THE SETTING: A TANGLED PATTERN OF POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC RELATIONS

In order to obtain an adequate perspective of the political situation within which factions evolved in Ratnagiri, I shall begin my discussion by sketching in some of its broad dimensions. More specifically, I shall attempt to analyze the pattern of political and economic relations which exist both horizontally, at the district level, and vertically, between the district and the State political arena. I hope subsequently to demonstrate that the pattern in these relationships complements or corresponds to that revealed by the findings of the more systematic, close-range analysis of ecological and individual characteristics. That is to say, the observations and ‘hearsay’ evidence introduced in this first section will, I trust, be largely substantiated or elucidated by the ‘hard’ analysis which will follow.

If I had relied only upon the ‘inside’ information or the suppositions of the leading figures in the district (and some of the lesser lights) regarding the bases of the factional alignment, I would have been confounded by the breadth and variety of divisions to which the factional dispute was traced. More than half a dozen rivalries were mentioned which, on first glance, seemed to have little or no relation to each other.