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JUNE, 1924)
UMAJI NAIK
121
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pleasing; he had a fine throat, and his skin was of an unburnished copper colour." He was of the stuff of which popular leaders are made, for his personality and his conduct favour. ably impressed the men of his own tribe as well as the lower classes in general; and while he could inspire both respect and terror, his liberality to all needy and indigent people aroused general admiration. Though a professional robber, he found no pleasure in accumulating money, and was often blamed by his wife for his prodigality; though enjoying ample opportunities for sexual license, his marital conduct was unimpeachable, and his strict objection to all forms of licentious conduct was on one occasion the cause of a bitter quarrel with his brother. As a youth he indulged freely in drinking, but gave up all excess after an accident sustained while in a state of intoxication, and in later years he fulfilled a vow of rigid abstinence. His open-handedness and bis power of ingratiating himself with all sorts and conditions of his countrymen enabled him, after his early pardon and appointment to the police, to usurp the magisterial duties of the country round Jejuri and the Indapur pargana. He inquired into complaints of all kinds, from those of theft to domestic quarrels, his "court" being visited daily by Maratha Kunbis, Mhârs, Mangs, Ramosis and other low-caste persons, somo of whom came voluntarily or were summoned from long distances. His system of justice was primitive. Complainants always paid hini or his imme. diate followers a sinall bribe, to secure a speedy and favourable decision, and the defendants at the close of the bearing were made to pay a fine of one to a hundred rupees, according to their ineans, which amounts were exacted in kind, usually in the form of grain. A decree was then drawn up; but as a precaution, a written statement was always obtained from the defendant, who declared that he was satisfied with the decision and that he would make no appeal to the Government authorities. Umaji always reminded the defendants that, if they failed to observe these written undertakings, severe punishment would be meted out to them by his followers. In the event of a party showing any disinclination to abide by Um Aji's decision, he was seized and kept in confinement in the Ramosi camp until he promised acquiescence.
His influence upon the lower-class public is further indicated by the ease with which he secured witnesses in his favour, whenever he had to defend himself against charges of complicity in dacoity and robbery, and by the extreme disinclination of the villagers of the Deccan to bear witness against him. Over the inhabitants of his own Purandhar district he enjoyed such completo control that, during the whole time that he was being hunted by the British authorities, they kept him fully and truthfully informed of the movements of troops and police. 'i'nis was one reason why the operations against him were so protracted. Moreover, apart from the lower orders whom Umaji had conciliated by liberal treatment, the country was full of disbanded soldiers and other discontented persons, who had lost their livelihood on the downfall of the Peshwa and were therefore ready to help anyone, like Umáji and the other Ramosi Naiks, who was in active opposition to the British authorities. Even in the matter of levying contributions from the villages under British control or in the territory of Indian rulers, like the Raja of Satara, Umaji could count, though for A different reason, on the goodwill of the village officials. The Patel and the Kulkarni soon discovered that they could comfortably falsify the village accounts, by entering larger sums than they actually paid to the Ramosi freebooter, and the latter assisted their fraud and ensured a continuance of the contribution by giving receipts for larger sums than he votually received. As regards his immediate followers, he proved himself possessed of the art of securing their devoted attachment to himself and his cause. They willingly tolerated great hardships during the last two or three years of Umaji's career, and would possibly have
