ABSTRACT
THE consequences stemming from the Deccan Agriculturalists' Relief Act of 1879 revealed that the administration of justice was merely one of the factors responsible for the crisis which overtook rural society in 1875. They also proved that reforms in the administration ofjustice alone could not put the kunbis on the path to progress and prosperity. What enabled the vanis to establish their dominance over the villages of Maharashtra was the kunbis' need for credit to finance their agricultural operations, and to meet the social obligations imposed upon them by their status in rural society. The Relief Act protected the kunbis from legal exploitation at the hands of the vanis. But it did little to assure them of a cheap and plentiful supply of credit, partly out of a mistaken analysis of the rural problem by the Government of Bombay, but partly also because of its restricted view of the responsibilities of the State towards the community. Conservatives like Sir Richard Temple and T. C. Hope who sponsored the ReliefAct not only refused to pay sufficient attention to the problem of rural credit but also by amending the law in favour of the kunbis made the vanis reluctant to conduct business with them, and created a situation which threatened to weaken the foundations ofthe rural economy of Maharashtra.
