Part 1 — a.d. 1760–1819. (continued 2)

To return to the mulakgiri. The tribute for which preliminary security had been taken seems to have fluctuated from year to year, but always with reference to a fixed standard. It was one of the Marátha rules never to recede from a former demand lest they should be thereby setting up a precedent for future years. They preferred to secure a year or two’s arrears at the full rate to the payment of all the arrears due at a reduced rate.

In spite of this fiction of a settled jama or tribute, the Maráthás, when they had a sufficient force at their back, invariably demanded a larger sum, the excess being called khará-ját or extra distinct from the actual tribute. This ingenious plan of increasing the collections originated, it is said, with Shivrám Gárdi, and was carried out scrupulously by both Bábáji and Vithalráv in their tours. In fact during the last few years of the old system Vithalráv had so good a force with him that the extra demand formed a large proportion of the whole tribute collected and had been paid only under strong protest. British Intervention.The British had not long been established in Ránpur, Gogha, and Dhandhuka before a few petty chiefs of Gohilvád and Sorath applied to the Resident at Baroda for protection against the mulakgiri of the Nawáb of Junágaḍh and the Rával of Bhávnagar, offering to cede the sovereignty of their states to the British on condition that certain rights and privileges were preserved to the chiefs and their families. The conditions they named were not such as were likely to meet with the approval of the British Government, and do The Maráthás, a.d. 1760–1819. British Intervention. not seem to have received much consideration. The proposals had, however, the effect of drawing the attention of the Bombay Government towards the state of Káthiáváḍa, and permission to aid the mulakgiri of the Gáikwár by detaching a few companies of British troops was accorded by the Supreme Government. The outbreak of hostilities with Sindia led to the whole question as to the best means of collecting the tribute being for a time deferred. The internal disputes of some of the more turbulent states, a few years afterwards, gave the Resident an opportunity of sending an envoy to one or two courts to see how matters stood, and to open a way for a settlement in conjunction with the Gáikwár. Affairs at Baroda, as mentioned above (page 416), detained the Resident there till 1807, in which year he joined Vithalráv’s army with a British contingent, at a place in the Morvi state.

Settlement of 1807.Before treating directly with the chiefs a circular was sent round to all of them both by the Gáikwár’s agent and by Colonel Walker the Resident, containing the basis of the proposals with regard to the tribute about to be submitted to them. The position of the British Government throughout this negotiation is not clearly defined. Vithalráv in his circular mentions indeed that a British force was with his own, but urges the chiefs to come to a settlement entirely with the government he represented. Colonel Walker’s note was longer, more explicit, and conciliatory, but at the same time assumes a tone of protection and superiority. The replies of the chiefs were various, and, as a rule, seem to show that they regarded the British Government as the chief mover in these negotiations. They were probably aware of the position in which the engagements of the Gáikwár had placed him with reference to the British, and for some years had had the latter as their neighbours in the east of the peninsula. They were therefore not able at once to take in the whole scope of the action of the British Government in the tribute question.

Many seemed to take the note as a preliminary to a mulakgiri on the part of the East India Company. The Rája of Mália, who had just been causing disturbances in the dominions of all his neighbours, had repulsed Bábáji and permitted the self-immolation of a Bhát rather than fulfil an engagement, openly proposed a joint expedition across the Ran to plunder Kachh and Sindh. From the inquiries made by the Resident and from information gathered from the Gáikwár’s accounts, it was anticipated that separate engagements need only be entered into with the twenty-nine chiefs to whom the circular invitation had been issued, provided that the rights and interests of subordinate members of the Bháyád were clearly defined in the agreement. When, however, these rights came to be investigated in the light of the peculiar rules of Rájput inheritance, it was found that no less than one hundred and fifty-three persons had a claim to settle independently of each other for their tribute. This greatly prolonged the settlement, but at last the agreements were all framed on one principle. The amount settled was determined by a close scrutiny of the collections of past years, and Colonel Walker found it advisable to make great The Maráthás, a.d. 1760–1819. reductions in the item of extras or kharáját, for which the later Gáekwár collectors had such predilection. The engagements were of the following nature.

