Slave-queen, waif-prince: Slavery and social capital in eighteenth-century India

Indian Economic and Social History Review

Volumn 36, Issue 2, 1999, Pages 165-186

  Chatterjee, Indrani ^a   Guha, Sumit ^b  

^a Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Institute of Asian Studies   (India)

^b INDIAN INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT CALCUTTA   (India)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 22444455089     PISSN: 00194646     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1177/001946469903600202     Document Type: Article

References (74)

1. See Muzaffar Alam and Sanjay Subrahmanyam, eds, The Mughal State 1526-1750, Delhi, 1998, Introduction.
2. G. Arunima, 'Multiple Meanings: Changing Conceptions of Matrilineal Kinship in Nineteenth and Twentieth Century Malabar', Indian Economic and Social History Review (hereafter IESHR), Vol. 33(3), 1996, pp. 283-307;
3. Veena Poonacha, 'Redefining Gender Relationships: The Imprint of the Colonial State on the Coorg/Kodava Norms of Marriage and Sexuality', pp. 39-64;
4. Janaki Nair, 'Prohibited Marriage: State Protection and the Child Wife' pp. 157-86,
5. Prem Chowdhry, 'Contesting Claims and Counter-Claims: Questions of the Inheritance and Sexuality of Widows in a Colonial State', pp. 65-82,
6. all in Patricia Uberoi, ed., Social Reform, Sexuality and the State, New Delhi, 1996;
7. William Pinch, 'Who was Himmat Bahadur? Gosains, Rajputs and the British in Bundelkhand, ca. 1800', IESHR, Vol. 35(3), 1998, pp. 293-335 among others.
8. Tony Day, 'Ties That (Un)Bind: Families and States in Premodern Southeast Asia', Journal of Asian Studies, Vol. 55(2), May 1996, pp. 384-409.
9. Michael H. Fisher, A Clash of Cultures: Awadh, the British and the Mughals, Delhi, 1987,
10. Richard B. Barnett, North India Between Empires: Awadh, the Mughals and the British, 1720-1801, Delhi, 1987.
11. See for instance the document in Bharata Itihasa Samshodhaka Mandala - Varshika Itivritta, Sake 1835/A.D. 1923, pp. 191-92;
12. G.C. Vad, P.V. Mawjee and D.B. Parasnis, comp. and ed., Selections from the Satara Raja's and Peshwa Diaries, 9 parts, Pune, 1902-1911, Part 7(2), pp. 318-25; Part 9(3), pp. 248-55.
13. P.A. Gavli, Peshvekalina Gulamgiri va Asprishyata, 3rd edn, Kolhapur, 1990, pp. 75-76.
14. B.P. Modak, Kolhapur va Karnatak Prantatil Rajye va Samsthanen yancha Itihasa-Uttarardha, Pune, 1925, p. 50.
15. These are in Appasaheb Pawar, ed., Jijabaikalina Kagadpatren, Kolhapur, 1978, pp. 138, 144, 305.
16. See Indrani Chatterjee, Gender Slavery, and the Law in Colonial India, Delhi, 1999, for more details.
17. Vasudeva Vamana Khare, author and ed., Ichalkaranji Samsthanacha Itihasa va Ichalkaranji Daftaratil Nivadak Patren va Yadi, Miraj, 1913 C.E.
18. Since Santaji Ghorpade was killed circa 1697-98, we can infer that the child Naropant lived sometime in the 1680s-90s; see Jadunath Sarkar, House of Shivaji, New Delhi, 1978, pp. 240-41.
