Administrative System of the Marathas c23.s12.3

c23.s12.3

Arable land was again classed as jirayat and bagayat according to the character of their soil, and patasthal and motasthal according to the manner of irrigation, and superior, inferior and ordinary according to their fertility, as we find in a letter addressed to Appaji Hari, Mamlatdar of Wan Dindori, in the year 1760-61. "He was told that the villages should be surveyed. The land should be classed as superior, ordinary and inferior and also as jirayat and bagayat as well as patasthal and motasthal." A further distinction is made between waste and rocky lands and lands already brought under cultivation. While a still fresh classification is made for revenue purposes according to the crops generally raised on the land in question as will be seen in the following extract from a document of the time of Balaji Baji Rao: