HISTORY

MODERN PERIOD

The district of Sangli is a recent creation made as late as in 1949. It was then known as South Satara and it has been renamed as Sangli since 1961. It is partly made up of a few talukas which once formed part of the old Satara district and partly of the States and jagirs belonging to Patvardhans, and Dafles which came to be merged during the post-independence period. As the nineteenth century advanced, the historical scene naturally shifted from the princes to the people; but it must be said that by and large, the subjects living in Patvardhan States on the whole enjoyed the benefits of benign rule and were not envious of their counterparts in the north ruled directly by the British. Such of the talukas as were parts of Satara district, viz., Khanapur, Valva, Tasganv and Sirala naturally came under the orbit of political and social activities that were initiated at the district place; but on the whole these areas remained backward both in constitutional agitation, as also in social and cultural reforms. People remained conservative and orthodox, constantly engaged in litigation and quarrels, with the result that at one time South Satara had the largest toll of crime in the whole of the then Bombay Presidency. To the law abiding and progressive section of the people, the neighbouring States soon proved a force of gravitation. Labour was absorbed in the industry at Kirloskarvadi, in the railway workshop at Miraj and in the textile mills at Sangli, which (latter) also became a great market centre dealing with such agricultural commodities as groundnut, gur, turmeric and jowar. Miraj also proved to be a great centre of traffic and communications from where it was convenient to proceed to Belgahv, Kolhapur, Ratnagiri and Konkan, Pandhar-pur and Solapur and also to Poona and Bombay. Scarcity of water-supply which had acted as a handicap and prevented Miraj from developing itself into full vigour, has recently been removed and Miraj bids fairly to be a great commercial nerve centre of the southern part of Maharastra, just as it had been a halting place for generals for campaigning towards Goa and Konkan in historic times. The middle class anxious to benefit itself by English education could also take advantage of many high schools started at Miraj and Sahgli where living was comparatively cheap and students used to be encouraged by a number of concessions. With the starting of the Rayat Siksan Samstha by Bhaurav Patil, South Satara parts under British Rule came to have its branches in a number of places. To those given to cultural pursuits, States were no less an ' attraction; firstly because Sangli not only was the birth place of the Marathi stage, but maintained its traditions to give to the whole of Maharastra stalwart dramatists like Govind Ballal Deval, Kesavrav Chhapkhane and Krsnaji Prabhakar Khadilkar, as also because the rulers of Sangli and specially Miraj munificently patronised the Marathi stage. The rulers of Miraj again were great patrons of Hindu gymnasium, akhadas as they are popularly called, from where distinguished gymnasts emerged challenging others and claiming superiority in their attainment of the games of wrestling and malkhamb. Valva, Tasganv, and Islampur distinguished themselves in tamashas. Patthe Bapurav Kulkarni of Rethre in Valva taluka is known for his own style and skill in tamasha. The talukas are strewn with religious centres such as Audumber, Kavathe Mahankal and Kharsundi which are minor places of pilgrimage where people of the locality gather at different times of the year. The great centres of pilgrimage are of course Pandharpur and Kolhapur both of which do not fall in this district. It is significant to note that although the Patvardhan rulers were great devotees of GanapatI and the ruler of Sangli tried to maintain the worship of GanapatI in the form of a separate State establishment (Samsthan) Ganapati worship never became popular amongst the masses who ever remained great devotees of Vithoba, Sankar or Goddess Bhavani.

Reviewing the course of political agitation in this part in pre-Gandhian era, it must be said that it was not much more than a feeble imitation of the constitutional forms that emerged from Poona and Satara. However, once Mahatma Gandhi was on the scene South Satara talukas under British rule distinguished themselves by their substantial contribution to the movement started under his direct or indirect influence. In the Civil Disobedience movement of 1930—32 the forest satyagraha of Bilasi was of such intensity that it was echoed on the floor of Parliament in England. In the Quit India Movement of 1942 also Valva taluka was in the forefront. Men like Vasantrav Patil, Vyankatrav Pawar and Nana Patil used to address mass meetings and hold the audience spell-bound by using brief and telling rustic phrases and expressions in the course of their speeches. In fact in 1942 a stage had reached for a time at least, when the British rule ceased to be operative in certain parts in and round Valva taluka. Why an area which had been so backward and politically dormant in pre-Gandhian days should so suddenly emerge into life and activity is a topic worth being carefully examined by those who would like to study the psychological aspects of political movements. Be that as it may, a student of history must put it on record that the South Satara talukas under British rule have played their part in the Freedom Movement of India.

