2 Too great a tress should not be placed upon the accounts given above of the popular beliefs and superstitions. They were in keeping with the general condition of the country all over India, and no man or body of men should be condemned for simply following the current of the time. The Peishwa's government deserves credit for the inculcation of better principles and a more liberal social code adopted by them, and to the principal items of reforms attempted by that Government, we may now fitly refer here with advantage. In those times of wars and troubles, there were frequent occasions when men had to forsake their ancestral faith under pressure, force, or fraud, and there are four Well-attested instances in which the re-admission into their respective castes, both of Brahmins and Marathas, was not merely attempted, but successfully effected with the consent of the caste, and with the permisision of the State authorities. A Maratha named Putaji Bandgar, who had been made a captive by the Moguls, and forcibly converted to Mahomedanism, rejoined the forces of Balaji Vishvanath, on their way back to Delhi, after staying with the Mahomedans for a year, and at his request, his re-admission, with the consent of the caste, was sauctioned by Raja Shahu. A Konkanastha Brahmin, surnamed Raste, who had been kept a State prisoner by Haider in his armies, and had been suspected to have conformed to Mahomedan ways of living for his safety, was similarly admitted into caste with the approval of the Brahmins and under sanction from the State. Two Brahmins, one of whom had been induced to become a Gosawee by fraud, and another from a belief that he would be cured of a disease from which he suffered, were re-admitted into caste, after repentance and penance. These two cases occurred one at Puntamba, in the Nagar District, and the other at Paithan, in the Nizam's dominions, and their admission was made with the full concurrence of the Brahmins under the sanction of the authorities. In regard to temperance, it may be noted that the Brahmin Government of Poona absolutely prohibited the manufacture and sale of liquors as a general principle of action, but it was practical enough to make exceptions, when local necessities were pleaded by Bhandaries, Kolis and other communities in the territories conquered from the Portuguese in Bassein, Chowl, and other places. Exception was made in favour of these men, and the lower castes generally, but the order provided that Brahmins, Parbhus, and Government officers generally were to be strictly prohibited from the use of drink, and very heavy penalties were exacted from the offender who broke the law. Several Brahmins of Nasik, who were Dharmadhikaris of the place, were suspected of having indulged in drink, and as they proved
