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The Emergence of an Indigenous Business Class in Maharashtra in the Eighteenth Century Author(s): V. D.

Divekar Source: Modern Asian Studies, Vol. 16, No. 3 (1982), pp. 427-443 Published by: Cambridge University Press Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/312115 . Accessed: 07/04/2011 11:17
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Asian Modern Studies, 3 (1982), pp. 427-443. Printedin GreatBritain. i6,

TheEmergence An Indigenous of Business Classin Maharashtrain the EighteenthCentury


V. D. DIVEKAR
GokhaleInstituteof Politics and Economics,Pune THE present paper is divided into three parts. Part I describes and analyses the emergence of an indigenous business class in Maharashtra, in western India, during the Peshwa times, and its position under early British rule. Part II discusses the dominance of Brahman savakars in the newly emerged business class. Part III presents an overview and states general observations relating to the subject.

I. Developments

in the Eighteenth Century

In the eighteenth century there came about a great change in the political situation in Maharashtra. One of its significant outcomes was the emergence of a new class of substantial indigenous savakars and businessmen. They were unlike the traditional Shetes, Mahajans, Vanis, or Vatan-holding moneylenders who operated everywhere in Maharashtra on a small scale. The rise and growth of the new class of savakars did not, however, result in the formation of a separate specialized business caste or community, like, say, Banias in Gujarat or Chettis in Tamil Nadu. Although Brahmans predominated in the new class of savakars, members of other castes were also there among them. Also Brahman savakars did not form any separate trading community of their own, within the larger organization of the Brahman community. For its fortunes, the new class of savakars depended mostly on the prevailing political situation and failed to lay sound industrial and commercial foundations for its survival and prosperity independent of the vagaries of politics. Warfinance It was mainly the Maratha system of war finance and advance collection
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1982 Cambridge University Press.

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of revenue through loans which created the conditions for the emergence of the new business class. The knowledge about the system and its modus operandi,therefore, would be useful for the proper understanding of the subject. In the eighteenth century, the Peshwas and other Marathi sardars ceaselessly organized army expeditions in different parts of India. This they did with the political motive of expanding the boundaries of their respective territories. But there was also another equally important economic motive behind their military expeditions, and that was to amass revenue and wealth from outside territories in the form of chauthai, tributes, booty, ransom, etc. In the records of the Peshwa Daftar one comes across a large number of documents throwing light on how huge amounts of loans, running into several lakhs of rupees, were required to be raised often at high rates of interest by Marathi chieftains for paying the wages of their soldiers.' Information relating to such loans is available also in the account books of several bankers who gradually thrived on this business.2 Marathas subjugated different territories and levied tributes on them. But it appears from the historical records that the realization of tributes was, in many cases, not easy, dependable, or always commensurate with the huge expenses of the military expedition involved. For example, in the Pune Archives, records are available relating to Karnatak expeditions by the Peshwa government undertaken during the 176os. In the case of one of these expeditions we find that the amount of expenses relating to the expedition went up to the tune of ten million rupees, whereas the tribute realized was only about three million rupees.3 In the decade between 1763 and 1773 when the Peshwas had agreements with about thirty big and small subjugated states for receiving tributes from each of them, only five states paid their tributes regularly for four or five years. The political-military situation in eighteenth-century India was such that if the army was not sent even for one year, the tribute for that year would not be realized. Thus the process of collection of tributes was neither smooth nor on each occasion economical. Nevertheless, the expenses of the army had to be incurred, whatever happened to the realization of the tributes. In the main this made the Peshwas and their Sardars turn to the moneylenders for loans.
20,

1969), p. I94; see also G. C. Vad (ed.), Selections from the Satara Raja's and the Peshwa's Diaries, 9 vols (Poona, I906-I I), Vol. 9, P. 232 (henceforth referred to as SSRPD).

3 M. D. Apte, 'SarakaareeAayavyaya', I763-73 (Unpublished thesis, Poona Univ.,

nos 53, 55, 97, IOO, o103 and Vol. 2I no. 8o (henceforth referred to as SPD). 2 N. G. Chapekar, PeshwaaichyaaSaavaleet (Poona, 1937), pp. 67, 71-8.

