Later Mughals v2.c14.s17.4

v2.c14.s17.4

There are two main divisions in this country, which are very dissimilar in their natural aspects ; that to the west is known as the Konkan, that to the east as the Desh (literally “country”). The first is again sub-divided into (1) the Tal Konkan or low strip of land a few miles wide along the seashore, and (2) Konkan-Ghatmahta or ‘Konkan above the passes’. The Tal itself is rugged and broken, while the ghats are a mountain chain rising from 3,000 to 4,000 feet above the sea. The high tableland or Desh on the eastern side of these hills is as a rule about 1,000 feet below their summit. It the ghat country many of the hill summits are formed of large masses of basaltic rocks, which can by a little aid from art be shaped into fortresses very difficult of approach. This natural feature explains the number of fortresses in the Mahratta possession, and, added to the extreme difficulty of moving an army in such a country, accounts for the slow progress and ultimate defeat of all the Muhammadan efforts to subdue them. The hilly portion of the Konkan is divided in its length into three parts ; that to the north called Mawal, the middle Khora, and the south Mura. From the first is derived the name of the Mawali herdsmen, who were so numerous in early Mahratta warfare. The Desh has in it four parallel ranges of hills known as the Chandor range, the Ahmadnagar hills, a range south of Puna, and the Mahadeo hills north of Satara. This Maha-rashtra is the country of the Mahrattas.*