Settlement of 1807. Financial.First, the chief bound himself his heirs and successors to pay at Baroda each year the tribute fixed in perpetuity in 1807. He also procured a counter security for this payment who engaged himself in this capacity for ten years. The Honourable Company’s government had then to become security on the part of the Gáikwár for the fixity of the tribute demanded. This participation of the British in the engagement was insisted upon by the chiefs, and in all probability Colonel Walker was not averse from admitting it. Having thus arranged for the payment of the tribute and guaranteed the amount to be demanded, it was proposed to take measures to prevent internal quarrels between the chiefs themselves. The object of a fixed settlement was simply to remove the necessity for overrunning the country from time to time with an irregular army and to protect the chiefs against extortion. It was found that if the army of the paramount power were removed, all means of keeping order in the province would be lost, and the internecine feuds of the chiefs would soon destroy the good effects of the permanent settlement by materially altering the then existing position of the weaker feudatories and rendering them unable to pay the tribute. It was also the wish of the British Government to bring about such a state of things in Káthiáváḍa that the presence of an army to control the chiefs would be wholly uncalled-for and that the chiefs themselves would co-operate to keep order and maintain the permanent settlement.

Political.A second agreement therefore was called for from each signatory state of the nature of a security for good and peaceful conduct. The counter security to this was usually that of another chief. This bond was perpetual. On the execution of both these engagements the chief received a parvána or guarantee that the Gáikwár government would not take from him more than the tribute agreed upon, and to this deed the countersignature of the Resident on behalf of the British Government was affixed. This guarantee, like the promise of the chief himself, was apparently given in perpetuity. It will be noted that the amount of tribute was fixed permanently, but that it was considered advisable to renew the security every ten years. It is also remarkable that, except in the failzámin or bond for good behaviour, the name of the Peshwa’s government, the rights of which over the tribute had only been temporarily alienated, does not appear. The total amount of the tribute thus settled was Rs. 9,79,882.

By means of these engagements the relations of the tributaries to their paramount power were made a matter of contract, instead of as heretofore a series of uncertain and arbitrary exactions dependent upon the respective means of coercion and resistance.

Peshwa’s Share in Káthiáváḍa.Seven years of the lease granted to the Gáikwár in 1804 by the Peshwa still remained unexpired and during at least six of these The Maráthás, a.d. 1760–1819. Peshwa’s Share in Káthiáváḍa. the arrangements that had been made about the Káthiáváḍa tribute do not seem to have been officially communicated to the Peshwa’s government. It was not until 1815, when the Resident at Poona was trying to procure the renewal of the lease for the Gáikwár, that an account of the settlement was drawn up in a draft agreement which the Resident submitted to Bájiráv. In this draft the curious mistake was made of mentioning the settlement instead of only the security bond as decennial. The Peshwa, whose policy was to protract negotiations, submitted in his turn a second draft which he said he was willing to sign. In this he seized at once on the supposition that the tribute was fixed only for ten years and stipulated for an increase at the expiration of that period. He also demanded that certain extra collections should be refunded by the Gáikwár, and assumed the British Government to have become security for the tribute owed by the chiefs to his own government.

It was evident that no accord would be reached on the lines of either of these draft agreements as they stood. Before others were prepared, Gangádhar Shástri had been murdered and the treaty of June 1817 was a completed act, leaving further negotiations unnecessary.

Later Arrangements.Meanwhile the tribute since the expiry of the farm of 1804 had been collected by a joint British and Gáikwár expedition, for it was found that partly from their own disputes and partly owing to the instigation of the agents of Bájiráv, the chiefs were little disposed to act up to the engagements of 1807, either with respect to tribute or good conduct. The Peshwa, whose interference in the affairs of the peninsula had been constantly discouraged, declined to trouble himself to collect the tribute, the responsibility of which he asserted rested entirely upon the British and Gáikwár governments. He subsequently ceded the tribute to the British Government on account of military expenses. After his fall in 1819 his territories, including the rights in Gujarát, fell to the British Government, and in 1820 the Gáikwár arranged that the whole of the Káthiáváḍa tribute, except that due from the districts directly subordinate to Baroda, should be collected by the agency of the British.

