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Maharaj libel case
1862 trial in Bombay Court
Maharaj libel case
The Maharaj libel case was an 1862 trial in the Supreme Court of Bombay, in British India. The case was initiated by Jadunath Brajratanjee Maharaj against Nanabhai Rustomji Ranina and Karsandas Mulji. It stemmed from an editorial article they had published, which accused the Vallabhacharya and Pushtimarg Sect of certain alleged controversial practices by their leaders. In the 19th century, Pushtimarg encountered attacks from three different fronts. Christian missionaries found it challenging to convert and condemned the tradition's rituals as particularly primitive. Orientalist scholars of Hinduism criticized Pushtimarg as a relatively recent and inauthentic tradition. Reformist intellectuals such as Mulji viewed Pushtimarg as a stereotypical "cult" that kept its followers entrenched in backwardness and superstition. These accusations ultimately coalesced into claims that the Maharajs in Bombay were abusing their female followers under the pretext of reenacting the love between the young...
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