Legalising and Enforcing Socio-Religious Norms: The State, Caste and Positions of Women in the Maratha Empire, 1674-1818

Abstract

This thesis investigates the working of laws and judicial mechanisms, including religious and caste assemblies, in order to uncover impacts of the Maratha state’s religious and political ideologies and ambitions on the predicaments of women. Maratha state formation from 1674 and its imperial rule in the eighteenth century (prior to British control in 1818) was built and maintained on the foundation, perpetuation and dissemination of patriarchal Brahmanism, i.e., ideological and institutional control, suppression and exploitation of women, as well as both lower-caste and Muslim men, privileging Brahmins. To buttress their authority, the Maratha state adopted and implemented patriarchal-Brahmanical socio-religious norms, transmitted in society through religious discourse, practices and celebration, as unavoidable parts of state law. Thus, the Maratha state centrally deployed the office of chief-justice and panditarāva (religious judge) and in the countryside (since its rule was not as accessible and potent as in the capital [Pune] and its hinterland) it collaborated with pre-existing community tribunals, namely, religious and caste assemblies, which facilitated the Maratha state’s rule in the countryside and legitimised and empowered these assemblies’ tribunal practices. These processes aggravated the predicaments of women and lower caste and Muslim men as the groups which were discriminated against socially, due to their gender and caste, began to be discriminated against legally. Given the misogyny and caste prejudice within Brahmanical norms, my PhD research examines how their legal enforcement affected the lives of women belonging to different castes and religions. The secondary literature regarding gender in Maratha historiography, viewed women, unlike men, as a single entity with emphasis placed on how patriarchy affected upper caste women. Even when intersectionality (caste) in women’s history was researched, the emphasis was still on how Brahminism (caste) affected those who were at the pinnacle of caste hierarchy. Since Brahmin women could not divorce and remarry and either followed Shastric widowhood or undertook sati, it was concluded that their life was even worse than that of lower caste women. Considering that caste was (still) a determinant of people’s lifestyle, social status and relations, occupation (thus also class and economy) and treatment, I found such neglect of intersectionality with regard to lower caste and Muslim women in Maratha history a glaring gap. My research, hence, probes how caste affected women of different castes within and outside the governing system. It explores distinct lived experiences as well as legal treatments of women ranging from domestic to public spheres, namely women’s sexual and intimate agencies, domestic abuse committed against and by women, crime and violence against women, the practice of sati and the tradition of dancing women. In all these areas, it emphasises the influence of caste and gender and the varying nature of governmental control in the respective regions. Unlike previous research my research shows that the perceived severity and punishment of crimes, even in the capital city of Pune, depended on the caste and gender of the people involved and the varying levels and types of governmental control. Criminal justice was shaped by patriarchal Brahmanism, derived from and influenced by Shastric traditions and ideologies. While patriarchal Brahmanism was omnipresent, its effects differed widely. While upper caste women were denied divorce and remarriage and were forced into Shastric widowhood or became sati, they also had privileges due to their caste status. For example, they lived in big houses situated in the main village, employed servants and slaves and were treated with respect within and outside the governing system. Whereas lower caste women including Muslims were (as now) subject to the uttermost cruelties, discrimination and harshest realities whether in terms of their daily lifestyle (living in small houses or structures at the peripheries and worked within and outside their household for their livelihood), untouchability, servitude (slavery) and in their legal treatment and also experienced the most heinous crimes (rape and femicide). Thus, it is proposed that unlike upper caste women, lower caste women were at the margins of caste, class and gender, and their treatment and experience within and outside the governing system was worse than all men and upper caste women and they were discriminated against by all of them under the Maratha state’s enforcement of patriarchal Brahmanism. Nonetheless, my research does not simply record a passive story of women’s repression, but also explores evidence for their deviancy, criminality, negotiation, resistance, power and agency, whether in sexual acts, domestic abuse, rape, elopement, sati or the profession of dancing, showing how women found allies among kinsmen and women, and not only sought but also gained some autonomy, power and wealth, including social capital, in their personal and professional lives.