Administrative System of the Marathas c18.s3.29

c18.s3.29

To keep up appearances in public, Satara was allowed to enjoy comparative security in the midst of military depredation and public plunder. William Henry Tone, an Irish officer in the service of Baji Rao Raghunath, observes in his *Letter to an Officer on the Madras Establishment* (published 1799). "The country circumjacent to Sattarah enjoys an exemption from military depredations of all kinds; and whenever any chief enters this district, all the ensigns of royalty are laid aside, and the nagara or the great drum of the empire ceases to beat."