Bhonsle

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This article is about the clan. For the film, see Bhonsle (film). For other uses, see Bhonsle (disambiguation).
"Bhosle" and "Bhosale" redirect here. For other uses, see Bhosle (disambiguation) and Bhosale (disambiguation).

Bhonsle
Maratha clan
EthnicityIndian
LocationMaharashtra, Tamil Nadu
LanguageMarathi
ReligionHinduism

The Bhonsle (or Bhonsale, Bhosale, Bhosle)[1] are a prominent group within the Maratha clan system. They claim descent from the Sisodia Rajputs but were likely Kunbi tiller-plainsmen.[2]

History

Earliest members

The earliest accepted members of the Bhonsles are Mudhoji Bhonsle and his kin Rupaji Bhonsle, who were the village headman (pāṭīl) of Hingani — this branch has been since known as Hinganikar Bhonsles.[3] A branch seem to have split soon, who went on to claim an ancestral right to the post of district steward (deśmukhī) of Kadewalit: Suryaji Bhonsle during the reign of Ahmad Nizam Shah I (early 1490s), and his son Sharafji Bhonsle during the conquest of the region by Daniyal Mirza (1599).[3][a][b] This branch has been since known as Kadewalit Bhonsles.[3]

The next significant Bhonsle was probably Maloji Bhosale from the Hinganikar branch.[4] He was the great-grandson of one Kheloji (c. 1490).[4]

Origins

In the opinion of Christophe Jaffrelot, Abraham Eraly and Jadunath Sarkar, Bhonsles were predominantly Deccani tiller-plainsmen from the Shudra caste; they were part of the Marathas/Kunbis, an amorphous class-group.[5][6][7][8][c] Scholars have however disagreed about the agricultural status of Bhosles.[4] Ananya Vajpeyi rejects the very designation of Shudra, since the category has remained in a state of flux across centuries; she instead notes them to be a Marathi lineage, who enjoyed "reasonably high" social status as landholders and warlords, being in the service of Deccan Sultanate or Mughals.[4][d] notes that the historical evolution of castes grouped under the Maratha-Kunbis is sketchy.[9]

According to R. C. Dhere's interpretation of local oral history and ethnography, Bhonsles descend from the Hoysalas and Yadavas of Devagiri, who were cow-herding Gavli Kings.[4][10][e][f] In early thirteenth century, "Baliyeppa Gopati Sirsat", a Hoysala cousin of Simhana migrated from Gadag to Satara along with his pastoral herd and kul-devta; the Sambhu Mahadev was thus installed at a hill-top in Singhnapur.[4][g][h] Historical records indicate that this shrine received extensive patronage from Maloji onwards.[4][i] Further, there exists a branch of the Bhosles named "Sirsat Bhosles" and Bhosle (or "Bhosale") is linguistically similar to "Hoysala".[4] M. K. Dhavalikar found the work to be his magnum opus, which convincingly explained the foundation of the Bhosle clan (as well as Sambhu Mahadev cult).[11] Vajpeyi too advocates that Dhere's theory be probed in greater detail.[4]

Shivaji and invented origins

By 1670s, Shivaji had acquired extensive territory and wealth from his campaigns.[6][12] But, lacking a formal crown, he had no operational legitimacy to rule his de facto domain and technically, remained subject to his Mughal (or Deccan Sultanate) overlords; in the hierarchy of power, Shivaji's position remained similar to fellow Maratha chieftains.[6][4][12][j] Also, he was often opposed by the orthodox Brahmin community of Maharashtra.[4] A coronation sanctioned by the Brahmins was thus planned, in a bid to proclaim sovereignty and legitimize his rule.[6][12][14]

However, on proposing the Brahmins of his court to have him proclaimed as the rightful king, a controversy erupted: the regnal status was reserved for those belonging to the kshatriya varna.[15][16] Shivaji's grandfather Maloji had been a tiller-headman, Shivaji did not wear the sacred thread, and his marriage was not in accordance with the Kshatriya customs; the Brahmins categorised him as a shudra.[12][14][17] Postponing his coronation, he had his secretary Balaji Avji Chitnis sent to the Sisodiyas of Mewar for inspection of the royal genealogies; Avji returned with a favorable finding.[4] Gaga Bhatt, a famed Brahmin of Banaras, was then hired to ratify Chitnis' find, and "Shivrajbhushan" was crafted.[4][16][k][l]

