The Inner Conflict of Tradition: Essays in Indian Ritual, Kingship, and Society c19.s12.17

c19.s12.17

40. For these terms, see Habib, *Agrarian System*, 331, n. 5. According to Habib, the term *mawās* is not found in the dictionaries. It is, however, given in J. Platts's *Dictonary of Urdū, classical Hindī, and English* in the sense of "protection, refuge, asylum, shady grove or wood," which from the "rebel's" point of view, makes perfect sense. Cf. also H. H. Wilson, *A Glossary of Judicial and Revenue Terms* (London, 1855), s.v. *mawāshī* ("cattle"), and J. T. Molesworīh, *Marāṭhi-English Dictionary*, 2d rev. ed. (Bombay, 1957), s.v. *mavāsī* ("life and practices of a *mavās* or leader of a horde of banditti"). The combination of cattle keeping and transhumance with "rebelliousness" and warrior bands in the interstitial areas is easily explicable (see below and n. 41).