The Mahi Kántha.Turning to the events on the mainland, we find that soon after Colonel Walker’s return from the Káthiáváḍa expedition, he introduced the Káthiáváḍa tribute system into the Mahi Kántha, in spite of the opposition of Sitárám Rávji and the anti-English party in the Darbár.

Supplementary Treaty, 1808.The territory ceded for the payment of the British contingent in 1805 was found to yield less revenue than had been anticipated, so in 1808 a treaty supplementary to the consolidating one of 1805 was drawn up, allotting additional assignments amounting to about 1,76,168 rupees to the British. This revenue was derived partly from alienated villages in Naḍiád, Mahudha, Dholka, Mátar, and near the Ranjar Ghát. The ghásdána or tribute of Bhávnagar was also made over by this agreement. With regard to this latter The Maráthás, a.d. 1760–1819. acquisition, it is to be noticed that the agreement is drawn up in the name of the Honourable Company alone, and not in that of the British Government on account of Ánandráv Gáikwár. It also differs from other engagements of a similar nature in containing a provision against the contingency of future irregular demands being made by the Peshwa’s army. The reason for this distinction is evidently that the Bhávnagar contribution was not part of the Káthiáváḍa revenue farmed to the Gáikwár by Bájiráv, and was thus not divisible on the expiration of the lease. The right to this tribute rested with the British by virtue of the previous cession of Gogha, of which sub-division the fifty nine villages of the Bhávnagar Bháyád formed part.

Okhámandal, 1809.Next year the Okhámandal chiefs, who had not come under the settlement of 1807, were driven to engage not to continue their piratical depredations along the coast, and to admit one Sundarji Shivji as Resident on behalf of the British Government. The Gáikwár government then, too, seems to have become their counter security, an arrangement which led to misunderstandings a short while afterwards.

Disturbances in Káthiáváḍa, 1811.In 1811, some disturbances in Navánagar and Junágaḍh and symptoms of discontent in Okhámandal took the Resident from Baroda into the peninsula with part of the British contingent.

The Jám of Navánagar had got involved in pecuniary transactions with the Ráv of Kachh, and the British Government had mediated with a view of arranging for the repayment by gradual instalments. The Jám, however, repudiated all the engagements of 1807 both as regards the debt and the tribute, ejected the Gáikwár’s agent from his dominions, and prepared for war. He also began to incite the neighbouring chiefs to join in sweeping out the paramount power from the whole of Káthiáváḍa. It was not till after a considerable show of force that he laid down his arms and came to terms. Captain Carnac, the Resident, got him to submit the Kachh claims to the arbitration of the English Government, and after fixing them at Rs. 4,33,830, Captain Carnac made an arrangement similar to that originally intended.

There remained the question of a disputed succession in Junágaḍh. Bahádur Khán, son of a slave girl, was put forward in opposition to a younger aspirant, Salábat Khán, reputed to be the son of a lady of the Rádhanpur house. The Baroda government with the concurrence of the Resident had admitted the claims of the latter. On a report, however, by the Assistant Resident in Káthiáváḍa, Captain Carnac was induced to alter his opinion and to support Bahádur Khán, on the grounds that Salábat Khán was a spurious child, and that Bahádur was ready to make concessions of value to the Gáikwár government. The Bombay Council, however, disavowed all countenance of the claims of Bahádur Khán, and the matter was let drop.

1812.In the year 1812 the Gáikwár had paid off the pecuniary loan borrowed in 1803 from the British Government, but there still The Maráthás, a.d. 1760–1819. remained the debts for which that government had become bhandári or security in place of the ejected jamádârs of the Arab force. These claims could not be paid off for at least two years longer, so that for that period the Resident was ordered to maintain the same close supervision of Baroda affairs as heretofore.

1813–14.The next two years were spent chiefly in discussions with the Poona government about the old claims by the Peshwa on the Gáikwár’s estate. There is no doubt that at the time of his death, Dámáji had not paid up nearly all that he had bound himself in 1753 to pay. On the other hand there had been at least six intermediate compacts between the Peshwa and various members of the Gáikwár family. Amongst others was that of 1768 fixing the arrears of the previous three years, that of 1778 and of 1781, by the tenth clause of which Fatehsingh was excused payment of arrears for the time during which he was engaged in hostilities against Rághobá. Then came the agreement with Govindráv in 1797, to which a sort of debit and credit account is appended.

