Administrative System of the Marathas c18.s9.23

c18.s9.23

The Mahar, though a man of very low caste, was a very serviceable official. He helped the Patil in revenue collection by summoning the villagers to the Patil's office or *Chawdi* and held the office of the village watchman. He also had to look after village sanitation, and in return got the hide of the dead animals. Perhaps he derived his caste-name from this peculiar right as Sir Ramkrishna Gopal Bhandarkar supposes that the word Mahar is derived from Sanskrit *Mritahara*. But Mr. Atre suggests that it may be the combination of two Sanskrit words *ma* and *hara* (*ma* literally means Lakshmi and as the cow is sometimes called Lakshmi, it may stand for cow and hence cattle in general) and the Mahar is one who takes the dead cow.