Author – Harishchandra Sukhdeve, Nagpur, Twitter @AskAmbedkar

Chhatrapati Rajarshi Shahu Maharaj (Shahu Maharaj) was one of those few Princely State heads who genuinely tried to expand the horizon of the movement of untouchables for social justice and human rights. He not only promoted it but made it sustainable and long-lasting, in Maharashtra and beyond.

He was born on 26 June, 1874 as Yashwant Ghatge. He was adopted by the Queen of Kolhapur, Maharani Anandibai on 17 March, 1884 and named as Shahu. He ascended the throne of Kolhapur on 2 April, 1894.

What he noticed immediately was that the state’s affairs were run most shabbily by the Brahmin employees occupying all positions of power in his state and also in the local bodies. Overcoming this monopoly was his immediate priority. Literacy and education had percolated well across all Brahmins by virtue of their monopoly on shastras and knowledge. They had fortified their position in the administration since the times of Peshwas. The non-Brahmins had poor representation in education and resultantly in the administration. They were confined to the lower positions as guards or messengers only.
He realized that the only obvious way out was to spread awareness about education among the non-Brahmins, to facilitate their education and employment in the state services, in the governance. He personally started vigorous state-wide tours to create awareness among his subjects.

Shahu Maharaj declared scholarships for suitable non-Brahmin students, built hostels at various places and supported them with state funding. He established a ‘Maratha Students Institute’ on 18 April, 1901 and helped it with funds for the construction of school infrastructure. Simultaneously, he established hostels for the students from different communities during his rule. For example, in 1901-04 he built a Jain Hostel, in 1906 a Mohammedan hostel, in 1908 a Miss Clarke Hostel for untouchables, in 1917 a Veer Shaiva hostel for Lingayat community, in 1921 a Sant Namdeo hostel, etc. He supported these hostels with regular grants for sustained education of the students from all non-Brahmin communities.

He financially supported hostels and education even in British territories beyond his own state of Kolhapur. He was very generous with the education of untouchables and Shudras. After their education, he employed them in his state’s services on important posts as per their suitability. He issued charters to the suitable students from non-Brahmin communities to practice in his courts. Such a proactive approach unafraid of Brahminical supremacy from the Maharaja himself instilled a sense of confidence among the untouchables and other Shudra communities. Already awakened, these communities got a new boost.
The Brahmins started losing their monopoly on the administration, only marginally though. But they got alarmed. While they couldn’t do much directly against the Maharaja, the newspapers which were in the hands of Brahmins started smearing campaigns against him. They would misinterpret all the welfare actions of the Maharaja and put him in a bad light. The Maharaja did not give much heed to criticism in newspapers and continued his work of positive discrimination for the education of all his subjects.

He did not hurt any Brahmin, and nor did he ignore any religious rituals. Rather, he was the most devout Hindu. He would observe all the rituals and customs like a commoner and personally perform many rituals every day. He was a completely down-to-earth person without any pretext of his royal position. His humility, though, was misunderstood by Brahmins as his weakness and they would indirectly undermine his position as a Maharaja of the state.

When Brahmins went to the extremes, he seized an opportunity to teach them a lesson. The incident that took place reverberated for many years in Maharashtra as ‘Vedokta Controversy’ (relating to rights to hear Vedic hymns).
‘Vedokta Controversy’

It was fairly early in the rule of Shahu Maharaj that the Brahmin priest of the royal family refused to do ‘Vedokta’ for Shahu Maharaj. Vedokta is a practice of reciting Vedic hymns by the priest for the worshiper while performing rituals. In 1900, on the auspicious occasion of Kartik Ekadashi Shahu Maharaj went for a customary bath with his family in the river Panchganga. As was the custom he reached there well before the sunrise. His royal family priest was supposed to have reached even before him and was ready for reciting the hymns as has been the tradition.

But the priest reached late and stood still. He was supposed to have taken bath and after that recited hymns while Maharaja and his family taking a dip in the river. Shahu Maharaj, though angry at such arrogance of the Brahmin priest, politely reminded him of his duties.

But the Brahmin priest replied ‘Maharaj, though you are a king, you are Shudra varna. Hence you are not entitled to hear the Vedic hymns. You can hear only Puranic hymns which I can recite without taking a bath. Reciting Puranic hymns without taking bath is permitted in the Sastras.’ At the top of it, the Brahmin priest made a pretext saying ‘It’s cold here’ for not taking a bath.

Hearing these insults, Maharaja’s guards and family members had got so much annoyed that they had almost killed the Brahmin priest. But Maharaja pacified them. He completed his auspicious river bath without Vedokta and returned to the palace.

The Brahmin priest continued his arrogance and stopped Vedokta in all family rituals. He would insist on reciting Puranic hymns only for any ritual for Shahu Maharaj.

The royal family priest was appointed in 1889 for performing all rituals on a hereditary basis. He was awarded substantial land for doing these duties. This sudden change of attitude by the Brahmin priest was annoying for Shahu Maharaj. Clearly it was insubordination to the ruler himself. Shahu Maharaj was left with no option but to dismiss this Brahmin priest from the position of royal family priest and appoint another well-qualified Brahmin in his place. So, he did appoint another priest, named Narayan Bhat Sevekari. The king had revolted against Brahminical supremacy!

The dismissed Brahmin priest complained to the religious Hindu body in Kolhapur which was obviously in the monopoly of Brahmins. They made an appeal to the Jagadguru Shankaracharya to advise Shahu Maharaj to reappoint the dismissed priest and get only Puranic hymns heard as he being a Shudra is not entitled to Vedokta.

