Administrative System of the Marathas c23.s5.5

c23.s5.5

Another link with the past is supplied by the appellation of the officer in charge of a Tarf. He was in rare instances still called Paripatyagar when Shivaji ruled, and from some papers published by Mr. V. K. Rajwade it appears that he had to perform the duties of a Police Magistrate. It appears from this that he was the lineal successor of Danda-nayaka and Dandanatha of the old inscriptions. For the word danda has often been used in old works on Hindu law as well as in the Mahabharata⁴ in the sense of punishment and can therefore be regarded as synonymous with the Marathi term *paripatya*. Sir R. G. Bhandarkar no doubt holds that the Dandanayaka was a minister of war⁵ and Dr. Fleet was of opinion that the terms Danda-nayaka and Chamunath were synonymous,⁶ but there are instances of its being used in the other sense as well. Dr. R. Shama Shastri has translated Dandadhara as a Magistrate.⁷ It will not therefore be unreasonable to suggest that the term Paripatyagar was really a relic of the past, and it still survives in the Paripothaygars of Coorg.