1 G. S. Sardesai (ed.), Selections from the Peshwa Daftar, 46 vols (Bombay, i934), Vol.

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Out of necessity, a practice developed whereby the chief of the marching army took bankers and traders, or their agents, with him during the expedition. As the moving army halted and encamped on the way, a big bazaar was held at the place. The accompanying bankers, on the credit of their own hundis, provided necessary additional loans to the army chieftains by contacting businessmen of nearby places.4 The creditor, or his agent, accompanying the expedition tried to recover the loan whenever possible. From the available letters of army chieftains written from their camps, one knows how they were 'harassed' by their creditors or the creditors' agents, for the recovery of their dues, whenever occasions of booty, ransom, etc. arose.5 The peculiar relationship that came to be developed between the chieftain and his financier made both of them dependent on each other. Let us briefly mention here, by way of example, the family history of one Morshet Karje, a banker, and moneylender to the Peshwa government.6 Morshet Karje was a local trader at Satara having business contacts with the royal household there. Soon, under royal patronage his sphere of business activities widened. By supplying goods and advancing loans he served the King at Satara, the Peshwa at Poona and also at army encampments during military campaigns. In recognition of his various timely services Morshet's son, Dhanshet, was granted Saranjam rights from the government. He was later given the charge of the Subha of Ahmedabad, and was also given the charge of revenue administration of several towns and villages in Maharashtra. At Poona, Dhanshet was assigned the work of establishing a market ward called Mangalwar Peth. He was thereupon appointed as the Shete of that ward with rights of collection of excise duties in that ward. Thus, as a result of their service rendered to the government, the business family of Karje secured for itself the Saranjam rights, the subhadari rights, the Mamlat rights, the Shetepan rights, etc., along with their successes in business proper. In this context it would be useful to understand the financial aspects of Marathi military campaigns. Janoji Bhosale's case is a typical one.7 Janoji's father, prior to 1759, had raised a loan to the tune of Rs 40 lakhs for the Bijanagar campaign. In addition to this, from the days of
S. N. Joshi, MaraathekaaleenSamaajdarshan(Poona, 1960).

SPD, Vol. 20, no. 46. Raghuji Bhosale, for example, was thus harassedin 1746 by his creditors,and one among them, Vishwanathbhat Vaidya, got his account settled. Out of the three lakhs of rupees that Raghuji got as ransom by releasing the son ofJanakiram held earlier as a hostage, Vaidya not only recovered his loan of Rs 1,25,000 but also got away with presentsworth Rs 25,000, and in addition to that, the administrativerights of five villages.
5
6

SPD, Vol. 44, pp. 12-13.

7 SPD, Vol. 20, No. 103.

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Savanur affairs, for four years, army loans were required to be raised. Janoji had also to pay to the Peshwa his usual dues. There were attacks on Janoji's territories by the Nizam, and money had also to be spent on the army to repel the attacks. Unfortunately for Janoji, he lost the territories, and therefore, the money spent on the army was also lost. However, as the army had to be maintained as before, fresh loans were raised, again and again, and due to the urgency of the situation, they had to be raised at high rates of interest. Janoji's example serves as a typical case of the military adventurism and the loan-raising activities it involved in eighteenth-century Maharashtra. It was also in these circumstances that there emerged a new class of middlemen proficient in the work of organizing the required amount of loans, provisons, etc. for the armies. They worked as liaison agents between the chief on the one hand and savakars, traders, etc. on the other. Ravaji Apaji, alias BaskarJyoti Phanase, an official at the Peshwa court, was one such middleman. His role in raising loans and required material like cloth, saddles, horses, etc. for Govindarao Gaikwad's warlike activities in I760s relating to securing the Sardarship of Baroda, against his step-brother Fattesingrao, serves as a typical example of the activities of such middlemen. Information about his activities in this regard is narrated in detail in a contemporary family bakhar.8 In the year I760-6 I, the year of the great battle of Panipat, one of the available lists of savakars who advanced loans to the government includes sixty names. On one particular date, 'Rabilakhar 9', a loan of about one million rupees was received by the government from fourteen savakars. On another date, 'Jamadilakhar 29', a loan of another million rupees was received from fifty savakars. Six of them adianced a meagre loan of Rs 5,ooo each, one of them advanced only Rs 4,000, four of them advanced only Rs 3,000 each, and from one among them the Peshwa received a loan of Rs 2,000 only. Such small loans suggest a special collection drive for war funds for the battle of Panipat. Even the big moneylenders among them were not big enough to advance generally more than one or two hundred thousand rupees at a time. No record of the Peshwa government receiving as much as five lakhs of rupees from any one single savakar at a time is available. The usual amount advanced at a time by an average savakar was about 20 to 50 thousand rupees. Even the richest among them, therefore, can hardly stand any comparison with such great business houses outside Maharashtra as those of Viraji Vora, Jagat Seth and others.
8

V. S. Bendre (ed.), Bakhar Anant Phanase in vamshaachee MaharashtratePrayag hyanchya

hisaacheeSaadhane 3 vols (Bombay, 1966-67), vol. I, pp. 120-5.