Peshwa Intrigue in Baroda, 1814.The Peshwa had been content, for reasons that have been shown above, to let these claims lie dormant during the currency of the ten years’ farm. But, as the question of the renewal of this agreement became imminent, he gradually opened more frequent communications with the Baroda council, using these claims as a pretext for sounding the disposition of the chief officials and ascertaining their feelings especially towards the British Government. When the negotiations for the settlement of these claims were fairly set on foot, he used every possible means to protract them till he had finally decided what he should do in 1814, when the Ahmedábád farm expired.

It was easy for Bájiráv to discover who were the malcontents at the Baroda Court. Sitárám, the adopted son of Rávji Áppáji, having been found both incompetent and untrustworthy in the management of affairs, had been practically removed from any post of influence in the council, and was moreover chafing at the refusal of the British Government to recognize him in the same way as they had done his father. He had also been superseded as Suba of Káthiáváḍa by Vithalráv Deváji. Under these circumstances, and finding that he had the support of a large number of the older court party against the authority of the Resident and of his native agent, he either himself opened communications with Bájiráv or readily listened to the counsels sent to him direct from Poona. Before long, agents were sent to the Peshwa’s Court by Takhtbái, wife of Ánandráv, with instructions, it is supposed, to thwart all the proposals and designs of Gangádhar Shástri, who had been recently sent as envoy by the Gáikwár council of administration. The chief obstacle to the settlement of the Peshwa’s claims was the counter-demand made by the Baroda government on account of Broach, which had been disposed of without the Gáikwár’s consent, and also on account of the damage caused by the inroads of Ába Shelukar, when accredited agent of Bájiráv in Gujarát.

There is no need to detail here the events that took place in Poona during these negotiations. On the expiration of the farm in 1814, The Maráthás, a.d. 1760–1819. Peshwa Intrigue in Baroda, 1814. Bájiráv appointed Trimbakji Dengle Sarsuba of Ahmedábád. The latter, however, did not leave Poona, where his presence was indispensable to his master, but sent agents with instructions rather of a political than of a fiscal nature. He himself undertook the task of disposing of Gangádhar Shástri, whom he caused to be assassinated at Pandharpur in July 1815.

Meanwhile the Jám of Navánagar had died leaving a disputed succession. The chief’s Khavás or family slaves, instigated probably by agents from Ahmedábád, began to usurp the government, and the whole question was submitted by the Darbár to the Peshwa as being lord paramount. The Ahmedábád commander sent a body of two hundred cavalry to Navánagar, but before they could arrive, the Khavás’ revolt had been quelled by a British force detached from the contingent. They therefore dispersed through the province inciting discontent and revolt amongst the Játs and Káthis. In Kaira they instigated a tribe of Kolis to attack the British lines by night. Sitárám Rávji’s adherents also collected a force at Dhár, a state well-known for lending itself for such purposes, and kept the frontier in confusion. Severe measures at Poona and Baroda soon put an end to this state of things, and at last Trimbakji Dengle was surrendered to the British Government to answer for his share in the murder of Gangádhar Shástri. The discussion of the Gáikwár’s debts, however, was carried on all through the year at Poona, whilst Bájiráv was maturing his then vacillating plans for extirpating the British from the west of India.

Okhámandal ceded to the Gáikwár.In 1816 the chiefs of Okhámandal again betook themselves to piracy. Their territory was occupied by a British force. It will be remembered that in 1809 the Gáikwár’s government had become counter security for these chiefs, but owing to the distance of the district from a military post, the Baroda authorities found themselves unable to spare troops enough to put a check on the misconduct of their tributaries. In a.d. 1816, at the time of occupation, the Bombay Government informed the Baroda administration that they had no wish to permanently establish themselves at so distant a spot, which contained, moreover, a much frequented shrine of Hindu worship, and that they were willing to put the Gáikwár in possession if he would engage to keep up a sufficient force in the district to protect the neighbouring ports and shores from the pirates and wreckers that infested the island of Dwárká and the adjoining mainland. The Bombay Government made a point of asserting on this occasion, in opposition apparently to some proposal by the Baroda Darbár, that they could not admit that the mere fact of having become security or counter-security gave any preferential right to the possession of the country. Finally, the Gáikwár government agreed to the condition proposed, and the district was made over to them.

