Paragana Dharwad Under the Peshwas (1753-1818)

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Peshwa rule in Dharwad district forms an important chapter in the history of North Karnataka. For over 6 decades the Marathas played a significant role in the political history and cultural life of the people of North Karnataka.

The book deals with the Socio-Economic life of Dharwad Paragana under the Peshwas of Pune who ruled over this area from 1753 to 1818, studies the region under the designated labels, examining many specific facets of Peshwa rule in this region.

The book gives a good idea of the Maratha administration and also of the economic and social life of the people in this area. which was indirectly governed by the Peshwas. The book contains an account of the revenue administration, economy and the social structure prevailing in the Dharwad region under the Marathas.

The local chieftains, the Desais, Deshpandes, Sarnadgoudas shared the ruling power with the Peshwas. The Mamlatdar and Kamavisdar were the representatives of the Peshwas in the district.

The Peshwas were religious minded. There are many examples of the Peshwas making grants of lands to the Brahmins, Lingayats and Saints of different religions.

The book will be a useful source material for the economic and social historians. For policy makers of the present times this study may prove useful for understanding historical legacy of social and economic developmental processes.

M.A. History, M.A. Economics, Diploma in Epigraphy and Ph.D. served as Professor and Head, Department of History, Kittel Arts College, Dharwad and has teaching and research experience of 40 years. Recipient of the Best College Teacher Award by the State Government of Karnataka in the year 2002.

Dr. Savant has guided 10 Ph.D. scholars and 4 M.Phil. scholars and has published several articles, research papers in reputed journals.

Besides English he knows Kannada, Marathi, Hindi and Modi script. He has attended a number of national and international seminars and conferences.

The present work "Paragana Dharwad under the Peshwas (1753-1818) - A Socio-Economic Study" submitted by Dr. M. Y. Savant to the University of Poona was awarded the Ph.D. degree.

This work is a study of the aspects of socio-economic situation prevailing in the region of Dharwad Paragana during sixty - five years of Peshwa rule over the region. Keeping in view the trends in historiography, Dr.M.Y. Savant has written a valuable work making a sincere attempt at giving a comprehensive and authentic picture of this subject.

He has produced this work after consulting a large number of original Modi documents preserved in the Pune Archives and other sources. Dr. Savant has to be given much credit for unearthing numerous original unpublished sources and making them the chief basis of his study.

The work makes a significant break-through in the study of the rise of a combined pattern of culture and socio-economic life in this region incorporating such matters as standard of living, status of woman, public finance, land revenue system, trade and banking, and the like.

The study paves the way for further researches in urbanization during the pre-modern times and in the rise of a synthetic culture and spirit of co-existence in the region.

The need for a detailed and through study of the histori-cal aspects of Dharwad in its most formative period of medieval times cannot be overemphasised, for many of the ideas and in-stitutions which have still survived in Dharwad can be traced back to those times.

There are no historical studies of this sub region with a focus on socio-economic aspects. Even according to educa-tionists History should be taught with reference to the region where the children live. In other words educationists emphasise micro-sub-regional perspective for a realistic understanding of the region.

It is against this background that an attempt has been made in the present study to give a comprehensive history of Dharwad by examining many specific facets of Peshwa rule in this region.

In the preparation of this thesis I have received help and encouragement from many individuals and institutions and therefore I take this opportunity to thank them individually.

First of all, I thank my respectful guide Dr. K.N.Chitnis, Head of the Department of History, University of Poona, who ungrudgingly gave me the benefit of his scholarship and experience. This work would not have taken the present shape but for the inspiring guidance and tenacious supervision of Dr. Chitnis.

I am grateful to Mrs. R.K.Chitnis for her kind treatment and warm hospitality.

I am deeply indebted to the authorities of the University Grants Commission (New Delhi( for the financial support rendered to carry out the research work under the scheme, "Financial Assistant to Teachers Minor Research Project".

My thanks are due to the authorities of Karnatak University, Dharwad. Jayakar Library Poona University, the Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics Poona, the Bharat Itihasa Samshodhak Mandal Pune, the Asiatic Library Bombay and the Bombay University Library for allowing me access to the valuable books in their possession. I am indebted to the National Achives Delhi, the Bombay Archives, the Pune Archives the BISM Archieves, Pune the Kannada Research Institute Dharwad for affording me facilities to consult the original documents in their collections.

I should like to thank Dr. M.R.Kantak, Curator of the Maratha Museaum, Deccan College Poona who helped me in getting the photo copy of the map of Dharwad fort.

Although Dharwad played an important part in the medieval history of Karnataka, no appreciable work has been done to study the socio-economic life of this region. The modern trend has been to study the socio-economic life of the people without emphasizing the political achievements of the kings and their ministers. When no history of particular region was known naturally the scholars try to study the political history of that region. That is how the political histories of the Vijayanagara rulers, the Sultans of Bijapur and Bahmanis etc., came to be written. After drawing a good picture of political history in which mainly the Kings, their court and officers were involved, the scholars naturally wanted to know the history of the common people in their social, economic, cultural and other aspects. The same is applicable to present study. After knowing fairly well the political history of this region, it is time now to know the life of the common people in different spheres. Hence a socio-economic study of this region has been undertaken.

The position of Dharwad town and suburbs cannot be properly understood unless we have a complete idea of the growth of Dharwad Paragana under the Marthas (Peshwas). The Peshwas were in possession of this Paragana from 1753 to 1818. Under the Peshwas Subha or Prant was a biggest administrative division. They were equivalent to provinces and a province was usually divided into Parganas. In some cases there was a smaller administrative division known variously as tarf, karyat or samat. These were the smallest administrative divisions and below them were the villages called mauze or majre.

In other words a group of villages formed a tarf. A tract of country comprising many villages was called Pargana¹.

If the number of villages was larger then this administrative division was also called a Pargana and Dharwad was such a Pargana. Dharwad was a Pargana under Sarsubha of Prant Karnatak, which consisted of 33 Mauze (villages) and 11 Majre² (hamlets). It extended from m/Kamalapur in the north to m/Kanvi honnapur in the south and m/Somapur in the east to m/Kelageri in the west. Many of the villages have now become suburbs of Dharwad town and have been included in the municipal corporation limit. A significant feature is that the highway which connects Poona with the Mysore kingdom in historical times bisects the Pargana into two. This highway is now the national highway No. 4 connecting Poona and Bangalore. (Please see map on page xvii).