The coronation was finally re-executed in June 1674.[4][m] Designed by Bhatt, who employed traditional Hindu imagery in an unprecedented scale, the first phase had Shivaji penance for having lived as a Maratha, despite being a Kshatriya.[4][12][21] Then came the sacred thread ceremony ('upanayana') followed by the coronation ('abhisheka') — in what Vajpeyi deems as a public spectacle of enormous expense to herald the rebirth of Shivaji as a Kshatriya king.[4] Panegyrics composed by court-poets during these spans (and afterward) reinforced onto the public memory that Shivaji (and the Bhonsles) indeed belonged from the Sisodiyas.[4][16] However, a section of Brahmins continued to deny the Kshatriya status.[22]

The claims to Rajput ancestry however vanished from the family's subsequent projections of identity.[4]

Accuracy

The accuracy of the claims stand rejected. Vajpeyi notes the "veridical status" of Chitnis' finds to be not determinable to "historical certainty" — the links were tenuous at best and inventive at worst.[4] Shivaji was not a Rajput and the sole purpose of the lineage was to guarantee Shivaji's consecration as a Kshatriya, in a tactic that had clear parallels to Rajputisation.[4][n][o] Sarkar as well as V. K. Rajwade found the genealogy to be fabricated, as did Dhere, , John Keay and Christophe Jaffrelot.[8][23][21][5][16]

G. S. Sardesai notes that the descent is "not authentically proved".[24][p] Stewart N. Gordon does not pass any judgement but notes Bhatt to be a "creative Brahmin".[4][12][q] André Wink deems that the Sisodia genealogical claim is destined to remain disputed forever.[17]

Princely States

Satara State, Kolhapur State, Thanjavur State, Nagpur State, [25] Akkalkot State,[26] Sawantwadi State[27] and Barshi[28] were amongst the prominent states ruled by the Bhonsles.

See also

Notes

  1. ^ The precise familial relation between Mudhoji/Rupali and Suryaji is unclear.
  2. ^ Stewart Gordon and other scholars deem the "deśmukhī" to have served as a 'hinge' between the local populace and the imperial authority which frequently changed. Without their loyalty, commanding authority in newly conquered territories was difficult.
  3. ^ Susan Bayly and Eraly however emphasize that the Marathas were located outside the peripheries of Brahminism and people thereof did not form any rigid caste.[6][7]
  4. ^ Vajpeyi however notes that the Bhonsles almost-certainly never featured in the traditional list of 96 families, which allegedly composed the Maratha identity.
  5. ^ This was published in "Sikhar Singanapurca Sri Sambhu Mahadev" (2002) for the first time.
  6. ^ The caste-status of these Yadavas and whether they were a part of Bahminical hiearchy is disputed.
  7. ^ The Hoysalas as well as the Yadavas were competing feudatories of the Chalukyas with battles being as much common as matrimonial alliances..[4] The migration was prob. motivated by pervasive droughts in the region and an opportunity to seek out some independence for himself.[4]
  8. ^ The shrine continues to serve as one of the most significant Shaivite shrine in modern Maharashtra.[10]
  9. ^ Texts produced under patronage of Shahaji make explicit connection between the Bhosales and Balip. Also, the "samadhi" (memorial) of Sambhaji, Shivaji, and Shahuji neighbor the shrine.
    However, for a span of about 250 years — from Balip to Kheloji — the history of the shrine is not clear.
  10. ^ Most of the great Maratha Jahagirdar families in the service of Adilshahi strongly opposed Shivaji in his early years. These included families such as the Ghadge, More, Mohite, Ghorpade, Shirke, and Nimbalkar.[13]
  11. ^ Gaga Bhatt was a preeminent legal scholar, whose scholarship focused on the relative status of different varnas across different regions. Shivaji was already in contact with him since long back and it is plausible that the very idea of coronation was his suggestion.
  12. ^ Susan Bayly views Shivaji's coronation as an indication of fluidity in the caste system.[18] Jaffrelot notes the employed process as Kshatriyisation.
  13. ^ Contemporary Dutch East India Company archives[19] indicate that even then, Shivaji's Khatriya status was not easily accepted by all Brahmins and he had to promise them to not rule tyrannically anymore.[17] Further, his desire to be taught the Vedic Scriptures (for recitation at the ceremony) was rejected but for a lone Brahmin.[17][20]
  14. ^ Vajpeyi notes that Shahaji had once used the term Rajput to describe himself in a letter to Adil Shah. She however interprets the term to signify an exalted royal status rather than any connection with the Rajput clans.
  15. ^ She however found the summary rejection of Shivaji's ancestry claims in contemporary historiographical literature to often stem from a Brahminical anti-Maratha perspective, imbibed from the Peshwas.[4]
  16. ^ Sardesai noted that the claims were supported by some 'firman's in possession of the Raja of Mudhol but many scholars [unidentified] considered them to be forged.
  17. ^ In a footnote, Winks mentions of two letters, where Shivaji had referred to himself as a Rajput.

