Maratha History A Quest For Regional History
Maratha History A Quest For Regional History
Maratha History A Quest For Regional History
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Marathas still remains to be explored baring some exceptions like the works of Professor
A.R.Kulkarni, who very meticulously has brought out the Socio-economic and cultural
history of the Marathas. The Maratha historiography has given more importance to the
writing of „Elitist History‟ and has avoided writing the history of the „hoi polloi‟ and the
marginalized groups, their society and culture. Some historians of Maratha history do not
accept Maratha history to be Regional History of a certain region as they view it in a larger
context of a nation. But still there is space and a lot of room to identify the regional identities
which have basically formed to be the ingredients and components of the Marathi speaking
environment. The interaction thus forms socio-economic and political identities. These
identities are broadly named as „Cultural units‟.
Culture is a very ambiguous concept. Some anthropologists
consider culture to be social behavior. For others, it is not behavior at all, but an abstraction
from behavior. To some, stone axes and pottery, dance and music, fashion and style
constitute culture, while no material object can be culture to others, for some it only exists in
the mind. One of the oldest definitions of culture was given by the British anthropologist, Sir
E.B.Tylor (1832-1917) in the opening lines of his book, Primitive Cultures, (1871). He says –
“Culture is that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, customs,
and other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society”.3 Margaret Mead,
(1901-1978) defines – “Culture is the learned behavior of a society or a subgroup”.4
Raymond Williams, (1921-1988) one of the founders of cultural studies defines – “Culture
includes the organization of production, the structure of the family, the structure of
institutions which express or govern social relationships, the characteristic forms through
which members of the society communicate”.5 Clifford Geertz, (b.1926), Professor of social
Science at Princeton University defines – “Culture is simply the ensemble of stories well tell
ourselves about ourselves”.6 On the basis of these definitions, Culture seems to be (almost)
everything and cultural studies the study of (almost) everything.
The world has witnessed from times inmemorable, the
existence of such cultural units, there interaction with one another and also the quest for
keeping up there identities and tried to surmount all the challenges for existence. Regional
history is thus, an important instrument by which it will always be possible for us to measure
the progress made by mankind. Regional history is becoming more and more popular, for it
has inherit potential of taping varied kinds of sources for studying the various aspects of
history. Due to this it merits the attention not only of the specialists in the region but also of
historians working on other aspects of Indian history.
The scope of regional history is too vast; it cannot be studied at
a single instance. This paper limits itself towards understanding the development of regional
history in India in general and of Maharashtra in particular. When one works on the history of
a region the substance of problems he/she faces do remain the same in most of the case
studies i.e. when a researcher is formulating the hypotheses. The hypotheses do helps the
scholar towards having a clear understanding of the region and its history.
Indian history has been studied by various schools viz. Anglican,
Nationalist, Economist, Marxist, Subaltern and Professional etc. These various schools of
history have brought out different dimensions of understanding Indian history; more over
their largest contribution is the mass of the sources they have been able to tap. All these
schools in their conventional form of presenting history have brought out varied and very
important information of the various regions in India. The painstaking efforts of these schools
have produced political, economical, social, and cultural and many more dimensions of the
regional aspect. In other sense these schools have contributed indirectly to the development
of regional histories and their importance in India. So to have a proper understanding of the
development of regional history it must also be studied with reference to the various schools
of history in India.
The interests which grew towards Indian history especially regional
history has motivated to some extent by a search for new source materials. This search has
resulted in an abundance of sources archaeological, epigraphical, historical literature,
religious literature, archival records and family paper all of which have added to the body of
information available on the history of many regions of the sub-continent. It is however at the
interpretational level that the interest in regional history assumes greater historiographic
potential, a potential with which we are perhaps as yet not altogether fully familiar.
The historical interest in regions such as South-India, Bengal and
Maharashtra coincided with the new sources providing information particularly on what came
to be regarded as the inter-empire periods of Indian history or alternatively complementing
the information available from the records outside the region. It began to be seen that the
certain aristocratic group of the region. They also do not restrict it to be the history of the
Deccan; instead they say that the 18th century history of India is mostly dominated by the
Marathas. Hence the 18th century history of India is nothing but the history of Marathas. Thus
considering Maratha history to be a „National History‟, in a macro sense.
