Marathas, Marauders, and State formation in Eighteenth-century India Steward Gordon, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0 19 563386 5 Call number: DS485.M349 G672 1994
Page ix from Introduction
"By now it is imposssible to avoid noticing how self-serving was the notion that the Britain rescued India from itself, putting an end to the 'chaos' and 'anarchy', and stamping out 'barbarous' practices like thugi and Sati." ..."No one seemed to typify the prevailing view of the eighteenth century more than the Marathas - known mostly for turbulent warfare and long distance raids. What did not fit with this image, however, was the huge archive in Pune, filled with millions of documents of an enormously sophisticated revenue administration. As I and other scholars began to examine these materials, we understood why British colonial administration had closed this archive to all historical researchers. Here was no evidence of 'chaos' and 'decay', but a vibrant administration recording the minute details of rural and urban life and committed to agricultural development. A simliar process of discovery has taken place ... in Lucknow, Hyderabad, Bikaner, and Jaipur."
..."Instead of having no administrative system, the Maratha system was so sophisticated that Pune bankers could base rates of interest loaned to the government on calculated risk and reliability of collection, area by area."
...".. a quarter century ago, scholars were quite sure they knew what caste was - at minimum, a group with endogamous boundaries, self-governing institution, occupation specific, and distinctive religious and cultural customs. ... None of this is supportable now that scholars have confronted documents of eighteenth century. The very words we use to describe castes - Maratha and Rajput - have histories of change and conflict, ragged edges and ambiguities which reflect the politics of the day. We know now taht the closure of castes was one of the principal 'divide and rule' tactics pf the British of the nineteenth century."