Satara, 1943

Satara, Fig. . Women’s procession in Bombay during the Quit India Movement From the late nineteenth century, a non-Brahman movement, which opposed the caste system and landlordism, had developed in Maharashtra. This movement established links with the national movement by the 1930s. In , some of the younger leaders in the Satara district of Maharashtra set up a parallel government ( prati sarkar) , with volunteer corps (seba dals) and village units (tufan dals ). They ran people’s courts and organised constructive work. Dominated by kunbi peasants and supported by dalits, the Satara prati sarkar functioned till the elections of , despite government repression and, in the later stages, Congress disapproval.