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Revenuecollectionand loans The work of collection of revenue was entrusted to kamavisdars. They were required to remit the estimated amount for their respective regions in the treasury in advance, in anticipation of future collection. In the Pune Archives are available annual consolidated accounts of the Maratha state in the form of tarjumas drawn and arranged departmentwise on the basis of entries in the Ghadani Daftar, or ledgers. Details contained in accounts of receipts and expenditures in the tarjumas are helpful for understanding the processes of state financing of the Marathas and their methods of raising and repayment of loans. According to the tarjuma of the year I763-64,9 for example, we find that the Peshwa government was in receipt of loans worth about one crore rupees from different sources: (i) Rs 15,48,675: loans from savakars, (2) Rs I I,17,873: loans in the form of advance receipts from kamavisdars and darakdars, (3) Rs 23,67,315: excess collection from mahals, (4) Rs 15,28,220: goods received on credit, (5) Rs 28,53,390: cloth on credit. During the same year, i.e. 1763-64,1o the Peshwa government repaid their previous loans to the tune of little more than seventy lakhs of rupees: Rs 26 lakhs were repaid for earlier years' loans, and Rs 44 lakhs for the loans of the previous year. This repayment was effected through the following sources: (I) Rs 24,26,624: fresh loans from the savakars (about 34 per cent), (2) Rs 34,30,533: revenues from the mahals (about 49 per cent), (3) Rs 10,57,274: collection of arrears (about 15 per cent), (4) Rs 2,09,I33: amount collected at the time of appointment of darakdars (about 3 per cent). From the above it will be seen that in the year 1763-64, thirty-four per cent of the amount that was used for paying off the earlier loans was raised by contracting fresh loans. It appears that to tide over the situations of urgent needs, the government often raised loans for short or long durations; and in order to repay the earlier loans, it had to go in for fresh loans again. Under such circumstances it is no wonder if the position of the savakars was strengthened. As the number of loan transactions increased, it led gradually to the increase in the number of savakars in the money market. Often, even for routine governmental activities, money was urgently needed and loans were raised from the savakars." Thus, moneylending came to be carried on by a large number of savakars throughout the region. While some of them were petty, individual
9 Apte, 'Sarakaaree Aayavyaya', pp. 152-4. 10 " SSRPD, Vol. 7, p. 306. Ibid., p. I I7.

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savakars and operated on a small scale, others developed themselves into flourishing banking houses. The government itself, as also the noblemen, military captains, administrative officials, etc., constantly needed money for carrying on their activities. This was provided by the savakars by advancing short-term loans. If the amount required was large enough, three or four savakars pooled their money, and the final loan transaction was made through a leading savakar among them. But the names of the sub-savakars always appeared in all account papers. Hundi transactions As a result of the widening of the network of their business, hundi transactions covering most parts of India came to be carried on by Marathi savakars. In the account papers of Tulsibagwale, for example, we find accounts of hundis of Paithan, Satara, Shrirangapatan, Bundelkhand, Poona, Nibadi, Bombay, Kashi, Konkan, Aurangabad and Ujjain.12 Revenue and other collections of distant regions under the control of the Marathas often reached Poona through a chain of hundi-dealers. A hundi issued by the government was termed a varait. One of the chief causes for the spread of the business in hundi transactions was the constant need for money for the purposes of war coupled with the insecure conditions everywhere for sending it in cash. This reason is stated specifically in the account papers of Tulsibagwale.13

A large number of hundis came to, or passed through, Poona in the eighteenth century. Gradually, Poona appears to have emerged as an important market in hundis where they were sold and purchased by a large number of brokers at discount."4 State trading, etc. The Peshwa government collected its revenue both in cash and commodities. It purchased, stored, or sold commodities at different times. It also paid partly in commodities the wages of its employees, especially those serving on forts, etc. Thus, as a revenue collector, as a state-trader, as an employer, the government entered into the commodities market in a big way in different parts of its territories. Transactions in commodities, called ainjinsi, were entered into annual tarjumas in detail. Commodities were required by the government for
12
13

Ibid., p. 25.

Chapekar, Peshwaaichyaa Saavaleet, 26. p. 14 For examples, see ibid., pp. 134-6.