19. Late in his life, Naropant's wife bore a son who was named Venkatarao. This boy was married to the daughter of the first Peshwa, Balaji Vishwanath, and therefore to the sister of the second Peshwa Bajirao I, in 1713 C.E. Her name was Anubai. At this point, significantly, the Peshwas chose to separate Narsinghrao from the Ghorpade household in which he had lived from infancy to adulthood, and grant him the village of Khamboti and various lands on condition of transferring to the service of the Peshwas; see Khare, Ichalkaranji, pp. 19, 26.
20. R.V. Oturkar, Peshvekalin Samajik va Arthik Patravyavahara, Pune 1950, p. 89. The document is dated 1740 C.E.
21. For the stories see 'History of the City of Beder in the form of a letter written by Lingoji Mudgal Rao in answer to the question of unnamed Saheb', circa 1802, in British Library, Oriental and India Office Collection, Mss. Add. 26477 A, fols 1a-7a, and Mss. Mar. G4, fols 1-14.
22. The source of this concept is obviously Pierre Bourdieu; see Outline of a Theory of Practice, trans. Richard Nice, Cambridge, 1979 rpt, pp. 178-79.
23. G.C. Vad et al., eds, Selections from the Satara Raja's and Peshwa's Diaries (hereafter SSRPD), Part 2(2), p. 67.
24. See the report by Sakhubai Sinde regarding her kinsman Manaji Sinde in Satara Historical Society, Historical Papers of the Sindhias of Gwalior, 1774-1794, Satara, 1934, Vol. I, p. 36.
25. See Radhika Singha, 'Civil Authority and Due Process: Colonial Criminal Justice in the Banaras Zamindari, 1781-95', in Michael Anderson and S. Guha, eds, Contested Rights: Changing Concepts of Rights and Justice in South Asia, Delhi, 1998, p. 44;
26. Radhika Singha, A Despotism of Law: Crime and Justice in Early Colonial India, Delhi, 1998.
27. G.S. Sardesai, Marathi Riyasat, 8 vols, new edn, Mumbai, 1989, Vol. 2, pp. 310-19.
28. Marathi Riyasat, Ibid., Vol. 3, p. 154.
29. Appasaheb Pawar, ed., Tarabaikalina Kagadpatren, 3 vols Kolhapur, 1969-70, Vol. 1, pp. 6-7.
30. Rajvade clearly recognised her status. In the index to Marathyanchya Itihasanchin Sadhanen, Vol. 2, she is described as 'Virubai, Shahuchi dasi'.
31. Malhar Ramrao Chitnis, Thorle Shahu Maharaj yanche Charitra, ed. Raghunath V. Hervadkar, Pune, 1976, pp. 5-6.
32. G.S. Sardesai, ed., Selections from the Peshwa Daftar (hereafter SPD), 45 vols, Bombay, 1931-34, Vol. 22, p. 63.
33. Chitnis, Shahu, p. 124.
34. George W. Forrest, Selections from the Papers, Bombay, 1885, p. 78.
35. D.B. Parasnis, comp. and ed., Shri Mahapurusha Brahmendrasvami yanche Patravyavahara, Bombay, 1900, p. 248.
36. Shri Mahapurusha Brahmendrasvami yanche Patravyavahara, Ibid., pp. 249-50.
37. Visvanatha Kashinatha Rajvade, comp. and ed., Marathyanchya Itihasanchi Sadhanen, Vol. 3, Kolhapur, 1901, pp. 31-32.
38. SPD, Vol. 45, p. 27.
39. Sardesai, Marathi Riyasat, Vol. 3, p. 153.
40. Marathi Riyasat, Ibid., Vol. 2, p. 260.
41. Marathi Riyasat, Ibid., Vol. 3, pp. 81-82.
42. Marathi Riyasat, Ibid., Vol. 4, pp. 228 ff.
43. Chitnis, Shahu, p. 16.
44. George W. Forrest, ed., Selections from the Letters, Despatches and Other State Papers preserved in the Bombay Secretariat - Maratha Series, Vol. 1, p. 605.
45. C.U. Aitchison, ed., A Collection of Treaties, Engagements and Sanads, Vol. (6), Calcutta, 1864, p. 24.
