Administrative System of the Marathas c19.s3.23

c19.s3.23

Let us see who the witnesses generally called upon to give oral evidence were, and before whom an ordeal, if resorted to, was undergone. These were generally the village officers, the *Pandhar* or the villagers and the *gots* or caste people, men well-versed in the history and traditions of the village or supposed to be so. From the evidence of old people handed down to us through the carefully recorded summaries of civil suits, we learn that the past history of the village and its old traditions were orally transmitted from generation to generation. Of the *Pandhars* the most important witnesses were the *balutas* who it seems, were fairly well acquainted with the traditional history of the village and its watan-holders.