1919.) The Rajput Kingdoms of Mediaeval Chhattisgarh. 207 
every one of the 16 appears in the ed lists of Garhs 
subordinate to Raipur. Elliott, it is true, begins his article on 
borne out by his own list which records eee Chaurasis com- 
prising whole Parganahs, while it is, for Chhattisgarh, refuted 
the remark in the Rewa List, quoted in the preceding 
paragraph that ‘‘ Chaurasi was the most common convention 
of naming Parganahs.”’ 
18. In Chhattisgarh at the head of each Garh or Chaurasi 
other than those (perhaps one or two) which the Raja himself 
administered, stood the local Chief known as Dewan or Thakur. 
These petty chieftains, some of whom were related to the Raja, 
formed the local aristocracy, and were practically independent in 
regard to the internal administration of their estates, though 
“petty Rajahs and Chiefs each of whom was toa large extent in- 
‘* dependent, and among whom the whole country was divided ”’ 
(Chisholm’s Report of 1869, para. 64). “Un der the Haihai- 
** bansi Rajahs the feudal principles of their rule precluded 
“anything in the nature of a system of revenue. The Rajahs 
“and the members of his family retained no more lands under 
their own — than was necessary for their comfort 
and dignity. The rest were assigned to their chiefs who, on 
. their requisition, supplied them with whatever they required, 
“with money according to their wants and in war with quotas 
“of troops peony ee to the lands they held. These petty 
“jJords seem, on their part, to have followed the same system, 
* retaining bate small tracts of land in their own hands and 
‘* distributing the remainder among their servants who were at 
* ~ the same time soldiers and cultivators. The judicial prone 
rity in important cases they personally exercised, but in all 
“inferior and common occasions they left the chief sneeukive 
(Agnew’s Report of 1820, p. 
e indication of the power which these local chiefs 
be o 
the Maratha rule so disastrous to indigenous institutions were 
still found in possession of powers of life and death within 
1 See para. 69 below. 
