The colonial milieu has resulted in drastic changes in areas of the western Indian Subcontinent, such as Maharashtra. From 1668 onwards, when the East India Company settled in Bombay for mercantilist and economic purposes, there were constant interactions with several individuals and communities in the form of merchants, middlemen, etc. Historian Kenneth Jones wrote in his book “Socio-Religious Reforms in British India” that the Bombay presidency’s milieu became socially heterogeneous thanks to colonial administration. However, regions like Poona were still homogeneous and dominated by Chitpavan, Saraswat, and Desharta Brahmans, who were central to the Peshwa administration and polity.
According to scholar Rosalind O’Hanlon, during the reign of the Peshwas, who were certainly Shivaji Bhosle’s successors, religious aspects were dominated, or rigidity towards social institutions like Caste-Varna hierarchies in Poona was prevalent, and it was overtaken by EIC around 1818, resulting in the emergence of social mobility among different lower caste groups in the pre-nineteenth society. Several lower caste groups uplifted their position in the caste pyramid by becoming financially stable through participation in British administration and education. It
Swaliha Malik
Swaliha Malik is a History undergraduate at Miranda House who is curious to Religion and Modern History. Apart from being a history buff, she is a feminist who sees the world and societal norms through critical lenses. In her free time she binge watches, read, research and drinks coffee.