References

  1. ^ Kulkarni, Prashant P. (6 June 1990). "Coinage of the Bhonsla Rajas of Nagpur". Indian Coin Society.
  2. ^ Singh K S (1998). India's communities. Oxford University Press. p. 2211. ISBN 978-0-19-563354-2.
  3. ^ Jump up to: a b c Vendell, Dominic (2018). Scribes and the Vocation of Politics in the Maratha Empire, 1708-1818 (Thesis). Columbia University.
  4. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x Vajpeyi, Ananya (2005). "Excavating Identity through Tradition: Who was Shivaji?". In Varma, Supriya; Saberwal, Satish (eds.). Traditions in Motion: Religion and Society in History. Oxford University Press. pp. 239–268. ISBN 9780195669152.
    Edited version of Ananya, Vajpeyi (August 2004). "Making a Śūdra King: The Royal Consecration of Shivaji". Politics of complicity, poetics of contempt: A history of the Śūdra in Maharashtra, 1650–1950 CE (Thesis). University of Chicago. p. 155-226.
  5. ^ Jump up to: a b Christophe Jaffrelot (2006). Dr Ambedkar and Untouchability: Analysing and Fighting Caste. Permanent Black. p. 39. ISBN 978-81-7824-156-2. Obviously, Ambedkar had in mind the Brahmin's refusal to recognize Shivaji as a Kshatriya. His theory, which is based on scant historical evidence , doubtless echoed this episode in Maharashtra's history, whereas in fact Shivaji, a Maratha-Kunbi, was a Shudra. Nevertheless, he had won power and so expected the Brahmins to confirm his new status by writing for him an adequate genealogy. This process recalls that of Sanskritisation , but sociologists refer to such emulation of Kshatriyas by Shudras as ' Kshatriyaisation ' and describe it as a variant of Sanskritisation.
  6. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e Bayly, Susan (22 February 2001). Caste, Society and Politics in India from the Eighteenth Century to the Modern Age. Cambridge University Press. pp. 57–59. ISBN 9780521798426.
  7. ^ Jump up to: a b Abraham Eraly (2000). Emperors of the Peacock Throne: The Saga of the Great Mughals. Penguin Books India. p. 435. ISBN 978-0-14-100143-2.
  8. ^ Jump up to: a b Jadunath Sarkar (1992). Shivaji and His Times. Orient Longman. p. 158. ISBN 978-81-250-1347-1.
  9. ^ O'Hanlon, Rosalind, ed. (1985), "Religion and society under early British rule", Caste, Conflict and Ideology: Mahatma Jotirao Phule and Low Caste Protest in Nineteenth-Century Western India, Cambridge South Asian Studies, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 13–14, ISBN 978-0-521-52308-0, retrieved 12 July 2021
  10. ^ Jump up to: a b Feldhaus, Anne (2003), Feldhaus, Anne (ed.), "The Pilgrimage to Śiṅgṇāpūr", Connected Places: Region, Pilgrimage, and Geographical Imagination in India, Religion/Culture/Critique, New York: Palgrave Macmillan US, pp. 45–87, doi:10.1057/9781403981349_3, ISBN 978-1-4039-8134-9 |access-date= requires |url= (help)
  11. ^ Dhavalikar, M. K. (2000). "Review of SHIKHAR SHINGANAPURCHA SRI SHAMBHU MAHADEV (In Marathi)". Bulletin of the Deccan College Research Institute. 60/61: 507–508. ISSN 0045-9801.
