The fort of Pratapgad under Satara district of Maharashtra is famous in the annals of history. The demon in the form of Afzal Khan being a trusted lieutenant of the Muslim king of Bijapur had arrived at Pratapgad with a vow to kill Shivaji the great. Because of the valour and foresight on the part of Shivaji the great, the attempt boomeranged on Afzal who had to lose his life.
This fort is surrounded by dense forest. Further, this area is subject to heavy rainfall.
In this region there are still around eighty small villages which are away from the winds of urbanisation. These villages are being ruled under a unique system. Here are a few aspects of such system.
In case any matrimonial alliance in any such village is finalised, whichever castes the bride and groom may belong, full details of the alliance are required to be presented to the group of elderly-five called ?Panchayat? operating over the village. Invitations are tendered only after the clearance from the panchayat. This body of elders will also prepare and recommend to both the families a brief outlay or a plan to accommodate the expenses within the means available to the spouse side.
Invitation has to be extended to each resident of the village. In case, through inadvertence any resident is left out, such resident will not stay away from the function. He will of his own be present at the function. Further, the name of the uninvited will be announced at the function. The host will stand up, embrace ?such uninvited person, offer him a coconut as a mark of respect and express his regrets over the lapse on his part. The presence of such uninvited person is considered as a matter of great pleasure and pride.
In the history of Satara district Court, no court-case has been registered so far in connection with any resident from these villages on any account so far. That does not mean that the area is free from any crime. However, the number of crimes is very small, the crimes themselves are not very serious and further for all such petty crimes there is an arrangement in each of the cluster of such villages by which the matter is resolved in the temple of the village deity.
No sooner such crime has taken place, a meeting of villagers is held by the panchayat in the temple. It is declared at every corner of the village over the beat of drum that the meeting will take place at a specific hour at the temple. The meeting will last for an hour. The meeting will culminate with a breaking of a coconut requesting the deity to punish the criminal, in case if the criminal does not come forward and beg pardon of deity in the course of the meeting. Many criminals such as thieves do appear at the meeting, confess their crime and return the goods, etc. stolen as otherwise every body fears that the God will meet out a suitable punishment to the family concerned.
Whenever any death takes place in any family, each villager is expected to be present at least for a short while at the funeral function without waiting for intimation of any kind. Further each such villager will not proceed empty-handed; He will carry with him one log of dry wood in each hand and offer them both at the pyre. This tradition resolves the problem of collecting sufficient dry-wood for assigning the dead body to the holy flames. This system is all the more helpful in the rainy season when there is an acute dearth of dry wood.
Little friends, under our Hinduism. ?Dharma? does not mean religion; Dharma means all those principles and practices which will hold together the society and ensure peace plus prosperity for every citizen. That is why the word Dharma is associated with every action e.g. Dharmashala, Padosadharma, Putradharma, Daanadharm etc.
Bhagawan Vedavyasa has described this in Mahabharata this system of self rule existing in the countryside thus:-
Uk jkT; u p jktkMlhr~
Uk n.M;ks u p nkf.Md%A
/kesZ.kSo iztk% lokZ% A
j{kfUr Le ijLije~AA
?There was no kingdom as such. There was no king as such. No criminal, nor punisher. The folk protected each other observing the rules of Dharma (Atmanushasana in Sanskrit).
