Administrative System of the Marathas c18.s25.8

c18.s25.8

Though there was no custom of levying that tax upon the Rayats, in the past you extorted Vancharai from them, and so they felt oppressed. It has, on this account, been settled that you should not exact it from the Rayats. Therefore make an enquiry about the sheep not belonging to the Rayats. Those who have got a license should be let alone, but those who graze their sheep along with the license-holders give trouble to the Rayats. Therefore carefully find out the number of unlicensed sheep and levy Vancharai at the rate of Rs. 6 per hundred. Deposit in the Sarkar what you can on account of Vancharai and take a receipt for it. But the Rayats, whether Dhangar or Kunbi, are not to be on any account troubled for the sheep that they may keep."⁶ In fact these khilaris with their flocks had become such a nuisance to the farm lands as well as to the wood lands that in 1770-71, the government was compelled to take the drastic measure of confiscating the licensed as well as the unlicensed flocks grazing in Prant Shirval. The licensed flocks, of course, were restored to their owners shortly afterwards.⁷