Development of the Maharashtrian Class Structure, 1818 to 1931

Class Structure, 1818 to 1931 AFTER the completion of British conquest in Maharashtra in 1818, the class structure that developed was one typical of the colonial model We shall describe here the process of the creation of this class structure out of the elements of traditional Indian society, the position of the various castes within it, and the relation of this structure to the forms which nationalism and the non-Brahman movement took in Maharashtra. We shall begin with the commercial bourgeoisie, an element that is often overlooked in descriptions of the new elites of colonial society.