The Dynasties of the Kanarese Districts of the Bombay Presidency from the Earliest Historical Times to the Musalman Conquest c10.255

c10.255

Under Bájí Ráo districts were farmed to the highest bidder; the farmer had not only the right to collect the revenue, but to administer civil and criminal justice; as long as he paid the sum required and bribed the favourites at court, no complaints were heard; justice was openly bought and sold; and the mámlatdár of a district was often a worse enemy to the people than the Bhíls. Under the former Peshwás Khándesh had been treated as a separate province and placed under a sarsubhedár, whose power sometimes extended over Báglán. Báláji Ráo added a second sarsubhedár named Báloba Mandavagani over the country between the Godávari and the Nira, but on his death no successor was appointed. Bájí Ráo appointed one Báláji Lakshman as sarsubhedár of Khándesh and Báglán with full powers to put down the Bhil disturbances. At the instigation of Manohirgir Gosávi, who commanded some troops under him, Báláji invited a large body of Bhíls to a meeting at Kopargaon on the Godávari. He there treacherously seized them, and threw them down wells. He cleared the country south of the Chándod range for a time, but in Khándesh the Bhíls became desperate, and plundered more than ever. In A.D. 1806 a second massacre of Bhíls by the Peshwa's troops took place at Ghevri Chandgaon in the Shevgaon táluka of Ahmadnagar. In Khándesh the villages of Chálisgaon and Dhárangaon and the fort of Antur were the scenes of other atrocities.