Groups in power, therefore, sometimes tend to see the history of their
community as the history of the region or even of the nation. This is further emphasized in
contemporary historical writing by the equating of the present day state boundary as the
boundary of the region and this is held to be viable for all periods of history. A lot of
attention has to be given to the three trends cited by Professor Romila Thapar in her address
to the Punjab History Conference, at Patiala in 1976. Professor Romila Thapar in her address
on „The Scope and Significance of Regional History‟ has used Punjab as a case study for
understanding and constructing a regional history. She has drawn attention to three trends.
Firstly, acceptance of the conventional periodization of Ancient, Medieval and Modern.
Periodization does merely imply time-brackets; it also involves historical assumptions. The
acceptance of this periodization imposes assumptions on the historical data from regional
sources. Periodization must not be used as a convenience to suit the purpose nor should it be
allowed to become an intellectual truth. Secondly, theories in vogue believed to be almost
axiomatic must not be endorsed for understanding regional history. Thirdly, inevitable search
for a golden age traced by a dominant group which is described in glowing tints of cultural
resurgence.9
Regional history if applied to Indian history can play a catalytic role. It
must not be subjected to mere generalizations of Indian ideology. On the contrary analysis of
preceded it and which came subsequently. The next important problem the researcher faces in
fixing the geographical boundaries of the region. This fixing of boundaries is a complex task
in itself, for man made boundaries change frequently and rapidly with political change. The
only stable boundaries are geographical and even these are liable to be substantially modified
by ecological changes. The definition of a region requires the correlation of many facets in
the study of historical evolution.
The important question is Do the Marathas constitute a defined
identity with a corresponding territoriality within the larger discourse of nation and
civilization? This can be demonstrated in the case of the Medieval Maratha country. Maratha
country broadly is a part of the „Deccan‟. Like wise demarcation of the region can be traced
from the development of the „Bhakti movement‟ from Dyaneshwar to Tukaram on the basis
of linguistic interaction and socio-religious, cultural patterns. It can also be defined as a
geographical region comprising of three units viz – „Konkan‟ (sea-shore, ports and its
hinterlands), „Ghat-matha‟ (mountain region above sea level) and „Desh‟ (plains). On
administrative level the regional history can be formed in two units – Firstly, „Swaraj‟ i.e. the
Maratha country and secondly, land (region) outside „Swaraj‟. The Marathas used to collect
„Sardeshmukhi‟ (1/10 of land revenue in Swaraj) while Chauth (1/4 of total revenue) was
collected from the adjoining or outside Swaraj. The research for identifying regional
identities can be further elaborated with the re-framing of Maratha history, like Anglican
School and Regional History, Nationalist School and Regional History, Role of Language in
writing Regional History and Maharashtra Dharma and its application to write Regional
History.
underwent the process of learning history. Although history which was taught in the
government colleges and schools was entirely European in material and method, it laid great
emphasis on chronology and political history. History of India was taught in every school and
college but it was only in 1870 that Maratha History was introduced into college curricula, as
an optional subject for the B.A. level.12
The first generation of English educated Marathi intellectuals,
accordingly, comprehended history as a subject essential to the advancement of mankind,
along with other “sciences” such as logic, mathematics, grammar and ethics and part of a
wider genre of “useful subjects”13 Some early writings such as those by „Lokahitawadi‟ and
of M.G.Ranade soon took on some patriotic stirring but these were still a far cry from the
later identification of history as a useful plank against colonial rule and for generating
nationalist pride.14
The scholars from the Marathi middle class who rose to
prominence during this time took deep interest in the field of Indology; this was due to their
knowledge of Sanskrit. The colonial government and its administrators who were greatly
interested in the fields of Sanskrit literature and comparative philology patronaged these
scholars. All these scholars were Brahmans, but were not traditional Shastris; they were
Western educated men well versed in the rationalist-scientific tradition. Sir Ramkrishna
Gopal Bhandarkar in attempting to establish civilization parity between the West and India,
with the help of his scientific research and comparative philology tried to emphasize
„Swarajya‟ of Chhatrapati Shivaji of self rule could be achieved in the later 17 th and
throughout the 18th century.
Regional history has to be understood with high level of objectivity.
The element of subjectivity can reduce regional history to be a hypocritical affair. Regional
history must be researched in proper context to the existing cultural patterns, also great care
must be taken while comparing regions and formulating their analysis. Comparative studies
would suggest the similarities within the two regions, thereby enabling a wider
generalization. Dissimilarities would indicate the particular regional factors and would lead to
the modification of the broader generalization.