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various purposes. In the order of their appearance in the tarjumas and their values, they were mostly used for: payment of wages, purchasing of other commodities; repayment of loan or commodities bought on credit; domestic use of the Peshwas; giving as prizes, rewards, presents, etc. Foodgrains and cloth constituted major items for any year, as is evident from the yearly tarjumas. From the available records it is evident that a large number of traders dealing in varieties of cloth, foodgrains and other items, carried on their business on a large scale in the Poona region in the eighteenth century. Many of them were also moneylenders and lent large sums of money to the Peshwa government on different occasions. Cloth market Cloth was used very sparingly by ordinary people, especially menfolk. But the government needed cloth for various purposes. Also, fine cloth was always in great demand by the King, the Peshwas, the noblemen and other rich people both for their own use and also for giving as presents to others on a number of occasions, such as feasts and festivals, religious requirements, customs, diplomatic protocol, etc. It appears from the available documents'5 that the government, through their agents, bought fine cloth and clothes, often with detailed specification on a number of occasions from different specialized and reputed centres in India like Paithan, Khandesh, Sirohi, Surat, Delhi, Bengal, Karnatak, etc. In the year I763-6416 different kinds of cloth (details of which are available) worth Rs 59,07,860 were purchased by the government
by making payments in cash, and cloth worth Rs 2,15,312 was

purchased on credit from different savakars. During the same year (1763-64) other articles worth Rs 32,342 were purchased on credit by the government. Big and small savakars sold cloth on a cash or credit basis to the government. Substantial savakars like Kabaras and Paranjape who advanced large amounts of money loans to the government were also the principal suppliers of cloth. During the year 1768-69, Paranjape supplied to the government cloth worth Rs 54,732, Kabaras, cloth
worth Rs 20,794, Shivaram Naik Bhide, cloth worth Rs 32,515 and so

on. Interestingly, there were also many petty purchases of cloth on credit with some other dealers by the Peshwa government.
15 SSRPD, Vol. 2, pp. 147-57; Vol. 7, p. 289; SPD, Vol. 23, No. io6.

16 Ghadani Daftar Rumal, no. 748; Apte, 'SarakaareeAayavyaya', p. 139-

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The import trade in fine cloth and clothes deserves serious consideration. In spite of Poona being a capital and populous city of the Peshwas, and there being constant demand for fine cloth and clothes of various sorts, and also in spite of there being a large number of indigenous savakars in the city, with a network of banking and financial institutions, no fine cloth industry originated and flourished in Poona. However, with the rise and expansion of Maratha political power a number of avenues were opened for local artisans, builders, contractors, etc., along with moneylenders and traders.

Limitationsof thefinancial system The Marathas' financial infrastructure of the eighteenth century, as stated above, had its origin mainly in the system of their war economy and the administrative system of their public finance. Hence the collection of money in the hands of Marathi savakars and banking houses did not prove to be very suitable for commercial or industrial ventures. The collections of money with the savakars and the additions of interest-amounts to them were no more than the accumulation and reaccumulation of money giving rise to some sort of primitive wealth. The agencies of savakars and the government with their brisk financial activities, created a financial superstructure resembling outwardly the one existing in advanced industrial or commercial regions. In such regions, like Surat, for example, the European traders had started establishing their own trading interests in the eighteenth century. Also, there already had existed in such regions a sophisticated financial market to cater for local business interests. European traders who went there for trading, profited greatly by the availability of a well-developed financial infrastructure. In Maharashtra there had come into existence, owing essentially to political, not commercial, reasons, an indigenous sophisticated financial market. However, it did not attract European trading interests. Non-Maharashtrian business communities from Gujarat and Marwad, who migrated to Poona in the second half of the eighteenth century had their own financial and banking arrangements in developed form. They, too, had therefore no great need to depend on Marathi financiers for their business activities. Thus, the banking infrastructure and sophisticated financial system of the Marathas that had come into existence in the eighteenth century, remained to be fully and properly made use of for commercial and industrial purposes by the Marathas themselves; it was not utilized by