British Aid at Junágaḍh.In the same year (a.d. 1816) British aid was invoked by the Nawáb of Junágaḍh who was oppressed by a too powerful minister, backed by the Arab mercenaries. After a settlement of this dispute had been satisfactorily brought about, the Nawáb, in gratitude, waived his rights to tribute over the territories recently ceded to The Maráthás, a.d. 1760–1819. the British in the peninsula, where his family had formerly great influence and considerable property. The escape of Trimbakji Dengle from Thána, and the subsequent attempts of the Peshwa to prevent the re-capture of his favourite and to re-unite the Marátha confederacy, led to the execution of a fresh treaty on June 13th, 1817, in accordance with the orders of the Supreme Government.

Treaty of Poona, 1817.It was intended to bind the Peshwa in such a way that he could never again enjoy the ascendancy amongst the Marátha chiefs to which he aspired. The Resident at Poona took this opportunity of also putting an end to the discussions about the mutual claims on each other by the Poona and Baroda governments. The Peshwa agreed to abandon all claims on any territory in possession of the Gáikwár and to accept an annual payment of four lákhs of rupees in satisfaction of all previous debts. The farm of Gujarát was made perpetual to the Gáikwár on the payment of four and a half lákhs annually, but the Káthiáváḍa tribute was made over to the British Government in liquidation of military expenses. The latter Government, by this treaty, also entered into possession of the Peshwa’s revenue in Gujarát, except that of Ulpád, which had been assigned to a favourite officer. All the Peshwa’s rights north of the Narbada were also ceded.

1819.At the final settlement of the dominions of the late Peshwa in 1819, the whole of his rights in Gujarát passed in sovereignty to the British, who remitted the four lákhs due from the Gáikwár in composition of arrears claimed by Bájiráv. 1820.The next year a special inquiry was made into the respective shares of the Peshwa and Baroda governments in the Káthiáváḍa tribute and in the extra allowance levied by the Gáikwár called ghás-dána allowance. In the course of this inquiry so many abuses of power and instances of extortion on the part of the Gáikwár’s officers were brought to light, that the Bombay Government on these grounds, and on account also of the general deterioration in the province since the The Maráthás, a.d. 1760–1819. Close of the Marátha Supremacy, 1819. Gáikwár’s troops were stationed there, prevailed upon Sayájiráv, who had now succeeded to the throne, to let the duty of collection be undertaken and superintended by a British officer stationed in Káthiáváḍa, who should, however, employ the Gáikwár’s troops on occasions of necessity. A similar arrangement was made with regard to the Mahi Kántha, where the effects of the settlement of 1811 had been much weakened by the disorderly conduct of the Gáikwár’s troops stationed there. The administration of nearly the whole of the province passed into the hands of the British and the period of Marátha ascendancy came to an end.

