[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Studies](https://indike.org/pramana/ins) › [General history and culture](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general) › [The Dynasties of the Kanarese Districts of the Bombay Presidency from the Earliest Historical Times to the Musalman Conquest](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.fleet-1882) › c7.s8.193 # The Dynasties of the Kanarese Districts of the Bombay Presidency from the Earliest Historical Times to the Musalman Conquest c7.s8.193 The Dynasties of the Kanarese Districts of the Bombay Presidency from the Earliest Historical Times to the Musalman Conquest c7.s8.193 - **Language:** English ### [c7.s8.193](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.fleet-1882.c7.s8.193) In the Southern Konkan, except on the coast where alone Shiváji was much opposed, there was perhaps not much to complain of. His revenue system was a great improvement on any that had been previously known in the Konkan, the cultivators were protected, and all classes of the population, except perhaps the outcastes, had the opportunity of entering and rising in the military service. The Hetkaris¹ (Maráthás from Málvan) had very early been among Shiváji's favourite troops, and the Maráthás all along the Gháts, or Mávalis as they were then called, have always been inclined to military service. Besides this, the establishment of the Gadkaris,² or sepoys holding land round the forts on condition of serving in them when necessary, must have provided for a considerable proportion of the population in a district where forts were so numerous. And the mere re-building of the great forts on the coast must have given subsistence at least to great numbers and for many years. Shiváji's system of government and revenue administration is described at length by Grant Duff,³ and must have been more systematic than any thing that the Konkan had known previously. The Musalmán historian Kháfi Khán, who, as already mentioned, spent some time in the Konkan, abuses Shiváji as an infidel and a rebel, and is particularly proud of a chronogram which he made on the date of his death, "Káfir jabahannam raft," that is "the infidel goes to hell." But he says in favour that he always strove to maintain the honour of the people in his territories: he persevered in rebellion, in plundering caravans, and in troubling mankind, but entirely abstained from other disgraceful acts, and was particularly careful as to the honour of the women who fell into his hands, and would not allow any dishonour to be done to mosques or to the Korán. In short this historian dignifies him with the title of a wise man.⁴ It is necessary to remember the cruelties and hardships which the Portuguese in the name of religion and civilization had inflicted on the inhabitants of the Konkan, and the atrocities of the Musalmáns during their wars with Shiváji, and in particular the death which Aurungzeb himself inflicted on Shiváji's son and successor. In view of these things we certainly cannot say that Shiváji, barbarian as he was in many respects and without pretence to culture of any sort, was the inferior of those of his contemporaries either Christian or Musalmán, with whom he was brought in contact on this coast. And altogether it is possible to believe that notwithstanding "the clamour of continual war," the greater part of the Konkan in his time enjoyed more prosperity than at most periods of its history. - [Previous: c7.s8.192](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.fleet-1882.c7.s8.192) - [Next: c7.s8.194](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.fleet-1882.c7.s8.194) - [Up: c7.s8](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.fleet-1882.c7.s8) --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.fleet-1882.c7.s8.193](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.fleet-1882.c7.s8.193) · Pramāṇa