Administrative System of the Marathas c23.s6: 2. Headman and the Scribe
Administrative System of the Marathas c23.s6
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2. Headman and the Scribe
c23.s6.1
The village headman in Maharashtra is called Patil. It is evident that the word has been derived from Pattakila of the inscriptions. The second officer was Kulkarni, occasionally styled in very old records as the Grama-lekhaka. Kulkarni most probably is a compound of the words kula and karani and originally meant an officer in charge of accounts relating to village lands. Kula occurs in Manu VII, 119 and according to Dr. Bühler it denotes as much land as suffices for one family; "Kulam," says he, "is really a technical term which Medhatithi explains by ghanta, a term known in some districts. Govindaraja, Kulluka, Narayana and Raghavananda state that it is the double of a 'middling plough,' *i.e.*, as much as can be cultivated with twelve oxen while Nandana interprets it as the share of one cultivator." ⁸ It is not however impossible that the term kura known in some of Bengal districts has been derived from kula of Manu. The word kuli indicating a measure of land, also occurs in the following sentence in a Kanarese inscription of Singhanadeva : "Also the fixed contribution that was allotted, free from all opposing claims, on the fixed betel plantation measuring five hundred kulis which was to the south of (the temple) of the god."⁹ Kulam therefore, as Manu understood it, was not unknown in Southern India. The word karana according to Dr. Bhagavanlal Indraji means a department; and Patal Karni the functionary in charge of the Patal Department.¹⁰ Karnika has been translated by Dr. Kielhorn as writer of legal documents¹¹; Karnika according to Dr. R. Shama Shastri was a Superintendent of accounts.¹² That officers in charge of a Karan had also perhaps something to do with the State records will be seen in the following extract from Sir R. G. Bhandarkar's Early History of the Dekkan, "In the introduction to his works on Dharmashastras he (Hemadri) is called Mahadeva's Shri Karanadhipa or Shri Karanaprabhu. In the Thana copper plate of 1194 Shaka also, he is said to have taken upon himself the adhipatya or controllership of all Karana. This office seems to have been that of chief secretary or one who wrote and issued all orders on behalf of his masters and kept the State Record."¹³ The Kulkarni also wrote all accounts and legal documents, as well as orders (emanating from the Patil) and was in charge of the village records. The words Karan and Karnika as interpreted above by these celebrated scholars, include all these different functions. My suggestion that Kulkarni is a compound of ‘kula’ and ‘karani’ meaning an officer in charge of the karana of kulas or village lands is not therefore altogether untenable.
c23.s6.2
⁸ S. B. E., XXV, p. 235.
c23.s6.3
⁹ Fleet, J. B. Br. R. A. S., XII, pp. 22ff.
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¹⁰ Ind. Ant., XII, p. 122.
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¹¹ Harsha Inscription, Ep. Ind., Vol. II, p. 129, Siyadoni Inscription, Ep. Ind., Vol. I, p. 166.
c23.s6.6
¹² Kautilya, Arthashastra, p. 71.
c23.s6.7
¹³ Early History of the Dekkan, 2nd ed., p. 116.
Linked texts (2)
- Mānava Dharmaśāstra — Manu & Bhṛgu, Sanskrit
- Kauṭilīya Arthaśāstra — Kauṭilya, Sanskrit