1837.] 



An Account of the Tribe of Mhadeo Kolies. 



275 



police of the Rajoor district, were taken into the British pay, but the 

 Koly Naik Govindrow Khary, the hereditary havildar ^f_the hill 

 fort of Ruttungur, a very old man, declined entering in. f ,o the British 

 service, under the pretext that he was old and superannuated; though 

 it is well known that he refused the offer of employment under the 

 impression that the Peshwah's government would be soon re-establish- 

 ed. The havildar had twelve of his kinsmen (sons, brothers and 

 nephews) employed as sepoys under him on the fort, receiving pay 

 from government, besides various perquisites from about sixty villages 

 presented annually. The aggregate of their yearly pecuniary allow- 

 ance was 1,230 rupees ; in this sum was included the revenue of the 

 small village of Bhandurdurra, amounting to 250 rupees annually, of 

 which place the Kharies were the hereditary tenants. Most unluckily 

 for these poor people, the havildar' s refusal of service plunged them all 

 into great and unexpected difficulties; as they nolonger received any pay, 

 and the revenue of the village was resumed by the British authorities. 

 The Kharies were sadly mortified, and continued in utter despair. In 

 the course of the following year they became more embarrassed in their 

 pecuniary affairs, as the Rajoor Koolkurnies discovered that they (the 

 Kharies) had been plotting, and some of them were disposed to join 

 Narrain Row Holkur's gang, who were at the time (October 1819) 

 plundering in the Nassik district. The rapacious and overbearing 

 Koolkurnies extorted the sum of three hundred rupees from the Kharies 

 on this occasion, and it is worthy of notice that the last instalment of 

 the money was not paid until March 1828. In various parts of the 

 country there were many persons suffering much distress and incon- 

 venience from having lost their employment in the hill forts : however, 

 the large establishment of regular but more especially of irregular 

 troops in the pay of government, overawed the discontented and 

 kept them in a state of subjection. Yet, as the troops decreased in 

 number, the conduct of many of the unemployed and displaced sol- 

 diery, and that of the predatory classes, became more conspicuous and 

 more daring. For a series of years the persevering exertions and 

 enterprising spirit of the Poona Ramoossies were closely and most 

 anxiously watched by all those people, and as the efforts of the Ra- 

 moossies were ultimately crowned with considerable success, notwith- 

 standing they were guilty of the most atrocious and violent measures 

 during the years 1825-28, and 27, all their crimes were pardoned, as it 

 appeared from the information before government that they could not 

 be put down. They were consequently taken into pay and employed 

 as the local police of the hilly country, and some lands conferred on 

 them. The Koly population unfortunately thought they could 

 not do better than follow the example of Oomiah and his Ramoossies. 

 Man}^ consultations were held by the Koly Naiks on this subject. 



