Administrative System of the Marathas c7.s6.7

c7.s6.7

The most important English work, from our point of view, is Major Jervis's *Geographical and Statistical Memior of the Konkun*. He was a junior contemporary of Elphinstone, and the work of surveying the Konkan was entrusted to him. While so engaged, he gathered valuable information about land revenue settlement, in all probability, from popular traditions. He tells us many things about Malik Ambar's and Shivaji's land revenue settlement, Annaji Datto's survey and assessment, but never quotes any authority. It is, therefore, extremely difficult, or rather impossible, to verify his assertions. Hitherto I have come across only one Marathi document,¹³ a circular letter of Annaji Datto, that supports Jervis's account of the *bighaoni* survey. But this does not improve our situation much. We can, without much hesitation, accept Elphinstone's account of the administrative system of the Peshwas or Sir John Malcolm's account of the Central India chiefs. For both of them had personal acquaintance with men who had served under the Peshwas and the Maratha and Rajput chiefs of Central India, and who could give them first-hand information. But the case of Jervis is altogether different. He lived and wrote two centuries after Shivaji. Most of the old documents were yet unknown in his time, and he had to rely mainly upon popular traditions transmitted from generation to generation. Consequently, it is extremely difficult either to accept or to reject the views of Jervis. The writer of the *Bombay Gazetteer*, however, has accepted Jervis as the sole authority on the subject.¹⁴