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traders of other commercial regions like Gujarat, nor by Europeans. Ultimately, it almost withered away with the fall of Maratha rule. Maratha political power had spread to different parts of India, including fertile and industrial regions like Gujarat and Karnatak. The expansion of political power, however, was hardly taken advantage of by the newly emerged class of Marathi savakars for furthering their business interests in such outside territories. The Marathi savakars generally stuck throughout to their main business of moneylending at home and hardly evinced, as a class, any interest in pushing the trading activities in the conquered and subjugated regions. A question is sometimes raised: if an indigenous business class had really come into existence in Maharashtra owing to political exigencies at home during this period, why did it not then spread out with the spread of political power? While attempting to answer this question one has to bear in mind the nature of Maratha political expansion. Although the Maratha armies had spread to different parts of India, they were not successful in establishing properly administered governments in the respective regions. In fact, the Maratha armies themselves were often predatory in nature, and their military centres, and the so-called states established by them in outside territories, had only one important function to perform and that was to collect the annual revenue of chauthai, sardeshmukhi and khandani (tributes) from the conquered and subjugated territories by resorting to force almost each time. Therefore, the political situation that had prevailed inside Maharashtra cannot be equated with the one of turmoil that had existed, thanks to the Marathas themselves, in the conquered and subjugated territories. Secondly, the expansion of Maratha political power, and the expected consequential expansion of their foreign commerce can hardly be compared with a novel phenomenon of expansion of European trade with political support. The Portuguese traders who landed in India at the end of the fifteenth century were a state or quasi-state body. So also were the traders of other European East Indian Companies who followed the Portuguese. The European traders and rulers, together, had ushered in a new era of colonialism. It was a universal phenomenon with revolutionary possibilities. And, obviously, the Maratha traders and rulers were too far behind the Europeans in this respect. Peshwa and Gaikwad had conquered Gujarat. But to them its possession was mainly useful as a source of fixed sum of chauth and khandani. The contemporary English statesmen of the East India Company like Sir Charles Malet, on the other hand, were far ahead of the Marathas in

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considering the possession of Gujarat territories as a commercial proposition. Under alien rule Under their own rule the trade and employment of the indigenous population of Maharashtra were in a flourishing condition. But in 1818, the Marathas surrendered to the forces of the East India Company and lost their independence to the British power. Elphinstone, the first Deccan Commissioner of the British government, in his Report on the TerritoriesConquered from the Paishwa (1821), observed: 'The situation of the lower order was very comfortable, and that of the upper class prosperous. There was abundance of employment in the domestic establishment and foreign conquest of the nation.'17 With the loss of political power, and the stopping of all warlike activities, the trading and moneylending opportunites of the Marathi savakars dwindled fast. Very shortly after the defeat of the Marathas, Chaplin in his Report (1822) observed that the condition of the savakars had much deteriorated 'it being computed that not two-thirds of their former capital are now employed in banking and speculation'.18 Savakars who had advanced loans to army chiefs in pre-British days for the purpose of recruiting Maratha armies were the great losers as they were made to write off the bad debts as a result of British policy in this regard.'9 A number of documents available in the family records of the Poona savakars indicate vividly their deteriorated condition after the defeat of Maratha rule.20

II. The Dominance

of Brahmans

in Business

It was the Brahmans who were dominant, both numerically and in their money power, in the newly emerged business class in Maharashtra in the eighteenth century. In the available lists of savakars and merchants of Poona of the eighteenth century, we come across names of businessmen belonging to
Elphinstone, Reporton the Territories Conquered from the Paishwa (Calcutta, 1821), p. 8. 18 Chaplin, Report, August 1822 (Bombay, 1877 reprint), 20 p. Io8. 19 Cf. the ruling given on 2June 1832 byJohn Warden, Deputy Agent, Deccan, in the case of Sardar Ramchandra Pandurang Dhamadhere v. Vasudev Bapuji and Krishnaji Hari Chiplonkar, the two savakars, in Chapekar, Peshwaaichyaa Saavaleet, 268. p. 20 Cf. ibid., pp. 124-5, 256-7.
17 Mountstuart

