AFTERWORD

Studies of Ideology have employed presupposi tons

and paradigms of empirical wisdom and its confraternal

binary construct of theory, to construct the object of

'problematic.' From preceding chapters, it is clear that

discourses on the issue of

represent 'ideology' in

historical analysis.

'ideology' have wanted

various possible ways

to

of

In conclusion, one's overall proposition calls for

the replacement of (now) 'classical' notions of ideology,

as operable in the existing state of medieval Indian

history. Premised on the existence of a determinate

system of perception. From the preceding chapters three

points of view emerge in form of conclusions.

Firstly, as in the area of 'ideology' and ·its

usage, has largely been eclecti ve in the writing of

Medieval Maharashtra. This eclecticism comes out of the

limited sense of ideology. By limited sense, one means,

regarding the debates generated around the rise of Shivaji

and Maratha movement. And this has been linked with the

'ideological' background provided by saint-poets from

Warkari tradition and other non-Warkari sant Ramdas. But

after reviewing the general tenor of historical perception

to this regard, two things are clear. One is the wrong

articulation of the 'term' ideology in the socio-cultural

movements of Maharashtra. And second the linkage of

Shivaji with saint-poets done in ·a unilinear fashion.

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Historians of Maharashtra ( 1 ) have tended to portray

Shivaji as the person who sought or rather derived

ideological support from Warkaris, who had always preached

the eglitarianism irrespective of caste and creed. And

this ground was appropriated hegemonically by Shivaji, by

abolishing bigger zamindars, and directly establishing

links with peasants. But if we see, in Sabhasad

Bakhar,< 2 > it will be clear that while, the deshmukhs and

deshpandes' power were sought to be restricted but not

totally abolished. As in one of the Kowlnamas of 1678 by

Annaji Datto, the deshmukhs and desh pande of Rohid Khare

are asked not only to survey and assess the produce of

villages but also to collect the produce after their

estimates have been proved correct. ( 3 ) This is one aspect

of shivaji's attitude towards change.

The other aspect to paint him as liberator of

Hindus by putting him against Aurangzeb and therefore

against muslims is too questionable. If we look at his

relation with Decani Kingdom, one will be quite sure it

was not 'religion' which brought the rise of Marathas

Shivaji's conduct towards the king of Golconda was one of

reverence for the Qutabshah. When he was entering

1 M.G. Ranade; 'Rise of the Maratha ]!ower!, Sardesai; 'New History of Marathas'; Vol. Sarkar, S.N. Sen et. al.

PP 68-70 1 G.S. III P.56) J.N.

2 Sabhasad Bakhar, \__ed) K. N. Sane, Poona 19 2 3 P. 13

3 V.K.Rajwade, ~ Vol 15 P.P.268-70, (also in Satish Chandra; Village Society ... P.130)

300

Hyderabad, Abul Hasan wanted to accord him the customary

welcome, but Shivaji sent the message, "You are (my) elder

brother, I am (your) younger brother. You should not come

forward"( 4 ) Francois Martin, the French Governor of

Pondichery writes, "in the first audience, Sevaji

complained against our people having defied the king of

Golkonda whom he called his father, his lord, his

sovereign"C 5 >. Two things emerge out of this synoptic

representation in the first point. One of 'ideology' has

necessarily been inter linked or rather associated with

religion. Secondly, if the emphasis is not on religious

then it has been diverted in its articulation in the

context ~f 'socio-religious' notions of protest movements

generated within the broader genre of Hinduism by

questioning the institutional authority of Brahmanism.

Therefore it is necessary to relocate and articulate the

usage of ideology vis-a-vis various form of movements.

In the first chapter critical emphasis is laid on

following aspects.

a) Examining the portrayal of Shivaji's rise to power with

three interlocked accounts viz. #

hi ideological

relations with Warkari movement, Ramdas and Maharashtra

Dharma.

4 Sabhasa~op cit P.86

5 'Foreign biography of Sevajiled.J by S.N. Sen, P.271

301

b) Critical reading of sources, as they are replete with

legends and fabulous narratives.

c) Finally the conception of 'ideology' and its

appropriate application to situations, which have been

selectively articulated for the 'rational project' of

Maratha state and its formation processes.

That is to say, the interaction of ideology with

popular culture. In the above mentioned criteria of

findings (though, this term, smacks of positivistic

attitude towards, socio-cultural historiography), what

comes to the crunch is the critical reappraisal of

ideology. This is to say it is easy to discern dominant

ideologies within institutions, such as relation of

Maharashtra Dharma to th rise of Shivaji. The point is,

that a critical conception of ideology is required to

evaluate the varying nature of sources. These have been

disscused in the light of Mahipati's annotative

collections of saint-poets' lives in the form of

hagiography.

