The Marathas present the somewhat melancholy spectacle of an
impoverished aristocratic class attempting to maintain some semblance
of their former position, though they no longer have the means
to do so. They flourished during two or three centuries of almost
continuous war, and became a wealthy and powerful caste, but they
find a difficulty in turning their hands to the arts of peace. Sir
R. Craddock writes of them in Nagpur:
"Among the Marathas a large number represent connections of the Bhonsla
family, related by marriage or by illegitimate descent to that house. A
considerable proportion of the Government political pensioners are
Marathas. Many of them own villages or hold tenant land, but as a
rule they are extravagant in their living; and several of the old
Maratha nobility have fallen very much in the world. Pensions diminish
with each generation, but the expenditure shows no corresponding
decrease. The sons are brought up to no employment and the daughters
are married with lavish pomp and show. The native army does not much
attract them, and but few are educated well enough for the dignified
posts in the civil employ of Government. It is a question whether
their pride of race will give way before the necessity of earning
their livelihood soon enough for them to maintain or regain some of
their former position. Otherwise those with the largest landed estates
may be saved by the intervention of Government, but the rest must
gradually deteriorate till the dignities of their class have become
a mere memory. The humbler members of the caste find their employment
as petty contractors or traders, private servants, Government peons,
_sowars_ and hangers-on in the retinue of the more important families.
"What [218] little display his means afford a Maratha still tries to
maintain. Though he may be clad in rags at home, he has a spare dress
which he himself washes and keeps with great care and puts on when he
goes to pay a visit. He will hire a boy to attend him with a lantern
at night, or to take care of his shoes when he goes to a friend's
house and hold them before him when he comes out. Well-to-do Marathas
have usually in their service a Brahman clerk known as _divanji_ or
minister, who often takes advantage of his master's want of education
to defraud him. A Maratha seldom rises early or goes out in the
morning. He will get up at seven or eight o'clock, a late hour for
a Hindu, and attend to business if he has any or simply idle about
chewing or smoking tobacco and talking till ten o'clock. He will
then bathe and dress in a freshly-washed cloth and bow before the
family gods which the priest has already worshipped. He will dine,
chew betel and smoke tobacco and enjoy a short midday rest. Rising at
three, he will play cards, dice or chess, and in the evening will go
out walking or riding or pay a visit to a friend. He will come back
at eight or nine and go to bed at ten or eleven. But Marathas who
have estates to manage lead regular, fairly busy lives."