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different castes and communities in Maharashtra. Brahmans, and among them the Chitpavans, appear to be predominant in the field. A list of cloth merchants of Poona market drawn up on 24 February 1773,21 for example, contained 71 names out of which 55 were Brahmans and 35 appear to be Chitpavans. Incidentally, the list contains only two apparently Gujarati names, viz., Chhabildas Burhanpur and Madhavadas Godidas. This suggests that up to 1773, the merchants of the Poona cloth market were almost all Maharashtrians, and a majority of them were Brahmans. There were some merchants from other Marathi castes like Maratha, Sonar (Goldsmith), Gosawi etc. The savakars who frequently advanced loans to the government, and in large amounts, included the families of Raste, Bhide, Tambavekar, Gadgil, Patwardhan, Gadre, Karje, Anagal, Dikshit-Patwardhan, Datar, Oak, Thatte, Moghe, Gosawi, Damle, Bhokare, Gune, Vaidya, Joshi, Biwalkar, Omkar etc. From the historical records, including the Peshwas' Diaries, we find that members of the Brahman community, including Peshwas and other Brahman sardars, in their daily life generally observed religious rituals as laid down for them by the scriptures and customs. But they followed a wide-ranging variety of professions. There were among them, apart from scholars and priests, well-known ministers, administrators, clerks, judges, soldiers, doctors, moneylenders, businessmen, and also agriculturists, messengers, cooks, watermen, etc. No religious or caste question is known to have come in the way of their occupational mobility. And in innumerable instances we find that Brahmans following different occupations did intermarry. For example, the Peshwas themselves, who were rulers and army generals are never known to have felt embarrassed about marrying girls from priestly or business families. The fact that the Peshwas themselves were Brahmans was one of the most important reasons for this development. And, furthermore, as the Peshwas belonged to the Chitpavar sub-caste, Brahmans of that sub-caste dominated in different walks of life. The Brahman caste enjoyed in the eighteenth century the topmost position in Maharashtrian society. Among the Brahmans, again, the Deshasthas, who were the earlier settlers in the region, held a superior position as compared to Brahmans of other sub-castes. As landowners, moneylenders, administrators and religious leaders they held a predominant position in society. This situation prevailed until the rise of the Peshwas, that is, until the beginning of the eighteenth century.
21 SPD, Vol. 22, no. 229.

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With the rise of the Peshwas, however, the monopoly of the Deshastha Brahmans in administrative and other fields began to decline, and slowly the Chitpavan Brahmans came to occupy in society the dominant position held for a long time by the Deshasthas. With the rise of the Peshwas there was also a qualitative change in the status of the Brahmans, especially the Chitpavans, in that the Peshwas were not just administrators, but were policy-makers, generals and rulers themselves. With them a large number of Brahmans held top positions in a strong and expanding political power in India in the eighteenth century. Advancing money for administrative or war purposes involved great risks. Only those who had close contacts with the administration or collection of revenue or those who had influence or good relations with the army chiefs could take such risks. Through their close caste and family connections with the Peshwas, a large number of middling Chitpavan families soon rose to prominence in various fields. A member of the Patwardhan family, who founded the state of Sangli, for example, was originally only a family priest. Chitpavan Brahmans also received special consideration in the recruitment for administrative posts. From the Peshwa government records we find that proportionately an overwhelming number of clerks in the Central Secretariat at Poona were also Chitpavan Brahmans.22 Many of the priestly Brahmans received from rich people large amounts of presents both in cash and kind on various occasions. Thus, King Shahu, for example, on a particular day gave away for the health of his ailing wife, as presents, an elephant, a camel, two horses, two buffaloes, several cows, deerskins, etc.23 It may be mentioned here that in I719-20, the price of an elephant was above Rs 5,500 in Maharashtra.24 Some of the priestly Brahmans, their own style of living being very simple and frugal, utilized the large amount of money thus accumulated with them for the purposes of moneylending. We may mention in this context the case of Gangadharshastri Patwardhan, who belonged to a priestly Chitpavan Brahman family of the later eighteenth century. In his later life he became a politician and a diplomat. The following is a gist of the relevant material from his autobiographical account.25 When I was eight years old I worked as a clerk in the Peshwa secretariat at Poona in the section dealing with the matters relating to Karnataka
22 23 25

For the year I76o-61, see SSRPD, Vol. 3, PP. 373-5; for 1763-64, ibid.,Vol. 7, PP. V. K. Bhave, Peshawekaaleen Maharashtra (New Delhi, 1976 reprint), pp. 294-5Traimasik (QuarterlyJournal of the Bharat Itihas Samshodhak Mandal, Poona),

I115-9; for 1797-98, ibid., Vol. 5, pp. 201-7, etc.

24 Ibid.

Vol. 3, no. I pp. 17-41.

