The Cunningness of the Brahmins
Mahatma Jotiba Phule
Translated by Chandrakant Kaluram Mhatre
Brahmananche Kasab (The Cunningness of the Brahmins) is Mahatma Jotiba Phule’s 1869 anti-caste work exposing the social, ritual, and economic mechanisms through which Brahmanical authority operated in the everyday lives of Shudra and Ati-Shudra communities. Written in a sharply satirical and public-facing idiom, the text addresses practices around birth, marriage, ritual observance, house-entering, scripture-reading, death rites, festivals, and priestly exploitation. In the opening stanzas given below, Jotiba provides an anthropologically accurate account of how the so-called Shudra and ati-Shudra castes came to be subordinated in India. The use of performative forms such as the powada also makes the work a public act of resistance, carrying anti-caste critique through rhythm, address, repetition, and oral force.
This English translation seeks to make Jotiba's early anti-caste critique available to contemporary readers while retaining the directness, irony, cadence, and argumentative force of the original Marathi. The original work was explicitly dedicated to Kunbi, Mali, Mang, and Mahar communities, making it one of the important early texts in Jotiba’s project of anti-caste awakening and public instruction.
The translation is published here as part of my ongoing work on Marathi anti-caste writing, literary transmission, and the historical critique of untouchability, ritual authority, and Brahmanical power. Undertaken in the lead-up to Jotiba Phule’s bicentenary year, it seeks to honour Phule not through commemoration alone, but by returning one of his early anti-caste texts to active circulation through English translation.
Source Text
१ .
सत्ता नऊ खंड ॥
होती अखंड ॥
दाहावी तशीच काशीस ॥
जपले बहुत एकीस ॥
गुणगंभीर ॥
रणामधीं शूर ॥
नेमिले प्रत्येक खंडास ॥
खंडोबा नांव दिले त्यास ॥
वीरप्रचंड ॥
उभे मार्तंड ॥
मुख्य केले काळबैहिरिस ॥
वागवी नऊ खंडोबास ॥
देश आभंड ॥
सुभे उदंड ॥
योजिले पाहून खाशास ॥
मानिती सर्व नवलोबास ॥
मुख्य माहा सुभा॥
पाठिशीं उभा ॥
कमी नाहीं खबरदारीस ॥
दुय्यम काळबैहिरिस ॥
न्याय चौकशी ।
सोपी सुज्ञाशी ॥
नेमिले बहुत मदतनीस ॥
मुख्य नव खंडच्या न्यायास ॥
अनेक पायदळ ॥
घोडयाचें बळ ॥
कमी नाहीं तिरंदाजांस ॥
भिडविले भाले खांद्यास ॥
राजनितीने ॥
लढती शरतीनें ॥
झोंबती मल्ल ते युद्वास ॥
जपले बहुत एकीस ॥१॥
लघु रजवाडे ॥
पडतां कोडें ॥
धावून येती कुमकेस ॥
घेऊन सात आश्रयास ॥
पाऊस पाणी ॥
आबादानी ॥
भोगिती सत्ता सावकाश ॥
लाजवी स्वर्गी सुखास ॥
रत्नागिरी ॥
डोंगरावरी ॥
जात होते हवा खाण्यास ॥
पाहून थंडया जाग्यास ॥
गड जेजूरी ॥
जाइ मल्लअरी ॥
बरोबर घेई प्रधानास ॥
नित्यशा बसे मसलतीस ॥
अती रंगले ॥
नादीं लागले ॥
गुंतले ऐष आरामास ॥
कळाले परकी लोकांस ॥
दंगेखोरांनीं ॥
कट करुनी ॥
योजिले मुख्य ब्रम्ह्यास ॥
लागले लुट धुमाळीस ॥
मार देऊन ॥
जेर करुन ॥
दास बा केले बहुतांस ॥
ओळखुन पाहा या शुद्रास ॥
बाकी उरले ॥
लेश राहिले ॥
भिडले परशरामास ॥
जपले बहुत एकीस ॥२॥
●🙙🙛●
Target Text
1.
The rule over nine khaṇḍa
Was undivided
Tenth was Kashi exactly the same
They greatly protected their unity
Full of virtues
Brave on the battlefields
Each was appointed on a khaṇḍa
They were called Khaṇḍōbā
Mighty warriors
Brilliant like the sun
Kāḷabhairī was anointed their chief
To oversee the nine Khaṇḍōbā
Quarrelsome people
Of great many provinces
Hence this distinguished appointment
Everyone respected the great Kāḷabhairī
The main officer Mhasōbā
Stood firmly behind
Although no lesser in any ways
He was a subordinate of Kāḷabhairī
Administering justice
Easy for the learned
Many assistants were appointed
To serve justice over the nine khaṇḍa
Many cavalries
Might of the horses
There was no shortage of archers
Carrying spears on their shoulders
Skilled in strategy
Fighting with valour
The warriors tore into the battle
They greatly protected their unity
In times of difficulty
Smaller vassal kings
Would rush forth with their troops
Along with the seven water deities
Abundant rains
Prosperous populace
They enjoyed their rule leisurely
Heavenly bliss paled in comparison
The mountain
Named Ratnagiri
They visited to idle time away
Owing to its cooler climate
From Fort Jejuri
Would go Mall-ārī
With all the ministers in tow
Holding court day in, day out
Completely debauched
They fell for flesh
Engrossed in luxury and comfort
The news went to far-off lands
The riot-mongers
Hatched a conspiracy
Appointing Bramha as their chief
They began plundering the land
Using brutal force
Brought to their knees
Many were forced into slavery
They were labelled as Shudras
Those who survived
Albeit a very few
They fought against Parashuram
They greatly protected their unity
●🙙🙛●
First Published: 8th June, 2026
How to Cite This Page
MLA
Phule, Jotirao. Brahmananche Kasab / The Cunningness of the Brahmins. Translated by Chandrakant Kaluram Mhatre, 8 June 2026, www.chandrakantkmhatre.in/work/phule-brahmananche-kasab. Accessed [insert date].
APA
Phule, J. (2026). Brahmananche Kasab / The Cunningness of the Brahmins (C. K. Mhatre, Trans.). Retrieved [insert date], from https://www.chandrakantkmhatre.in/work/phule-brahmananche-kasab