The Military System of the Marathas, with a Brief Account of Their Maritime Activities c6.25

c6.25

which was sent by the King for the Viceroy’s perusal and examination. In this paper Berba’s sons describe the *chauth* as their ‘grasso’, a word derived from Sanskrit ‘grasa’ meaning ‘maintenance allowance’, and therefore somewhat analogous to the Maratha *watan*. The King further prayed that his *chauth* should be paid in *Mahmudi Chalanis* and not in *Mahmudi Chaparis*, as was then the practice, and suggested that as the Portuguese inhabitants of Daman did not return a correct statement of the revenue of their villages and the Raja was thereby defrauded of his income, the Viceroy should send an honest and conscientious Portuguese to make an enquiry in the matter.¹ The reply of the Portuguese Government and the observations made on the subject by Dr. Goncalo Pinto da Fonseca may be passed over, for a subsequent document informs us that the arrangement made on this occasion did not take effect. It is, however, worth remarking that when the King Chauthia had declared war against the Portuguese state in 1614, the Viceroy, Dom Jeronymo de Azevedo, had ordered the collection of *chauth* as usual by a commission of three, especially appointed on that occasion, to meet the expenses of maintaining a small force of fifty footmen for the defence of the chauth-paying territories out of the fund collected which was not otherwise to be interfered with.²