46. Thus the Peshwa reprimanded his armies in the Konkan in 1781-82 for carrying off and enslaving peasant women from Dahanu. G.C. Vad, ed., Selections from the Satara Raja's and Peshwa Diaries, 9 parts, Poona, 1902-1911, Part 6(2), p. 59.
47. Gazetteer of the Bombay Presidency - Vol. 20: Sholapur District, Bombay, 1884; rpt. Govt. of Maharashtra, 1997, p. 509, emphases added.
48. Itihasa Samgraha, II, 1, August, 1909, 'Junya Aitihasika Goshthi' p. 6.
49. Pune Archives, Shahu Daftar, Rumal 1, Pudke 12, Docs 285-89.
50. SPD, Vol. 30, p. 368.
51. Sardesai, ed., Selections, Vol. 45, pp. 94-95.
52. Itihasa Samgraha, 6(4-6), 1914-15, 'Sanadapatrantil Mahiti', p. 12.
53. As pointed out by Rajvade in the Introduction to Marathyanchya Itihasanchi Sadhanen, Vol. 2, Pune, 1900, pp. 125, 143.
54. Parasnis, ed., Itihasa Samgraha, II, 1, p. 5.
55. Chitnis, Shahu, pp. 52-53.
56. Forrest, Selections from the Letters, p. 77.
57. Sardesai, Marathi Riyasat, Vol. 3, p. 623.
58. G.S. Sardesai, Marathi Riyasat, Mumbai, 1990, new edn, Vol. 4, pp. 196-97. The historicity of this 'brother' is established by Sardesai from an inscription bearing his name on the walls of an old temple that Kasurde had rebuilt in Baramati.
59. Itihasa Samgraha, III, 6(1914), 'Aitihasik Sthalen', p. 11, docs. 1 and 4.
60. Chitnis, Shahu, p. 73.
61. Sardesai, ed., Selections, Vol. 26, p. 87.
62. For example, Sardesai in Marathi Riyasat, Vol. 3, pp. 622-63.
63. Sardesai, SPD, Vol. 28, pp. 4-5, 45.
64. Itihasa Samgraha, 6, nos 10-12, 1915, 'Sanadapatrantil Mahiti', pp. 176-77. Fatehsinh's coming fall was clear to many. This probably explains why a number of persons who held lands or emoluments under him now hastened to get formal title-deeds written or reconfirmed against the inevitable enquiries by a new regime. A number of these are in the Deccan College Maratha History Museum Collection, Rumal 1, file 7.
65. G.C. Vad, P.V. Mawjee and D.B. Parasnis, eds, Treaties, Engagements and Sanads, Bombay, 1914, p. 45; emphasis added.
66. This is alluded to in a near-contemporary letter of 1750. Sardesai, ed., SPD, Vol. 6, p. 56.
67. Itihasa Samgraha, III, 6, 1910, pp. 15-16.
68. Sardesai, Selections, Vol. 26, p. 76.
69. Interestingly he did not cite Shahu's sanad even though it named Pandhre as one of the officers who would continue to serve under him.
70. This was not a groundless complaint; on 9 March 1766 the Peshwa Madhavrao is found bestowing nearly 120 bighas of irrigated and dryland from 'Fatehsinh's garden' at Satara on Trimbakrao Pethe. V.S. Chitale, ed., Pethe Daftar, Part I, Pune, 1948, pp. 44-45.
71. Both letters are in Itihasa Samgraha, VI, 10-12, 1915, 'Sanadapatrantil Mahiti', pp. 177-180.
72. Andre Wink, Land and Sovereignty in India: Agrarian Society and Politics under the Eighteenth-century Maratha Svarajya, Delhi, 1986, pp. 183-214.
73. Sunil Kumar, 'When Slaves were Nobles: The Shamsi Bandagan in the Early Delhi Sultanate', Studies in History, 10(1), n.s., 1994, pp. 23-52.
74. A.N. Pradhan, Monograph on Akkalkot, Akkalkot, 1929, p. 52.