This is to say that, when most of the Marathi

sources are in such nature, it is more important to study

the relationship between language and ideology. And

religion provides a useful focal point or way in to the

study of ideology for a variety of reasons. It cannot be

denied that it was used in that way by the early and

classical sociologists, from Comte through the Durkheim

and weber and e~en Marx developed his critique of ideology by

starting first with critiques of religion, which led him

302

to comment historically speaking, "the criticism or

religion is the perquisite of all criticism. <6 >

This is to say that central historical

contribution to scientific discourse on society has

essentially consisted in the discovery and study of the

ideological community - that is the community of values

and norms in human aggregates of various types and

sizes. This is the central question of ideology in

Warkari movement and Ramdas literature. Where, singular

unified language, Marathi came to bind all the diverse

socio-religious .utterances into one. And the language can

be studied, not only as system of signs or as types of

sentence, but also as extended sequences of written

discourse, that is as texts. It is in this context first

chapter tries to explore the ideological communi ties as

perceived by various historians in the form of 'bhakti' or

religio-political movements. And how these ideological

communities existed within the specific institutions of

state, village societies, mediated by a large number of

intermediateries.

Second point deals with the need to locate systems

of ideology within the specific social formation in which

they articulate with the mode of production, state, and

diverse form of protest-struggles. In the second chapter

the emphasis is on the nexus of village, watan system and

formation of various political discourses under shi vaj i.

6 Karl Marx; Contribut1on to the cr1t1que of Hegel's Philosophy of Right, London Penguin, 1975, P.224. •

303

This has been demonstrated by nexuses between peasants,

the village assembly and the watan system and balute

system. During the beginning of Warkari simpradaya,

Maharashtra had all the attributes of a peasant economy

but with strong traces of the clan ownetship of land. But

at the same time, at the level of peasant world-view, the

sense of egalitarianism at village level was stronger. At

the same time the differentiated social relation of

production had been encapsulated in the triple

institutional· complex of village, watan and jati. In the

village, the basic unit of production was the extended kin

peasant household. Though thereis no evidence of the

preponderance of cultivation based on forced labour. But

Coats found in 1819, 18 slaves in Loni kand village. <7 >

Within the village, peasant were linked to each other

through watan system. And at the sametime through the

institution of watan, they were linked with state. The

watan system kept alive the memory of a distant but

cherished era of decentralised political power. And this

was reflected in the context of friction between peasants

and the revenue collecting, authorities. Because the

direct presence of state must have been felt only when

demand for taxes became excessive. or when armies of

fending Sardars camped near the village. In the year

1700, Bhimsen complains that "the troops of Maratha

7 T.Coats~ "Accounts of the Present state of the Township of Lony-"Li terary Society of Bombay", Vol. III, 1823, PP. 226-28.

304

leaders who come in for the sake of plundering the

country, extort money from evey pargana and all places, in

accordance with their desire and their horses graze on and

trample upon the cultivated fields.< 8 >

With the growing differentiation at the village

level, watan system, Patil and Kulkarni were definitely

superior in their economic position than other members of

their community. And this emerging differentiation was

later came to be identified as Maratha-Kunbi position.

The great famine in 1630 also enforced in peasant mind a

sense of resignation to the magico-natural order,

interpreted by the learned Brahmins associated with

village life through religious, brahminical institutions.

Brahmins had integrated into peasant world view through

various genres of literature, like Puranas, Katha etc. It

has been demonstrated through the interchangeable terms of

peasant relationships.

Finally the third. point focuses in this light of

agrarian life. The two remaining chapters discuss the

tradition of the 'other' and the placement of Ramdas vis-

a-vis that tradition. This brings the question of women

saint poet, tukaram and muslims saint poets. This is to

say tht how medieval culture acquired· its social meaning.

That social meaning was something distinctively 'other' to

a culture familiar to medieval context. Because the

response of Brahminism to Warkari movement seems to have

8 Bhimsen: 'Nuskha-i-Dilkhusa; PP.l36. (Trans.) J .NtSarkar ed. with intro. by V.G Khonekar, Bombay, 1972

305

been threefold. It intensified the pressure to find and

perform a larger and larger number of rituals within the

vedic-puranic system. Second, was the consistent attack

on the social background of many saint poets. Jnandev was

the son of excommunicated brahman and others were tailor,

potter, mali, sonar, mahar etc. Thirdly the brahministic

sense of disdain to the marathi literature. Because the

use of Marathi played a critical role in disseminating the

ideas of saint poets. Marathi used by Warkari saint,

produced a language of protest imbedded in the common

metaphors of daily life. Warkaris did not renounce daily

social life in order to attain spiritual unity with god.

