Shivaji and His Times c17.s5.2

c17.s5.2

Every fort and outpost (*thanah*) was placed under three officers of equal status, *viz.*, the *havladar*, the *sabnis* and the *sar-i-naubat*, who were to act jointly. "No fort was to be left solely under a *havladar*, lest a single traitor should be able to deliver it to the enemy. The *havladar* and the *sar-i-naubat* were selected from the Maratha caste and the *sabnis* from the Brahmans,"—so that one caste served as a check upon another. The stores and provisions in the forts were in charge of a Kayastha officer called the *karkhanah-navis*, who wrote the accounts of their incoming and expenditure. In the larger forts, where the bounds were extensive, the walls were divided into five or six sections, and each of these was guarded by a special *tat-sar-i-naubat*. The environs of a fort were watched by men of the Parwari and Ramushi castes.