Medieval Maharashtra

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The research articles incorporated in this book Medieval Maharashtra are written over a period of more than twenty years. They mainly deal with social, economic and political aspects of the medieval Maratha country. They are mainly based on original Marathi sources, which have been explored much by scholars for various reasons. I hope that the Marathi sources consulted here would underline their significance in presenting a scientific and real account or an account which is nearer to reality of a region which played a major role in the history of medieval and modern India. In my earlier edited book history In Practice, I have made an attempt to analyse the Marathi sources of information which are preserved in Government and private archives in Maharashtra.

The article entitled The Indian village takes a resume of the work done on this subject in various parts of the country and discusses the approach to such studies with special reference to Maratha country. Similarly in the article on Social Relations. An attempt has been made Hindus and Christians, in the medieval period. I feel that this and further studies in this respect would be relevant to modern period which is confronted with various communal problems. The article on “jiziya in Indapur” is based on fresh material discovered in Pune Archives. These documents are bi-lingual and present statistical information on this much discussed institution of medieval times. The article dealing with, Deshmukhi Watan of Indapur”-a part of my bigger study on the socio-economic history of Indapur, Is a micro study based on original Marathi Sources. The position of Brahmans is discussed in one of the articles of this book.

I hope this book will induce some research scholars to explore the huge amount of source material preserved in Maharashtra State Archives and the private historical societies. I take this opportunity to thank my friends, Professor J.V. Naik of Bombay University, Dr.N.H.Kulkarni of the Librarians of Poona University and Deccan College. My special thanks are due to my colleagues in the Tilak Maharashtra Vidyapeeth, Pune, Shri Vikas Kulkarni. For arranging the scattered materials incorporated here, and Mrs Padmaja Mehendale for doing the most tedious task of proofreading. Dr.S.G. Mahajan & Mrs. Vijaya Kulkarni helped me in preparing the index of this book.

I am extremely thankful to Dr.Radhika Seshan for her help in correcting the proofs & preparing the index of this book.

I am grateful to Shri. Dattatraya Pashte, proprietor of the Diamond Publications. Pune for undertaking the responsibility of publication of this book.