Administrative System of the Marathas c18.s9.52

c18.s9.52

Generally, the white soil of the village was reserved for the *gharthan* or the homesteads of the villagers and the black soil for cultivation. This distinction afterwards gave birth to a peculiar meaning of the word *pandhari* white, which when used in relation to villages stood for villagers in general. The village was surrounded by a wall, and all the villagers except the criminal classes, like the Bhils and the Ramoshis lived within it. The criminal classes for the sake of public safety as well as public sanitation had to live outside the village wall, although they had to perform the Police duties. They were under their Naik, or the headman of their caste, and were held responsible for every theft or robbery committed in the village. Unless they succeeded in tracing the offence to some other village or in recovering the property lost, the criminal tribes as a body had to make good the property stolen. As a consequence, every village was secure from the thieving exploits of its own Ramoshis, and generally, the Ramoshis from distant villages or the Bhils from mountains were responsible for the breach of rural peace. But in time of general disturbance and often in times of general peace the feudal chiefs plundered their rivals' villages. Against these more powerful robbers the village wall offered but scant resistance and no security.