Turning to the regions ruled by Princes, viz., Atpadi, (under the Pratinidhi of Aundh) Jath, Miraj, and Sangli some pertinent remarks are called for, especially in case of the last. As to AtpadI it may be said now that the rulers of Aundh were not only progressive but they sympathised, of course secretly, with the struggle for freedom going on in the British territory during the Gandhian period. Aundh and AtpadI afforded an area where the participants in the underground movement of 1942 could escape and make it difficult for the British authorities to execute their decrees except through an elaborate legal procedure on a higher level. As to Jath and Miraj, the rulers of neither place took any keen interest either in granting constitutional rights and thus following the spirit of the times, or in sympathising, or for that matter opposing, either the Civil Disobedience movement of 1930—32 and the Quit India agitation of 1942. The position of Sangli was distinctly different. The ruler was benign, cultured, conscious of the spirit of the times, and anxious to make some political concessions to the people, but unwilling to part with the substance of power readily so that a few political privileges used to be conferred under a facade of great pomp of Durbar speeches that echoed in a hollow manner the liberal philosophy of the times. Anxious to be in the good books of the imperial power and equally anxious to be called a good ruler he continued to make a tight rope dancing for over 30 years, in which it must be said he largely succeeded. It was he who was invited to be one among the Princes called at the First and Second round Table Conferences of 1930 and 1931. It was also he, who always benefited himself by the advice of independent minded men like Prof. P. M. Limaye, the retired Principal of the Willingdon college at Kupwad which is very near Sangli, A. V. Patvardhan of the Servants of India Society and G. R. Abhyankar who was foremost among the political agitators of the subjects of Southern Maharastra States.

The credit of creating a political awakening among the educated section of the people of these States really belongs to the Deccan State Peoples' conference, the first session of which was held at Poona in 1921 largely through the efforts of the late Shri N. C. Kelkar and A. V. Patvardhan. The leaders were very moderate in their demands as can be seen from the speech of Mr. G. R. Abhyankar, the President of the conference, in which he said there is no harm whatever in bestowing immediately upon the Rayat Sabha the rights enjoyed by the legislatures in British India in 1909. [Sangli State 1910—48, p. 91.] Thus even in 1921 the leaders of States subjects hesitated to ask for the people that element of responsibility which had already been extended by the rulers of British India to their subjects. If the leaders of the States subjects were moderate the ruler was still more so, with the result that the people were some. what associated with the work of administration but they were not allowed to share responsibility at all. This was followed by a scheme of decentralisation and administration of the State through a Council consisting of four members including the Diwan all nominated. With the passing of the Government of India Act of 1935 by which India was organised on a federal basis, the ruler of Sangli decided to join the federation, although, as is well-known, that part of the Act was destined never to become operative. Things began to move fast in the forties of this century. In 1941 a kind of dyarchical form of government was introduced in Sangli [Ibid, p. 164.] and it was replaced in 1946 by an autonomous form somewhat on the lines of the autonomy enjoyed by the provincial governments in British India since 1937. In the same year the rulers of Deccan States met at Kolhapur [Ibid, p. 249.] with the intention of forming a Union of Deccan States, so that they could organise themselves into a sizeable unit in the new political set up that was being proposed for India by the Cabinet Mission. The scheme was forged and approved, and the rulers agreed to form themselves into a Board which would exercise only a limited and constitutional sovereignty over the Union State. This was followed by a Covenant [Ibid, p. 255.] by which the rulers agreed to pool their several individual sovereignties together. On 17-10-1947 the covenant was signed among others, by the rulers of Sangli and Miraj.

Things, however, were moving fast and the political map of India was changing if not already changed. On the 15th of August 1947 the British withdrew as a paramount power in India leaving the rulers of Indian States the absolute monarchs in their respective States. This was found in fact to be too dizzy an eminence for the Princes to occupy and hold. Then followed the period of accessions and standstill agreements with the new Dominion Government of India; and soon afterwards occurred the landslide of mergers, integrations and unions which brought the totality of Indian States within the framework of the Indian Union either by complete absorption or varying patterns of federal relationship [Ibid, p. 156.]. Sangll was merged with the State of Bombay on Sth March 1948 by the agreement of merger entered into between the Government of India and His Highness the Rajasaheb on 19th February 1948. The Rajasaheb ruled over his State worthily and well and he renounced his power equally well, after holding it for close over 40 years.

This rapid survey of constitutional movement would hardly reflect faithfully the state of affairs that prevailed at Sangli during the pre-Independence period. Sangli symbolised a model of administration where people and the press enjoyed maximum civil liberty. Judiciary discharged its functions in an atmosphere untrammelled by executive interference. G. R. Abhyankar who was ever on the vanguard of political agitation amongst States' subjects was a citizen of Sangli and could carry on his activities in the State, with freedom and confidence that was a matter of surprise and envy even to the people of British India and which was hardly to be outdone in any other State. Cintamanrav as a ruler of Sangli had his limitations but no smallness of mind or petty considerations ever influenced his actions so long as it was given to him to be on the gadi. In short, peace, progress as well as culture and awakening steadily grew in the atmosphere of civil liberty that prevailed at Sangli. The extinction of the State, was inevitable in the inexorable order of things.

GENEALOGY OF THE PATWARDHANS.

Harbhat Patvardhan [G. S. Sardesai, Genealogies of Historic Families (Marathi), p. 75.] (Born about 1665-died about 3-10-1750).

1. Krsnabhat, 2. Balambhat. 3. Ramacandrapant. 4. Trirhbakpant Appa. 5. Govindpant Nana, 6. Bhaskarpant Anna.

*Corrected as per New History of the Marathas, Vol. III, p. 345.

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