Shivaji and His Times c20.s4.10

c20.s4.10

The holder of even the smallest plot of land or right to village-office now produced title-deeds in the form of grants and confirmations by the Hindu and Muslim kings before the British conquest. Some of these professed to be original, others copies of long-decayed originals certified by former *qazis* or kings as true. Of this class thousands of documents in the Marathi language have been printed. But their value is exceedingly small. Ninety-eight per cent. of these papers is of no historical significance at all, as they relate to the petty local rights of petty private individuals. Several are palpable forgeries. It is not possible to give detailed examples in this book.