A History of the Mahrattas v1.c19.143

v1.c19.143

¹ Probably Komptee. There is a class of Carnatic Bramins so named; but Kamattees are of the labouring class, and much employed in Bombay as palanquin-bearers. [Rāma was a Shēnvī or Gāud Sarasvat Brahman, Kāmat being a common Shēnvī surname. A superfluous ‘i’ seems to have been affixed to the name in the documents of the period, one of which (Surat Council’s letter to Bombay, June 30, 1690) refers to him as ‘ Ramajee Comajee ’ (Rāmājī Kāmat-ji). The name of a Shēnvī family in Goa is similarly altered in Portuguese to ‘ Camota ’ or ‘ Camotim,’ which gives a clue to the alteration of the name in English documents. Rāma Kāmat was arrested, tried and condemned to imprisonment for life with the loss of his property, on the strength of a confession made under torture by his clerk, and of a letter which was subsequently proved to have been a forgery. (B.C.G., ii. 93–95 ; Malabari, Bombay in the Making, 328–54 ; Edwardes’ Rise of Bombay.) For account of the Shēnvī Brahmans, see Wilson, Indian Caste, 1877, ii. 29, 30.]