General Review.It remains to review generally the nature and characteristics of the Marátha connection with Gujarát, the chief events in which have been chronicled above. The most prominent feature has already been indicated at the beginning of this section and is apparent throughout the whole narrative. It is, in fact, the small space in history occupied during this period by the people, compared with the share appropriated to the actions of the government and its delegates. The reasons for this are as easily seen as the fact itself. From first to last the Marátha interests in Gujarát were, except at one or two special junctures, simply pecuniary ones. In comparison with other countries within reach of Marátha arms, Gujarát has always had a very large proportion of inhabitants engaged in commerce and manufacturing industries. It was the object of Śiváji to get as much booty as he could and carry it away then and there; hence the commercial classes and manufacturers presented the most favourable opportunities for pillage, and the agriculturists were at first only mulcted in forage and provisions. Rapidity of action was another of Śiváji’s aims, so not only were his visits short and their effects transitory, but all his booty consisted of property that could be carried away by his horsemen. No women or followers accompanied his expeditions, no prisoners were made excepting the few who could afford to pay a heavy ransom. Torture was resorted to only when the captive was suspected of having concealed his treasure. Cows women and cultivators were, according to Śiváji’s system, exempted from capture. Assignments on revenue were seldom made by him for fear of weakening his own authority. Subsequently the Marátha demands became more regular and assumed the form of a certain proportion of the revenue. The sar-deshmukhi and chauth were supposed to be calculated on the standard assessment so as to avoid subsequent claims as tribute or over-collection. In reality, however, they consisted of a fixed share in actual collections together with whatever extras the officer in charge could manage to extort, and which were, of course, kept undefined in any agreement. The expeditions, too, moved more leisurely and in greater force. The passes and roads in their rear were protected by their own comrades, so that the booty could be brought to the Dakhan in carts, and more bulky property therefore was removed than in former times. The times, too, when the demands were likely to be made were known to the headmen of the district and village, so that the cultivators could be pressed beforehand to furnish their share of the The Maráthás, a.d. 1760–1819. General Review. contributions. The extortion by this means passed from the commercial classes down to the agriculturists, the latter having also the burden of supporting a larger and more cumbrous army for a longer period.

When the power of the Dábháde and his deputy the Gáikwár was fairly established, a regular system of administration was introduced. It will be remembered that by the treaty of 1729 as few Marátha officers were to be employed as possible beyond those necessary to collect the Dábháde’s share of the revenue. In consequence, however, of the internal struggles of the Muhammadan chiefs, this minimum quota grew to be a large establishment, with the usual accompaniment of alienations and assignments for the support of the officers and their religious institutions which the weakness of the central power had allowed to become customary. The Dábháde himself was non-resident and his deputy usually being too valuable an assistant to be spared from the arena of Dakhan politics, the collection was left to sub-deputies and their subordinates, who in turn delegated a great part of their duties to village officers and even to strangers. The Dábhádes, who were throughout more interested in the Dakhan than in Gujarát, had, no doubt, an idea of raising up a power in the latter province in opposition to the administration of the Peshwa, which was conducted purely by Bráhman agency. It was soon evident, however, that all that could be done politically with Gujarát was to make it a treasury for the support of schemes that had to be carried out in the Dakhan.

The fertility of the soil and the facilities the country afforded for commerce and manufactures both tended to make it unlikely to become a field for recruiting. The inhabitants of the towns had fixed and lucrative occupations; the cultivators were mostly of a class which on account of the fertility of their land neither Muhammadan nor Marátha had been able to impoverish. The Maráthás had still to seek for soldiers in the rugged and barren country on the Gháts and in the Konkan, where the people could only look for a hand-to-mouth existence if they remained at home. The warlike tribes of Gujarát were, as has been already seen, too proud by birth and position to engage themselves to fight for any but their own race and interest. The aboriginal races were not likely to prove effective allies even if they had been willing to move from their own woods and fortresses. None of the Marátha governors of Gujarát seem to have consistently attempted to weld the various interests subordinate to them into a cohesion and unity that they might have made politically useful against the Poona influence. All that they endeavoured to do was to draw from their charge as much revenue as possible and to keep out interlopers. To the taxpayer the result was the same, whether his district was invaded by Kantáji or Piláji. If one anticipated the other in carrying off the harvest, the ryot still had to pay the latter for ejecting the intruder. The only resistance to be feared by the Maráthás was that, not of the cultivators, but of their own race or of the Rájput Girásiás. These latter were treated in all districts as mere robbers, probably because the class which bears that name near Rájpipla, The Maráthás, a.d. 1760–1819. General Review. where the Maráthás first came in contact with it subsists usually on blackmail. In the north, however, the Girásiás were landowners of great influence and fixed residence, not likely to be conciliated by the knowledge that the invaders of their country classed them along with Bhils and Kolis as mehvásis or outlaws.

