Administrative System of the Marathas c18.s5.4

c18.s5.4

"From that time he does the work of the blacksmith and takes baluta (a share of grain from each villager in the harvest time due to the balutas—barber, washerman, carpenter, blacksmith, etc.), and puts his signature on the documents as the blacksmith, but he is not the owner of the blacksmith's watan."¹ When any dispute arose about the ownership of land or watan the case was either decided by the village panch or referred to them for decision, or the village artisans and village officers were summoned to give evidence before the Peshwas' court. Orders of attachment of property in a village were sometimes addressed to the village community, and not to the officers alone. In 1750-51 during the administration of Balaji Baji Rao a sanad attaching a disputed watan was addressed to Jagthap, owner of half the Mokdam watan and the village community of Ambale.² In fact these small villages acted each as a unit, and were recognised by the Peshwas as such.