Preface

Summary

The historian who attempts to write on two great eras continually feels the pull of one or the other. In this history of the Dev lineage of Cincvad village I have often had to resist the temptations and pressures to concentrate on the ‘traditional’ (whatever that might mean) order of the preconquest Maratha state. Likewise, I have not sought to evaluate, in any usual manner, the impact of the British conquest of India. With a certain deliberation, therefore, I have examined an institution through which the profound political change of the conquest could be seen in a somewhat dispassionate way. The Dev lineage experienced both the old order and the new imperialism. For the Devs, great matters of lineage welfare were equally pressing under the Marathas and the British. In both eras the Devs looked to the state for protection and support while always living in suspicion and respect for the state's power.

My understanding of the conquest and, generally, change in India is conservative. In fact, I am also not at ease with such slogans as ‘social change’; Indian society changed rather less than the opportunities for Indian social institutions to act out their constant objectives. The conquest created the need for alternative strategies in devising new solutions for old problems. Of course, social adaptation may be considered as the visible effects of deeper social change. I have no quarrel with the notion that societies do change.