their thouoht. Their selBction and tran­ slations of texts from Hindu sources influencea thinkers like those of the Prarthana Samij, and encouraged them to go back more thoroughly to the te-ching of their ouin saints. The missionaries heloed the Hindu elite to rediscover their oun tradition and to rediscover in their oun tradition uihat Christianity could offer thsr?.

In the same oeriod ue find a new kind of reaction in Hinduism.

Linked uith the neu sense of nationalism uie have a feeling that Hinduism as a system of thought is suoerior to Christianity and that Christian missionaries have notr ing to teach Hindus as far as religion is concerned.

The missionary movement was a very imoortant element among Chris­ tians in modern Maharashtra but it was not the only one. Tha influence of Christian thinkers came also -through tha snreading of Christian literature. The primary tendency in the system of education itself was not in the line of Christian thinking ss tha teachinn of the empiricists then popular in England, was then the trend. Actually the mis.^icjnaries reactsH against this trend. They felt that due to this policy of the government, when the educated youth of India was able to grow out r;f (63) Hinduism thay turned against Christianity and oecame atheists. i The missionaries fought against the prevalence of 4l=i atheism andisgainst

Deism which were present in the system nf education and even made pre­ ssure before tha gov8rnm:-.nt in England to change this policy. ______i 62. Hewet, E., Christ and Western India, p.161. i 63. Jnanodaya, April 16^+3, p.58. | S k . C f . The letbBr sent to England by the missionaries. In oriolkar, Oadoba Pandurang, o.233. r79-

HoijJEver, ss ua shnll sas later, this bias often carxied uuithin itself

various forms of Christian influences,

A more directly Christian influence was that nf the Unitarian

Chritian think-rs. This influence reached Maharashtra partly through

the Brahmn Samaj and partly through a direct contact of the boakg of

popular authors like Theodore Parker, who left his mark on the uJhale

Prarthana Samij, James Martineau uho had influenced so much Justice

Chandavarkar and A.C. Fraser uhose thought is wisible in the latgst

ujritings of M,G. Ranade. ■

Linitarianism offered a rational aporoach to faith and religion uith

a pure form of monotheim. It offered to the educated elite and intere­

sting way of reconciling their rationalistic outlook, their interest in uestern culture and their traditional Hindu faith. But uihila in Bengal

the tendency uias to try to reconcile this teaching with the traditional

Upanishadic tradition as in the case nf Debendranath Tagore, In Maha­

rashtra thL^rend was rather to read this uniterian teaching ab the light of the local tradition of 'the Bhigavata Dharma.

This combin'^d influence of a liberal Christian spirit and secular liberalism gave to many a broad min-jed attitude towards religion, g canwiction that all relioions can lead to jod and no one can have ■=?n absolute claim on truth and salvation. In this thay folloujed th|e same line as Wivekananda and reacted against the traditional Christian claim

that faith in Christ is t'e only way to salvation and against the Hindu conviction that liberation is reserved only to the Brahmins. Thus it offers 3 modern amroach to th':: basic questions of philosophy of religion.

65. Unitarianism is a form of Christian teaching insistiiig on ttje unity of God as opoDsed to the Trinitarian position which insists |on the fact that this one God has thrEB distinct personal aspects.' As far as ethical philosophy is CDncBrned the prevailing tendency of Christian teaching luas to see canscience as the basic norm of Tiorality,

It iiJas in opposition to authoritatiue ethics and also to materialistic utilitRrianism. Tnis moral philosophy uas mostly spread by trie uiritings of James Martineau and Bishop Btitlpr. It was strongly in reaction against any form of ethical egoism and proposed a theory of altruism u)i ch a systematic explanation of thpr- basic Christian teaching on love of the neighbour.

Other religious forces:

To giv/e a CDmolBte picture of the situation uie must mention other religious forces that were present in Maharashtra, ale have first, groups

LiJho derive their origin from Hinduism, and second those uho are imported from abroad. In the first group we can mention the Jains, the dikhSj- and tne Sudohist. Tn tnf?\gecond group ue have the zoroastrian and the

Jeuis.

The Jains appesred first on the border of Gujarat. A great number of ^ains also anpeared in the oig cities, especially in Bomoay.^^^^ The

Buddhists mere insignificant in number till the conversion of Arrbedkar and the beginning of the neo-Huddhist moveinent^.^ The sikh onoulation / CQ'N remains allthrough a vary marginal pooulation in Maharashtra.

iMone of these groups ujas, as such, of a great importance in che making of ohilosoohical thought; hauever the teaching af^ these sects uas, as a luhola liberal, insisting on monotheism, freedom from scriptural

66. Census of India, 1961, Uol X, part u n - q , n.kl. 67. laid. p.42. 68. Ibid. p.56. authority, equality of men. They gave examoles of hou Hinriuiam can be transformed ana adjusted to neui situations. Jains and Buddhist qav/e further an example of non-violence and compassion; this teaching was in- fiueflse tegratea in thd Hindu vision of things and uas not to be seen as an influence distinct from Hinduism. Sikhism gave further a possible pattern for a militant form of Hinduism and the idea of Hindu Muslim unity. Of these tuo it is the first point that ujas to have more imoort- ance, especially on Savarkar. Although there uera many Parsis uho had an important role to play in the social and political evolution of Maharash­ tra, especially in Sombay, it is difficult to say hou much thair influence is related to Zoroastrianism. It uiould rather seem that the religious aspect ujas secondary. Many Parsis uho uierti religiously bent joined the theosoohical society and found in it their religiousi)^ values. Most of

(69 ^ the leading members of the society as that time uiere Parsis. The jeyish community does not seem to have made any special contribution of its own During that period.

Our suruey of the religious background of modern l^aharashtra shouis that a nau situation was created in r.aharashtra after the oeginning of

British rule. The people had to adjust themselves to this neui sat-uo.

Drthouox Hinouism uas new challenged from all sides. To ansujer this of challenge it had either to channe^ta reject the attacks coming from all sides.

In moaern Maharashtra lub find many religious ideas coming tiogethBr to influence the oeonle; throuph Lnglish education the people cane into contact Ljixh various shades of Christian thinking; with the spread of educiition more people could come into deeper contact with their oiun

6y. wif. Luaili-a, K.J, . Fifty years of theosophy in inmbay. treditian. Ihese wariaua currents of thaught had "cnBir impact on tne people. They u s e s not influenced only by the general religious sita- tion out also Dy the patterns of though found in various religious Dooks.

In the context of Kodern Maharashtra r e l i ^ u a and social trans- formabions had to go hand in hand. Then, each religion appears to it challsnge the other religions and obliges them- tu go forward and break aujay uiith its dogmatism. Houjsver, in some cases the confrontation of the tuo brought a reaction in which one grouo of ooth triad to assert their identity in a dogmatic may. These tido tynes of reaction gave us the tuo poles of reform and revival.