In order to relieve the chief officials of direct responsibility for the revenue, the Gáikwár towards the last quarter of the eighteenth century if not before, introduced the system of letting out each revenue sub-division in farm for from one to five years at a fixed annual rate. The farmer was as often as not an absentee, but the supervision and administration were never entrusted to any one but a Marátha Bráhman. The revenue for the year was settled by an inspection of the accounts of previous years and the crops of each village. The amount was taken in kind, but the actual distribution of the whole on individual cultivators was left to the headman, who was in most cases made responsible for the assessment imposed on his village.

The frequent passages of hostile armies and other causes had left much culturable land a desert. In order to restore the population and induce colonists to settle and cultivate in such spots, leases on favourable terms were granted to desáis, who administered the land as they pleased, and were directly responsible to the head revenue authority of the sub-division for the annual rent. The patels and other village officials also made use of their position with reference to the foreign supervisors in appropriating large tracts of waste land to their own uses. The kamávísdár or farmer for the time being was interested only in recouping himself for the amount he had agreed to pay the Marátha government, together with a margin for bribes paid to underlings at head-quarters for good offices with regard to the farm. He was ready, therefore, to make use of any agency in collecting his revenue that he found effective, and which saved the cost of a personal establishment. In many parts of the country there were hereditary village headmen accustomed to the duty of extorting money from unwilling ryots. In other places, such for instance as Dholka, it had been customary for certain Muhammadans called Kasbátis, to become responsible for the revenue of certain villages in return for a discount on the jama or amount collected (manoti). These manotidárs were found so useful by the Marátha officials that they gradually acquired an hereditary position and claimed proprietary rights in the villages for which they had been formerly mere agents for collection. They also acted as desáis or colonists, and succeeded in getting their leases of certain tracts renewed long after they had ceased to actively improve the land, which had in fact been all brought under regular cultivation.

Such was the agency employed in administering the revenue. The kamávísdár was also the dispenser of justice both civil and criminal. As his object was to make money and not to improve the condition of his charge, his punishments consisted chiefly in fines, and most offences could be paid for. No record of trials was The Maráthás, a.d. 1760–1819. General Review. kept except a memorandum of the amount passed at each decision to the credit of the farmer. In civil suits sometimes one-fourth of the amount in dispute was assigned as costs and appropriated by the court. The Girásiás in their own territory exercised somewhat similar jurisdiction, but grave crimes with violence were apparently left to the party injured or his relations to decide after the manner of the offence. Arbitration, too, was a frequent mode of deciding differences of both civil and criminal nature, but the kamávísdár or girásiá usually managed that the State should not be a loser by such a method of settlement.

The whole system indicates clearly enough the slight hold the Maráthás had on the province and their desire to make the most out of it for the furtherance of court intrigues or political ends above the Gháts. There is nothing to show that they contemplated a permanent colonization of the country until the British Government undertook the task of dividing the Marátha nation by the establishment of a powerful and independent court at Baroda.

The home of the Maráthás was always the Dakhan, and for many years after they had effected a lodgment in Gujarát, their army regularly returned for the rainy season to the country from whence they originally came. Their leaders were encouraged to be as much as possible near the court by the Dábháde, or the regent on the one side and by the Peshwa on the other: the former on account of their weight with the army and the Marátha chiefs, the latter in order that their influence in a distant dependency might not grow beyond what prudence recommended or might be counteracted if its tendency to increase became manifest. For similar reasons no force was allowed to be maintained in Gujarát sufficient to consolidate the Marátha acquisitions there into a manageable whole. Dámáji Gáikwár, had he lived, would undoubtedly have done much towards this end by means of his personal influence; but, as it happened, the thin crust of Marátha domination rapidly disappeared before it either was assimilated into the system of the province or hardened over it. A military occupation of a large and civilised district at a distance from the mother-country, and prevented by the jealousy of the central authority and the short-sightedness of those in charge of its exploitation, from either conforming itself to the elements it found already established, or absorbing the vital forces of the government it dispossessed, a system without the breath of life, without elasticity, without the capacity of self-direction, imposed bodily upon a foreign people, without even the care of preparing a foundation, such seems to have been the Marátha government, containing within itself all that was necessary to ensure a precarious, but while it lasted, an oppressive existence.