1919.| The Rajput Kingdoms of Mediaeval Chhattisgarh. 249 
“ advert to the office of Panj which appears to have existed 
* under all the ancient Governments of this Quarter. Judging 
“sent. If a civil case is to be decided a Panj superintends 
“the Panchayat. If any internal arrangement is to be effected 
* a Panj is entrusted with the duty. In short where a Zamin- 
‘‘dar delegates any authority it always seems to be a Panj. 
‘the Mahratta authority however they appear to have been 
‘‘almost entirely suppressed and persons under that title were 
“only occasionally nominated as the heads of the principal 
‘** Parganahs to superintend arbitration, a duty to which their 
‘‘ former avocations were by no means limited.” 
87. The position of such a Panj is very suggestive. 
Clearly as the Counsellor attached to the Diwan who held the 
pa ; : : : ORE 
upon the latter’s arbitrary power. The Panj as the name 
implies was primarily concerned with the working of the 
Panchayat system and, as such, was the repository of local 
the occasion of his coronation and direct that such extraordinary 
levies shall only be collected from well established residents of 
the villages. If Bastar had such popular assemblies it is not 
unlikely that Chhattisgarh had them too. There is no direct 
evidence on the point. But the very fact that the Royal 
demesne was limited to ‘‘no more lands than were necessary to 
1 Note this very clear suggestion that the Zamindari system was 
previous to the Mahratta conquest characteristic of the whole adminis- 
tration under the Haihaibansi Rajas. 