In terms of their daily life they were hardly

distinguished from other peasant folk. Emphasis is not on

showing how different they are from the rest of the

population, but how similar and yet how distinct they are.

In contrast, Ramdas is led by Ramdas, seem to

demand a total or nearly total renunciation. Despite of

the fact that, Ramdas popularised the form of Ram worship

which had acquired the perception of everydayness

religiosity in Awadh and Bihar. But at the same time was

different from Warkaris in his attitude towards society

and caste. Though Ramdas too in his ·approach adopted the

Bhakti mode of articulations. He gave definite

instructions concerning the various practices about

Kirtan. Concerning kirtan subject Ramdas said: "Each

successive kirtan should have a new subject: the singer

prostrating himself before the idol and proclaiming god's

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name by the clapping of hands. The fame of one idol

should not be sung in front of another idol, and if there

is no idol present, then Vedanta truths may be expounded.

Repentance and renunciation should be taught to faithful

worshippers, all tivial subjects such as the beauty of

women, being carefully excluded. The Kirtan should be so

sung that the minds of all the people in the audience be

absorbed in the contemplation of god."(9) This

appropriation of Bhakti mode was used in terms of

distinguishing from warkaris. And this was reflected in

his quest for organisation which could only be aroused

through religious discipling. At the same, he_too relied

on the common folk's use of Marathi language. As he said

"vedas have stood like of door keeper preventing entry

into the temple of knowledge. 'Marathi also is a language

of god like 'sanskrit'. Mavalas are simple people. They

do not understand every thing.C10) In keeping the spirit

of organisation alive, he gives a code of daily duties to

his follwers. "First, a Ramdasi should know about god and

be able to teach spiritual truth; second, he should be

wise in all matters pertaining to the state; third he

should be prudent indealing with various subjects; and

fourth he should be industrious.< 11 >

9 ' I ~ulabh Dasbodh, Chapter 14, Sec. 5, ~d;) by S. K. Altekar, BIS, 1933.

10 Sri Ramdass Swamiche Samagra Grantha, \edj L.R.Pangarkar Dharle Press, 1930, Bombay, Chapter 5, Sec. 6, line-33, PP.438.

11 Sulabh Dasbodh, Chapter 11 Sec.5 op.cit.

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There is one legend about the Ramdas' s relation

with warkaris. It says that one group of warkari pilgrims

once requested Ramdas to accompany them, which he declined

saying that Sri Rama was the only god whom he knew. After

knowing this vithoba felt grieved and come to Ramdas in

the form of Brahman and said that there was no real

difference between Krishna and Ram. After this Ramdas

went to Pandharpur, and there the image of Vithoba merged

with Ram. Seeing this warkar is requested Ramdas to

restore the original form of vithoba.C12)

This legend carries the ideological motif of the

superiority of Ramdasis over Warkaris. This legend has

been narrated in the Hanumant Svami's prose biography of

Ramdas in 1793. ( 13) Despite of differences between the

Warkaris and Ramdasis, both relied on the folk aspect of

religion. So that is why the notion of 'socio-cultural'

becomes instrumental in examining the folk aspects'

interaction with ideological articulation. As we see both

the Ramdasis and Warkaris, thought of women as the 'other,

that is excluded from the general articulations of their

discourse. Why did this take place ? This can be argued

that the stratum of culture represents no pure brahminism

form, nor. unadulterated peasant sense of folklore or

muslim sense of jihad, but some distinctively medieval

12 'sri Ramdas Samiche Charitra~ by Hanumant Swami, Chapter 9, PP.-155-56, 1871, Chambal and Company Thane.

13.Vividh Visaya', Vol. I, Sec,20 - Satkaryotejak Sabha, Dhulia, 1930

308

form of culture produced by the 'juncture' with the high

culture of Brahmanism, the articulated world view of the

religious elite. It is not useful to think of an

ingenious and domeneering brahmin class hood-winking a

credulous peasantry". Even Ramdas, who has been projected

as brahministic, could produce 'critique' of brahmins. In

one part of Dasbodh Ramdas refers to the Brahmans as: 'The

Brahmins, distracted in mind and lacking in virtue, have

lost respectability and have become disciples of other

disciples.C 14 >

In this way this thesis denotes to the analyses

not only on the political aspect of cultural stratum, but

rather tries to explore processes though which shivaji

could get legitimacy. And these processes were manifest

in the saint-poets' world view which was largely 'peasant'

in character. This is quite reflected in the

hagiographies, abhangas, which bear a common cultural

attitude in peasants and saints-poets including Ramdas.

