Page:An Essay On Hinduism.pdf/118

sense all castes like Brāhmaṇas, Prabhus, and Mahāras are all Marathas. The Kunbi-Maratha caste forms one. third of the entire Maratha population.

The list of castes given herein is not complete. In fact, there are a large number of small castes which are not mentioned here, but the most important ones are given above.

The entire Maratha society is not a well-organized body. At present the society is without any central government whatsoever in social matters. The political government of the country is in the hands of the British, and consequently the Marathas are extremely anxious to prevent the strange race of rulers from interfering in their social matters, and the British Government also has refrained from making any social legislation. Even in cases when the Government was making a healthy law preventing the union of husband and wife before the female reaches the age of twelve, there was a strong opposition all over the country, not because the people disapproved of the measure itself, but because they denied to the Government the authority to undertake such legislation. The doctrine of laissez-faire has been thus carried in India to an extreme unknown in Europe on account of the separation, racial, religious, and social, between the rulers and people, and on account of the distrust caused thereby.

Thus the government is no controlling factor in the Maratha society, and all social matters are left to the people to be managed by themselves.

Unfortunately, the task which the British Government has now considered as lying outside their province the people have not been able to undertake, on account of the lack of any other organization which would be able to exact obedi-