Patil and Deshmukh: A Brief of tale of two subcastes of Maratha Community

Some members of Maratha caste often write Patil or Deshmukh before or after their surname. In fact, in the time of identity and superiority assertion, some have replaced their surname and write only Patil or Deshmukh in the place of their surname.

I tried to figure out meaning of these two surnames. I found that Patil and Deshmukh were designations during feudal era, in Maharashtra and nearby areas.  In simple terms, the Patils and Deshmukhs used to be head of village and Pargana (district), respectively. This Patils and Deshmukhs would be from any caste, but mostly from agrarian community which nowadays claims itself Maratha by caste. (And in this discussion, I will limit to them only.) In the course of time, these two attempted to assert that they are different from other Marathas. This assertion has given rise to subcastes within Maratha caste, i.e. Patil Marathas and Deshmukh Marathas.

You will find a Deshmukh family in a village very rarely and many Patil families, as their designation would determine it. However, it’s worth thinking, how come there could be so many Patils within a village? Were all ancestors of these Patils families’ used to be head of village? The most reasonable answer is ‘no’. But slowly a large rather most section of agrarian Maratha claims to be Patil. Though, some also claims to Kunbi, on piece of paper, so to get OBC category benefits but when it comes to non-official stuff, they claim to be Patil.

 

Deshmukh – Patil relations:

Which one of them is superior when it comes to traditional caste hierarchy? When I asked to a Member of Patil-Maratha subcaste, he said they are equal. Caste is homo hierachicus, then how come one can claim that the two castes are equal. Only a slightly below ranked would try take to advantage of not well-known intra-caste differences or criteria. So, the conclusion is Patils are inferior to Deshmukhs, and the same is justified by the difference in domain that they used to control.

One would find variety when attempted to trace communication between Deshmukhs and Patils. Some Deshmukhs would not mind having marital relations with Patils, however some would go hundred miles away to find another Deshmukh. Neither can one observe direct differences in their on-ground inter-community communications. Perhaps, rare numbers of Deshmukhs and similar ancestral root (such as same surname) have compelled them to mix with Patils.

Rituals and Treatment to Women:

Caste is multi-facet phenomenon. It does not rely only on economic or social aspect. It also enters into religious and women’s domain. In fact, from Ambedkar’s perspective, one can assert that treatment received by women of a particular caste also determines status of the caste in comparison with others. To put it straight, the better privileges enjoyed by men against their women counterparts would determine the better status of that caste. Now, let’s venture into some actual rituals differences observed by these two subcastes.

One strange difference is about the auspicious and inauspicious status given to ridgepole by Deshmukh and Patils, respectively. Deshmukhs prefer performing marriage under the ridgepole, whereas Patils would carefully avoid seating a groom or bride under the ridgepole during pre-marriage introduction ceremony.

Let’s talk about treatment given to women, particularly in conjugal domain. Traditionally, a Deshmukh woman cannot re-marry no matter at what age she became widow or deserted. She would spend her life with same status. On the other hand, a Patil women can re-marry but without any fanfare. Even, there are many differences as compare to first marriage i.e. absence of priest, music, presence of only close members of clan etc. Thus, Remarriage of a woman was perceived as a stigma by both sub-castes to some different extent.

Remarriage of a Patil used to happen with either remarrying woman or unmarried girl, depending upon his weight in community. If he is marrying with an unmarried girl, then there would be usual fanfare. But, if he is marrying with a widow / deserted, then the ceremony would be as mentioned in the earlier paragraph. On the other hand, Deshmukh would never marry to widow / deserted. He would always go for an unmarried girl.

Thus, Deshmukhs attempted to claim that superior position than Patils by making themselves more privileged against their female counterparts.

Thus, within Maratha caste, Deshmukhs attempted to gain better status against another agrarian community, bestowed by their administrative rank, but most importantly by employing different rituals and mostly, by depriving their women and by privileging themselves against their women counterparts.