Administrative System of the Marathas c26.s3.2

c26.s3.2

Of the innumerable Marathi documents that have come down to us, not a few are grant deeds. They are worth studying not merely because they yield interesting information about the various taxes that the landholder had to pay but also because of the unbroken link with the past that they furnish in their style and form. Vishnu lays down the following rules to be observed in drawing up a grant deed or *Danapatra* "To those upon whom he had bestowed (land) he must give a document, destined for the information of a future ruler, which must be written upon a piece of (cotton) cloth, or a copper plate, and must contain the names of his (three) immediate ancestors, a declaration of the extent of the land, and an imprecation against him who should appropriate the donation to himself, and should be signed with his own seal."¹ Let us reproduce a Danapatra of Chhatrapati Shahu and see how far the writer conformed to the above rules. The document runs as follows: Vedamūrti Gaṇeśbhaṭ wa Baḷambhaṭ bin Bāpūbhaṭ upanām Puraṅdare, gotra Bhāradvāj, sūtra Aśvalāyan, vāstavya Kasbe Sāsvaḍ, yān̄n̄i huzūr Śāhūnagarājik kille Sātāra yethil mukkāmīn svāmisaṅnidh yeūn vidit keleṅ kin, kailāsvāsī Bālāji Paṇḍit Pradhān yān̄n̄i ähmāṅs Mauje Khānvaḍī, Tarph Karhepthār, Prānt Puṇeṅ, yethil jirāyat jamin uttam pratīchī chāvar ⅕. yekūṇ bighe tis svarājya wa moṅgalāī yekūṇ dutarphā dekhil inām tijāī wa sardeśmukhī kulbāb wa kulkānū, hallipattī wa pestarpattī, jal taru, tṛṇa, kāṣṭha, pāṣāṇ, nidhinikṣepsahit kherij hakkadār karūn inām deūn Mauje majkūrchyā dastānt bād ghālūn patreṅ dilhīn tyāpramāṇeṅ anbhavīt ahoṅ. Tarī, Mahārājān̄iṅ sadarhūpramāṇeṅ inām karār karūn hallīn nūtan sahotrā wa nādgauṇḍī inām deūn vaṅśa parampareneṅ chālavāveṅ yāviśīn patreṅ karūn dilhīn pāhijet hmaṇūn vidit karūn Paṇḍit maśārnilhe yān̄chīn patreṅ āṇūn dākhavilī. Tyāvarūn manās āṇūn he bhale brāhmaṇ satpātra snānsandhyādi ṣaṭkarmī nirata yān̄cheṅ chālaviliyā svāmis wa svāmiche rājyās śreyaskar aiseṅ jāṇūn svāmī yāṇjvarī kṛpālu hoūn yāūsī Paṇḍit maśārnilhe yāṇṇiṅ Mauje majkūrpaikīṅ jirāyat uttam pratīchī jamīn chāvar pāv ekūṇ tīs bighe svarājya wa moṅglāī ekūṇ dutarphā darobasta inām tijāī wa sardeśmukhī hallīpaṭṭī wa pestarpaṭṭī kul bāb wa kulkānū jal, taru, tṛṇa, kāṣṭha pāṣāṇ, nidhinikṣepsahit kherīj hakkadār vaṅśaparam-pareṇeṅ inām dilhā. Tyāpramāṇeṅ karār karūn hallīṅ nūtan sadarīl jamīnis sahotrā wa nāḍgauṇḍī yāsī wa yāūche vamśaparamapareṇeṅ inām karūn dilhā yevīśīṅ dharmaśāstrāchīṅ vachaneṅ.