2 - Maharashtra and the Deccan

Summary

RURAL INDUSTRIES

Although the distinction between the rural and urban industries was not always clear, there was a fairly uniform pattern of rural industries based on the caste system in the Deccan throughout the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. As the situation in the western Deccan is much clearer at present than in the east, the following discussion refers mainly to the former.

Village artisans and servants were collectively called balutedārs, whose standard number was twelve: hence bārā balutedārs. Those who were regularly included in the twelve were capenter, blacksmith, potter, leatherworker, ropemaker, barber, washerman, astrologer, Hindu temple-keeper, and Mahar (untouchable caste of village watch and other odd works). In addition to the above ten, any two out of the goldsmith, bard, Masjid-keeper (butcher), and bearer of burdens were also included in the twelve balutedārs in different villages and regions.

Besides the twelve balutedārs there was another category of village artisans and servants, who were called twelve alutedārs but were neither essential nor universal in the Deccan villages; only some of them were occasionally found in larger villages. They were the Lingayat priest, tailor, water-carrier, gardener, drum-beater, vocalist, musician, oilpresser, betel-leaves seller, watchman (distinct from Mahar), bearer of burdens, and goldsmith or bard.

The above list of balutedārs and alutedārs indicates that in the western Deccan at least weaving and dyeing, for instance, were certainly more urban than rural, for they were not included in either of the two categories, while goldsmithery and tailoring could be rural.