Concerning ideology, it has been demonstrated that

how fundamental to medieval Maharashtra was the

distinction between learned or brahmanical and folkloric

warkari culture. But if we see warkaris, one will find

that 'folkloric' element was only -one component of a

larger spectrum called popular culture. The hidden in

common places of warkar is interation was, 'writing

orality' in a simple rustic style. It was a rhetorical

\ . I . 14 Dasbodh, op.c~t. Chapter 14, Sec.7

309

decision to speak in a language intelligible to the

people. The language meant for the people was replete

with simple 'similar' and vivid images in forms of

legends, myths, always concrete and devoid of abstraction.

But one problematic remains unanswered is that whether

this 'language unity' varied hardly at all over five

hundred years of warkaris due to the sameness of social

conciousness and context of their existence. This is to

say, it Shivaji was the negotiated product of two

traditions, then why did his lineage become powerless in

later period of 18th century ?

The second half of 17th century Maharashtra

provides an insightful representation in to the interplay

of ideology and popular culture. As we see the

problematic of ideology is largely product of 19th and

early 20th century historiography. But over all, by

looking at the cultural processes one sees the rejecting

the authority of 'given' in the 'warkaris' and 'Ramdasis'

too, despite of the different articulation about certain

aspects of social differentiation. In choosing Marathi as

the language of the illiterate 'loner' Jnandev provided

the platform for all those whose were earlier

unrepresented due to the usage of sanskrit. Bahinabai a

brahman woman from a respectable family considered Tukaram

a 'shudra' as her guru and defied her faimily and

society, who promptly labelled her as being 'mentally

ill'. Tuka met his guru in a dream. Eknath became an

inspiration for the creative ciritical urges of Tukaram as

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well as the militant and hegemonic exhortations of Ramdas.

At the political level also, Shivaj i largely

reflected the 'rational' of the time. The rise of Shivaji

too delineates a process which was largely responsible for

the warkaris and Ramdasis. Shivaji's father Shahji had

alternatively served Deccanese kingdom. This may be one

of the reason that Shi vaj i' s intention was suspected by

fellow Maratha Sardars. Moreover, his lineage was doubted

by local brahmins and Sardars. His attempts to make many

of the deshmukhs accept him as their over-lord and to

enforce the proposed revenue collection, was resisted by

the older order of more established maratha sardars.

Shivaji recruited soldiers from Maval area,

Kunbi peasantry. Shi vaj i at the same time

largely from

warned the

deshmukhs as well as his own representatives to end the

harassment of the Kunbis. This is to say that Shi vaj i

tried to fabricate a political 'space' out of the socio­

cultural legitimacy derived from his conscious use of a

cultural consciousness fostered among the peasantry by the

warkari tradition. And this 'conscious use' of ideology

was structured in

shivaji belonged.

largely 'critical'

the very social processes from where

Thus the ideological motif has to be

in its instance. Because in formation

of the 'Maratha' state by Shivaji at the same time through

territorial aggresiveness,

his armies and additional

shivaji provided sustenance to

revenues to his coffer. By

aggresi vely aserting his 'Kshatr iya' status through

311

genealogies mainly contested, but yet provided by

brahmins. By becoming "Go, Brahman, pratipalak," Shivaji

became the protector of those elements, against the very

one, the cultural processes fostered by Warkaris and

contributed the right environment for Shivaji's rise.

This conflictual essence of Maharashtra society in the

17th century become more apparent when one sees in the

light of the critical conception of 'ideology' especially

in the later period. In an apparently paradoxical way,

Shivaji's efforts were both a challenge and a response to

the critique of cultural processes. By exploiting the

flexible boundaries of the maratha-kunbi cluster he tended

to blunt the increasing exclusiveness of older maratha

elites and thus enhanced its legitimacy among the

peasants. And by controlling the competition among,

deshmukhs,· he gave it a semblance of benevolent social

order without adversely affecting the competitive

deshmukhi system itself. This is to say that the material

and ideological dimensions are inseparable, in the sense

they cannot be examined in isolation from each other.

312