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expeditions. My uncle was in business as a savakar. I started my own career of businessindependently. Nimbaji Bhaskarwas managing the revenue administration of Surat. I advanced to him two thousand rupees. I borrowed money from different people at the rate of half per cent per month and lent it to the needy at the rate from one to two per cent depending on the situation. Slowly my credibility and standing in society as a savakar was strengthened. Vyankatrao Raste [a Chitpavan nobleman] was my friend since our childhood. His annual revenue collections to the tune of about sixty thousand rupees used to remain with me, for which I was not required to pay any interest. Also, about twenty thousand rupees of Prabhakar Ballal Joshi [another Chitpavan Brahman] used to remain with me for which I paid to him interest at the rate of half per cent per month only. After the death of Sawai Madhavrao, the office of Peshwaship went to Bajirao II. The Peshwa was later imprisoned by Daulatrao Shinde. Large amounts of money were spent by both sides for the purpose of sabotage in the armies etc. [details are given]. On this occasion I advanced a loan of about fifty thousand rupees to Bajirao II through Roopchand. Sometime afterwardsin a similar situation I advanced a loan of about ten thousand rupees to Sarjerao Ghatge, through Roopram Marwadi. My loan advanced through Roopchand (Roopram) Marwadi to the Peshwa was later returned to me according to the terms of our agreement. Some time later Bajirao Peshwa and Shinde imprisoned Nana Phadnis, Dada Gadre and others. Each one of the prisonerswas forced to pay a ransom amount fixed on his head. Thus, Dada Gadre was forced to agree to pay six lakhs of rupees. The amount was to be paid through one Modikhane. For the preliminarycash transactionin this regard I advanced for Dada Gadre a cash of sixteen thousand rupees at the rate of five per cent as 'Manoti' amount plus eight per cent as interest. This rather long extract from Gangadharshastri's autobiographical account shows how the business of moneylending thrived, in the prevailing political situation in Maharashtra, and how originally ordinary priestly Brahmans took advantage of it for embarking on their own business careers. The prevailing situation in Maharashtra thus encouraged not only lay Brahmans, but also priestly Brahmans and even some religious leaders to profit by entering into moneylending and other business activities. A savakar of the latter type may well be illustrated by the example of a mendicant-cum-moneylender, namely Brahmendraswami

of Dhavadshi (1649-1 745). The Swami was a Deshastha Brahman, and


a religious leader. He developed a keen personal interest in business and moneylending activities. According to a historical record, some of the loans advanced by the
Swami
100,000

included: Rs 200,000 to Angria, Rs 200,000 to Peshwa, to Queen Sagunabai, wife of King Shahu, Rs 10,000

Rs to

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V. D. DIVEKAR

Yeshwantrao Pawar, Rs io,ooo to Umabai Dabhade, and Rs 5,000 to Nimbalkar, etc.26 The Swami had with him two hundred oxen as pack-animals for transporting goods from Konkan ports to the Desh region. At Dhavadshi the rich Swami, who was essentially a religious guru, lived like a merchant prince with all the related paraphernalia: clerks, soldiers, messengers, female-attendants, palanquins, vehicles, horses, cattle, store houses, treasuries, etc. He gave liberal donations for the construction of temples, tanks, wells, etc. throughout Maharashtra. By his timely financial help through loans to the Peshwa and sardars the Swami made them remain under his personal obligation. This position he utilized for furthering his influence in political affairs. He sided with the Peshwa Bajirao against other sardars. He also effectively influenced the Marathas in taking decisions relating to relations with the Siddis in Konkan. It should be noted here that the Brahman community in Maharashtra in the eighteenth century was not like the powerful, wealthy priestly order, or the establishment of the church in the contemporary or the nineteenth-century Christian world. There was no religious order or organization of the Brahmans similar to the aristocracy of the Christian church. Only in the caste hierarchy, however, their caste was at the top, and that was very important as they received many social privileges because of that. The real strength of the Brahman community as a whole in eighteenth-century Maharashtra came from the powerful hold it had on the state apparatus. Occupational immobility? Professor D. R. Gadgil, and many other scholars, have held that there was no mobility in India about the middle of the eighteenth century between merchant classes and military, priestly and ruling-administrative classes; that this immobility was induced and maintained by the caste system of society; that not only members of different castes did not intermarry, but they followed only their caste occupations.27 Professor Gadgil admits that Khatris of the Punjab constituted a partial exception to this, as there were among them military men, traders and financiers. Also, Rajasthan Banias held important political positions and worked as ministers in the courts of Rajasthan. It is likely that if we look closer into
26

P. L. Saswadkar, 'Brahmendraswami:His Life and Role in Maratha History'

(Unpublished thesis, Poona Univ., I964), Ch. 5. 27 D. R. Gadgil, Origins of theModernIndian Business Class: An Interim Report(New York, 1959), P. 23-