All mainstream newspapers from Kolhapur and other parts in Maharashtra aggressively stood by the side of the dismissed priest. Shahu Maharaj had stirred up the hornet’s nest by proactively promoting non-Brahmin communities in his state. Shahu Maharaj did what the British and Mughal empires consciously avoided to do! Brahmin-owned newspapers branded Shahu Maharaj as anti-religion, anti-Brahmin with imaginary stories with nasty details.

The disgruntled Brahmin lobby expelled Narayan Bhat Sevekari from the community. On the occasion of the great Hindu festival of Navaratri, when Sevekari went for worship in Shree Ambabai (Mahalaxmi) Temple, he was prevented by the rival Brahmins from entry. Apprehending disturbance from two groups of Brahmins, Shahu Maharaj ordered a ban on entry of both the groups. The disgruntled group of Brahmins took the matter to the court of the Political Agent of the British in Kolhapur who tried to impress upon Shahu Maharaj to compromise with the warring Brahmins.

But Shahu Maharaj had decided to take the battle to its logical ends. Brahminical newspapers threatened to take the matter before the British parliament. To counter them, the Satyashodhak Samaj which was established by Mahatma Jotiba Phule in the past century got revived to create public awareness against Brahminical supremacy. Shahu Maharaj reminded people how the cunning Brahmins had refused Vedokta in the coronation ceremony of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaja, the founder of the Maratha empire; and how he had to ‘import’ Gaga Bhatta, a Brahmin scholar from Varanasi for his ceremony. Shahu Maharaj used this opportunity to reject Brahminical supremacy for Marathas and other non-Brahmin Hindus. Rejecting the religious authority of Shankaracharya himself, he went on to appoint a young learned Maratha as a new authority which he called ‘Kshatra Jagadguru’ for non-Brahmins.

Shahu Maharaj vs Lokmanya Tilak

The Vedokta controversy created a wide rift between Shahu Maharaj and Lokmanya Tilak. Tilak known for his orthodoxy sided with Brahmins and wrote against Shahu Maharaj unrelentingly through his newspaper “Kesari”.
Tilak’s followers had formed an overtly social club called “Shivaji Club” in Kolhapur earlier in 1895. Initially, it was meant for a national movement of freedom. But later when Shahu Maharaj was seen promoting non-Brahmin education and their overall welfare, “Shivaji Club” rallied behind Brahmins. It worked to defeat the schemes of Shahu Maharaj and tarnish his image as being anti-religion.

In the initial years, Shahu Maharaj had supported the activities of this ‘Shivaji Club’ as it used the name of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj and had also initiated the celebration of his birth anniversary as a major festival. But he snapped his support when he noticed that the Club activities were used to gain the support of non-Brahmins in the name of a national movement but actually working against the interests of Bahujans. “Shivaji Club” of Tilak was completely exposed by Shahu Maharaj.
Tilak used every opportunity to confront Shahu Maharaj. Tilak would challenge the decisions of Shahu Maharaj in the courts, even before the Privy Council. Shahu Maharaj was staunchly in favor of non-Brahmin depressed masses and Tilak for Brahminical supremacy while also claiming to be fighting for Swaraj.

Brahminical newspapers created an image of Tilak as pious, principled, truthful, nationalist, freedom fighter, etc. whereas Shahu Maharaj was branded as evil, unscrupulous, irreligious, British-stooge. Shahu Maharaj was not against all Brahmins but only against the Brahminical supremacy which had brought misfortune on the nation. The liberal Brahmin leaders like Gokhale, Ranade and Agarkar knew this distinction. These leaders supported Shahu Maharaj.

Tilak contrived to defame Shahu Maharaj as a British stooge. Shahu Maharaj had close coordination with the Governor of Mumbai, Lord Willingdon. Both shared their views on a variety of issues of people’s welfare. Their correspondence naturally touched upon the current political, social, and religious developments. It also discussed the role of various political leaders. Mr. Tilak being prominent among all, also figured in their correspondence.

Since the political agent of the British was dragged into the Vedokta controversy by Tilak’s followers, Shahu Maharaj also shared his views about Tilak’s role and its adverse impact on overcoming the monopoly of a particular caste.
The common thread of their discussion was that the belligerence of established castes will have to be brought into check to promote the welfare of the masses.

Someone from Tilak’s camp stole that correspondence from Shahu Maharaj. Tilak ran a series of articles titled “Our Chhatrapati, the Enemy of Swaraj” under the name of his close confidante N. C. Kelkar in 1922. Tilak’s smearing campaign to depict Shahu Maharaj as a toy in the hands of the British was successful for a while. Tilak was revengeful against Shahu Maharaj only because he did not accept caste supremacy and worked for the upliftment of all his subjects.

Shahu Maharaj had a great connection with his common subjects. He was an unassuming, pro-active king. It is well-known fact that he himself reached out to Dr. B.R. Ambedkar when he came to know about his high education from America. He went unannounced to a tiny chawl in Poyabawadi, Parel, Mumbai where Ambedkar lived in room number 50 on the second floor. Chhatrapati Shahu Maharaj shouted from below the building calling ‘Ambedkar, Oh Ambedkar’.

The revolutionary king had met the king of revolution. And, the rest is history!

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Ref: C.B. Khairmode’s biography of Dr. Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar – Vol 1 (Marathi)