Administrative System of the Marathas c23.s9.5

c23.s9.5

The Patil perhaps owed these dues to a law of Manu which says "Those (articles) which the villagers ought to furnish daily to the king such as food, drink, and fuel, the lord of one village shall obtain. The ruler of ten (villages) shall enjoy one *kula* (as much land as suffice for one family), the ruler of twenty-five *kulas*, the Superintendent of a hundred villages (the revenues of) one village, the lord of a thousand (the revenue of) a town."³² The Patilship corresponded to the lordship of one village. According to Manu he was not entitled to any rent-free land, but the Maratha Patil in addition to food, drink and fuel, as enumerated in the above list, enjoyed some rent-free Inam land as well. As Manu allots to the Patil all that "the villagers ought to furnish daily to the king," let us see what the king could expect from a village according to other Hindu jurists. The king, according to Kautilya, could "exercise his right of ownership with regard to fishing, ferrying and trading in vegetables (haritpanya) in reservoirs or lakes."³³ From villages of different descriptions, he could expect taxes in the form of grains, cattle, gold or raw materials, free labour and dairy produce.³⁴ Vishnu allows the king to take from his subjects as taxes "a sixth part every year of the grain; and sixth part of all other seeds; two in the hundred, of cattle, gold and clothes; a sixth part of flesh, honey, clarified butter, herbs, perfumes, flowers, roots, fruits, liquids and condiments, wood, leaves (of the palmyra tree and others), skins, earthen pots, stone vessels, and anything made of split bamboo."³⁵ It is necessary to note here that the list quoted above is by no means exhaustive and the document from which we quoted it, does not give a complete list of all the rights and perquisites of the Patil's office. These varied in different parts of Maharashtra, as the king's demands must have varied in different parts of India at different times. A comparison between our list of the Patil's dues and those supplied by Kautilya and Vishnu leaves little doubt as to the antiquity of the different items. The village Mali on festive occasions had to supply flowers for the Patil's house. He was entitled to the free labour of the Koli and the Mahar who had to supply him with water and fuel respectively. The Mahar could not take the skin of his dead cattle, and the shoemaker, the oil man, the weaver had to give him shoes, oil and cloth. He was entitled to a share of the vegetables, or haritpanya of Kautilya, and herbs sold in the village. He got one goat from each herd on the Dasra day which correspond to sixth part of flesh, which according to Vishnu the king could take. "The customary rent for each Bania's stall" is no less old than the Shukra Niti where we read that the king should have "land tax from shop-keepers."