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histories of business communities of different regions of India, we may come across similar other 'exceptions' everywhere. Professor Gadgil has also observed28 that as a consequence of immobility between different occupations in eighteenth-century India, appointees to ministerial or high administrative positions were very rarely drawn from the trading classes. These observations may perhaps be true regarding some other regions in India. But so far as eighteenth-century Maharashtra is concerned, the above observation does not seem to be very relevant nor valid. Not relevant because, in Maharashtra, in the eighteenth century there was no indigenous community which had confined itself only to trading. And not valid because, while a large number of Brahmans were dominant in ministerial or high administrative positions, it was not unlikely that some other members of their own families were leading moneylenders or traders. In the case ofBabuji Naik, the brother-in-law of Peshwa Bajirao I, he combined in himself, as a savakar and as a sardar, the occupations of moneylending and army activities. However, broadly it is true, that although the Peshwas and other army chiefs were chronically in debt to the newly emerged class of Brahman savakars, the latter did not have much influence in shaping the military or political policies of the state. If we understand this historical situation in Maharashtra, much of the generalized and theoretical discussion relating to India regarding caste barriers, non-integration of so-called traditional caste occupations, and the so-called high socio-economic position held by the trading class in Indian urban life, etc., becomes a matter for debate. The notion that the caste system made Hindus follow only their respective caste occupations, and that caste barriers came in the way of mobility in different occupations in India, needs to be investigated with reference to relevant religious scriptures and customs, and historical developments in different regions. In Maharashtra, along with the caste system, the institution of vatan rights, and sub-regional customs also influenced occupational mobility. III. Conclusion Maharashtra was economically and culturally backward before the eighteenth century as compared to the neighbouring regions ofGujarat, Malwa, Telangana, Karnataka, etc. The establishment of Maratha
28

Ibid.

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V. D. DIVEKAR

political power and its subsequent expansion offered an excellent situation to Marathi people for development in different spheres, as also for the emergence of a new indigenous business class. This newly emerged class, however, became at no stage independent of the political situation. Instead, it became more and more dependent on governmental and warlike activities for its sustenance and prosperity. Once this extraneous support was totally withdrawn, owing to the defeat of the Marathas on the battlefield, the business activities nearly came to a halt and soon became almost non-existent. The very rapid growth of Poona in the eighteenth century-from a small town of less than I o,ooo souls to a capital city with a population of more than 00oo,oooat the end of the century-and its fast depopulation soon after the defeat of Maratha rule indicate the inherent defects in its growth. Originally it was not an important industrial or commercial centre, nor did it become one in the process of its growth. In the eighteenth century in some regions of India cotton played an important part in the development of rural as well as urban economies, through, for example, expansion of the area under the crop or increase in related activities of traders and moneylenders; while in Gujarat the area under the crop increased, in Bengal and Andhra there was an increase in the imports of cotton. Such fundamental change, in this case commercialization of agriculture, did not come about in Maharashtra in the eighteenth century, except perhaps in the Berar-Nagpur region in the case of cotton. In Europe, in the late Middle Ages moneymaking came to be recognized as a legitimate pursuit, not to be restricted by religious or institutional regulations. This came about as a consequence of a struggle in the direction of the creation of a 'civil society' where, unlike in the feudal set up, the bourgeoisie was able to pursue the maximizing of private profit. Ultimately the social barriers against trade and commerce collapsed and economic activity could expand 'in a morally neutral sphere of its own'.29 It would be hazardous to find even a resemblance between the situation in Europe as described above, with the situation that existed in eighteenth-century Maharashtra where there arose on a large scale a class of moneylenders and traders from among the traditionally priestly caste of Brahmans. But surely as far as Maharashtra Brahmans were concerned they started pursuing in that century without inhibitions a number of various callings. This needs to
Umberto Melotti, Marx andthe ThirdWorld,tr. by Pat Ransford (London, 1977), p. 98.
29

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be emphasized, for, to that extent, in the case of an important section of Maharashtrian society at least, there arose the possibility of an almost unrestricted economic activity in a 'morally neutral sphere of its own'. In one place Marx has observed30 that usury works revolutionary effects in all pre-capitalist modes of production. Under the Asiatic forms usury may last for a long time without producing anything else. Not until the other prerequisites of capitalist production are present, does usury become a means of assisting in the formation of the new mode of production. Considered from this point of view, the Marathi savakars of the eighteenth century were far behind in assisting the formation of the new mode of production, as they had not invested their capital even in the traditional mode of production, not to speak of the capitalist one. Economic changes in India that depended on the political factor were mostly of superficial nature. The economic change in Maharashtra in the eighteenth century in the form of emergence of an indigenous business class due to the political upheaval in the region may be considered as a typical example of such superficial change.
30 Ibid., p. 102.

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