ABSTRACT
S I N C E the social values and the political institutions of Maharashtra in 1818 were overwhelmingly influenced by the Organisation of rural society, and since the region retained its rural character in the 19th Century, the social climate and the economy of the villages continued to exercise a dominating influence over Maharashtra in 1918. But precisely because the political life of the region was moulded by rural influences, the chitpavan brahmans who had dominated Maharashtra in 1818, and who continued to dominate it during the course of the 19th Century, found their position increasingly under attack in the opening decades of the 20th Century by a small class ofnouveauxriches kunbis. These kunbis, as we shall presently see, owed their rise to policies which sought to transform Maharashtra into a modern society, and to put her on the path to progress and prosperity.
