The Ramana (रमणा) Tradition under the Peshwas in Poona

[Arvind_Kolhatkar]

Dear Group,

The postings about UddaNDa PaNDita and the tradition of Revathi
Pattathanam under the Zamorins of Kozhikode reminded me of a similar
tradition of the annual Ramana (रमणा) initially started on a small
scale by Sambhaji, the son of Shivaji and the second Chhatrapti, later
continued by the Sardar Dabhade family of Talegaon and eventually
taken over by the Peshwas. It was an annual gathering in Poona of
Brahmins in the month of Shravana in which the host distributed
दक्षिणा amounts to learned Brahmins in recognition of and commensurate
with their depth of learning. I believe the readers will find the
following information about the Ramana and the annual दक्षिणा
interesting.

From the initial few thousands of rupees annually distributed, the
Ramana came into its own under the third Peshwa Balaji Bajirao
(Nanasaheb) who distributed a reported Rs 18 lakhs in 1740 as
दक्षिणा. The fame of the Ramana soon reached into all corners of
India and it became the practice of Brahmins from all over India to
come to Poona in Shravana to get a share of the दक्षिणा.

The annual gathering initially used to be held in a garden near
Shaniwarwada, the residence of the Peshwas. The memory of it still
survives. The well-known school that has occupied this place for the
last several decades is still called 'New English School, Ramanbag'.
The location of the annual Ramana later shifted to a special enclosure
built for this purpose at the foot of the Parvati Hill on the
outskirts of Poona. Any Brahmin desirous of दक्षिणा had to go into
this enclosure. It had four gates and four learned Brahmins (like
Ramshastri PrabhuNe, the famous Nyaayaadhiisha of the Peshwas who
pronounced the देहान्त प्रायश्चित्त upon Raghunathrao, uncle of
Narayanrao Peshwa, for his complicity in the assassination of the
latter) appointed by the Peshwa sat at these gates and assessed the
दक्षिणा payable to Brahmins as they passed out through the gates.
दक्षिणा was paid to each passing Brahmin at the hands of a member of
the Peshwa family. Remains of this Ramana enclosure at the foot of
Parvati were extant till a few decades ago and old residents of Poona
remember them.

This annual tradition survived almost till the end of Peshwa rule in
1818. It is now mainly remembered for the 'Ghashiram Kotwal' episode
under Narayanrao, the fifth Peshwa. Ghashiram, a Kanouji Brahmin,
came to Poona and rose to prominence under Nana Fadnavis, the
celebrated and competent 'Karbhari' of the Peshwa. Nana appointed
Ghashiram as the 'Kotwal' or Chief of Constabulary of Poona.
Ghashiram, because of his harsh rule, soon had plenty of enemies in
Poona. A party of Telanga Brahmins had come to Poona for the Ramana.
Ghashiram caught them while they were allegedly eating mangoes stolen
from a garden. Pending further enquiry, Ghashiram ordered them
confined to a small room and went away. In the night, a few of them
died of suffocation and thirst. When this news spread, a large angry
mob of irate Brahmins marched to Shaniwarwada and demanded condign
punishment to Ghashiram. Apparently, Nana too wanted Ghasiram out of
the way, because, as the rumor goes, he had slept with Ghashiram's
young daughter, and had secretly had her killed when she was found to
be pregnant with his child. Ghashiram was then handed over to the mob
for punishment as they saw fit. The mob took Ghashiram to the
outskirts of Poona and stoned him to death. (The late Vijay Tendulkar
wrote a play on this episode in the 1960's and it raised the hackles
of the traditional Brahmins of Poona!)

The Ramana stopped with the end of the Peshwa rule. When the British
rulers adopted the policy of preferring western-oriented education for
the Indians over the traditional learning, following the famous
'minute' of Thomas Babington Macaulay in 1834, and the Bombay
University was founded, a scholarship called the Dakshina Fellowship
was instituted for proficiency in Sanskrit. This Fellowship is still
awarded annually and, like the celebrated Jagannath Sankarsett Prize
for Sanskrit, enjoyed considerable prestige at one time. It is named
after the traditional दक्षिणा that the Peshwas distributed each year.

Peshwas themselves were Brahmins and under them Poona became the
bastion of Brahmin supremacy in Maharashtra, a fact that created
discontent and jealousy among other classes of the society. The
discontent and jealousy sometimes takes destructive forms, a
manifestation of which was the attack on the Bhandarkar Oriental
Research Institute a couple of years ago and the very recent moves of
the 'Sambhaji Brigade' to disown any role of Samartha Ramdas and
Dadoji Konddev in the shaping of Shivaji's life.

Some information about the Ramana may be seen at
http://www.parvatidarshan.in/html/ramana_temple.html

Arvind Kolhatkar, Toronto, February 11, 2011.

[hnbhat B.R.]

Dear Sir,

Thanks for the informative posting.

--
Dr. Hari Narayana Bhat B.R.
EFEO,
PONDICHERRY

[murthy]

It is very interesting indeed. But why is this method of distribution of
largess called "ramaNaa"?
Regards
Murthy

Dear Group,

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[Arvind_Kolhatkar]

Murtiji,

दक्षिणा, of course, has nothing to do with रमणा. According to the
Dictionary of Old Marathi by Tulpule and Feldhaus, रमण means joy or
happiness. The receiving of दक्षिणा having been perceived as an
occasion of happiness, the happy gathering of the recipients of
दक्षिणा must have got this apt nomenclature.

Arvind Kolhatkar, Toronto, February 12, 2011.