  12. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f Gordon, Stewart (1993), "Shivaji (1630–80) and the Maratha polity", The Marathas 1600–1818, The New Cambridge History of India, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 86–87, ISBN 978-0-521-26883-7, retrieved 26 June 2021
  13. ^ Daniel Jasper 2003, p. 215.
  14. ^ Jump up to: a b Baviskar, B. S.; Attwood, D. W. (30 October 2013). "Caste Barriers to Initiative and Innovation". Inside-Outside: Two Views of Social Change in Rural India. SAGE Publications. p. 395. ISBN 978-81-321-1865-7.
  15. ^ Rajmohan Gandhi (1999). Revenge and Reconciliation. Penguin Books India. pp. 110–. ISBN 978-0-14-029045-5.
  16. ^ Jump up to: a b c d Busch, Allison (2011). Poetry of Kings: The Classical Hindi Literature of Mughal India. Oxford University Press. pp. 190–191. ISBN 978-0-19-976592-8.
  17. ^ Jump up to: a b c d Kruijtzer, Gijs (2009). Xenophobia in Seventeenth-century India. Leiden University Press. p. 143. ISBN 9789087280680.
  18. ^ Kruijtzer, Gijs (2009). Xenophobia in Seventeenth-century India. Leiden University Press. p. 143. ISBN 9789087280680.
  19. ^ Sen, Surendra Nath (1958). Foreign Biographies of Shivaji (2 ed.). Calcutta: K. P. Bagchi & Company, Indian Council of Historical Research. pp. 265–267.
  20. ^ O'Hanlon, Rosalind, ed. (1985), "From warrior traditions to nineteenth-century politics: structure, ideology, and identity in the Maratha-kunbi caste complex", Caste, Conflict and Ideology: Mahatma Jotirao Phule and Low Caste Protest in Nineteenth-Century Western India, Cambridge South Asian Studies, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p. 20, ISBN 978-0-521-52308-0, retrieved 12 July 2021
  21. ^ Jump up to: a b John Keay (12 April 2011). India: A History. Atlantic. p. 565. ISBN 978-0-8021-9550-0.
  22. ^ Rao, Anupama (13 October 2009). "Caste Radicalism And The Making Of A New Political Subject". The Caste Question: Dalits and the Politics of Modern India. University of California Press. p. 42. doi:10.1525/9780520943377-006. ISBN 978-0-520-94337-7.
  23. ^ Krshnaji Ananta Sabhasada; Sen, Surendra Nath (1920). Siva Chhatrapati : being a translation of Sabhasad Bakhar with extracts from Chitnis and Sivadigvijya, with notes. Calcutta : University of Calcutta. pp. 260, 261.
  24. ^ Sardesai, G. S. (1946). "Shahji: The Rising Sun". New History of the Marathas. 1. Phoenic Publications. p. 46.
  25. ^ Nicholas Patrick Wiseman (1836). The Dublin Review. William Spooner. Retrieved 11 January 2015.
  26. ^ Kulkarni, Sumitra (1995). The Satara Raj, 1818-1848: A Study in History, Administration, and Culture. Mittal Publications. ISBN 9788170995814.
  27. ^ "Portuguese Studies Review". International Conference Group on Portugal. 6 June 2001.
  28. ^ "The Gazetteers Department". akola.nic.in.
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