ABSTRACT
T H E redistribution of social power in the villages of Maharashtra which stemmed from measures of reform inspired by utilitarianism led to a growth of social tension that erupted in the disturbances of 1875. While all the social groups in rural society were affected by the reforms introduced by the new rulers of Maharashtra, the tensions which resulted from these reforms found their clearest expression in the relationship between the kunbis and the vanis. Even before the British conquest of Maharashtra, rural indebtedness was widespread in the region, and an inquiry into the condition of a village like Lony in 1820 illustrates something of its extent.1 But under the Marathas the kunbis dominated the villages despite their indebtedness to the vanis, because they enjoyed a numerical preponderance, and also because the vanis were isolated from their caste-fellows in other villages. The mamlatdars who represented the government were unconcerned about the vani's fate so long as he kept the rural economy on the move. The only judicial Institution to which the vani could appeal for the recovery of his debts was the panchayat. But since the panchayat was dominated by the patil and other influential kunbis in the village, it was hardly an institution that gave fair consideration to the vani’s Claims. Because the kunbis controlled the institutions which dispensed justice within rural society, the vanis were prevented from exercising 1 T . Coats, 'Account of the Present State of the Township of Lony', Transactions
a social dominance over the villages comparable to the economic dominance they exercised over the rural communities.
