Area Maps in Maratha Cartography: A Study in Native Maps of Western India

Author(s): Prasad P. Gogate and B. Arunachalam

Source: Imago Mundi, Vol. 50 (1998), pp. 126-140
Published by: Imago Mundi, Ltd.
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1151395 .
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 Area Maps in Maratha Cartography: A Study in Native Maps
of Western India

PRASAD P. GOGATE and B. ARUNACHALAM

ABSTRACT: The diverse mapping heritage from former Maratha territory in western India occupies a
significant and advanced place in the history of native Indian cartography. Most of the surviving manuscript
maps date from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Some are already well known for their depiction of
hill forts, sea forts and battle sites. Only recently discovered, however, are a number of areal or regional maps,
in Modi or Devnagari scripts, which show administrative features, strategic settlements and major route ways.
In this paper, we offer a systematic description of four such areal maps-from the coastal region of Konkan
(Mumbai, formerly Bombay, to Mangalore)-and a critical appraisal of their cartography.
KEYWORDS:India, Konkan, indigenous mapping, 17th and 18th centuries, Maratha maps, meso-scale maps,
local mapping, administrative mapping, revenue maps, taluka (sub-district) maps, routes, map signs, map
orientation.

The mapping heritage of the Maratha lands
occupies a significant place in the history of native
Indian traditions of cartography. These traditions
are diverse in the types of maps that were made,
the reasons for which they were constructed and
the information that was included. Surviving
Maratha maps date mainly from the seventeenth
and eighteenth centuries, a time when the Ma-
rathas were powerful in the subcontinent and had
consolidated their power through the introduction
of measures to collect revenue, especially from the
rural areas. Maratha maps mainly depict details of
territorial administration, locations of strategic sites
and the main routes of the period.
The modern state of Maharashtra in western
India is but a small part of the vast territories from
which, two centuries or so ago, Maratha rulers
claimed a quarter of the revenue. The British built a
wall and ditch on the western side of Calcutta, the
British metropolis in eastern India, to keep the
Marathas out. The Marathas fought a mighty battle
north of Delhi against marauding hordes from
Afghanistan. They also controlled large parts of
southern India. Their base was Satara, in the hills
that run parallel to India's western coast, and their
power in modern times began with a chieftain
named Shivaji (1627-1680), who broke free from
the Mughal empire at Agra and Delhi.
Several writers have already paid attention to
Maratha maps of hill forts, harbours and battle
sites.' The cartographical capabilities of the Ma-
ratha as regards the presentation of areas or
regional maps are, however, much less well
known. It is comparatively easy to create large-
scale maps of relatively small sites, such as towns
and forts, since the distances involved are short,
and the whole area to be mapped can be mentally
visualized. All features can be correctly placed and
distanced in respect of each other. The portrayal of
larger areas, however, poses problems of perception

Prasad P. Gogate andnd. Professor B. Arunachalam, Department of Geography, University of Mumbai,

Vidyanagari, Mumbai 400098, India. Tel: (91) 22 811 8016 and (91) 22 835 2998 (respectively). Department
126 fax: (91) 22 611 6707. ?C)Imago Mundi. Vol. 50, 1998.

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of distance and direction until a mechanism for
mapping measured distance is developed. This
problem may explain why most mapmakers in
the Indian traditions hesitated before preparing
maps of larger areas in a reasonably precise
topographical format. The Maratha tradition of
cartography differed from that in other parts of
India, however; for their cartographical composi-
tion suggests a higher degree of evolution of
indigenous cartographical skills.
Essential factors in area maps include not only
the development of measurement techniques in
local units of distance and angles, clearly defined
boundaries, and delineation of important or rele-
vant topographical features. By the time most
Maratha maps were drawn, British surveys of
land and taxable settlement and British topogra-
phical mapping of specific regions had already
begun in the Maratha lands as well as in other
parts of India. The output from such surveys
appears to have influenced to some extent the
indigenous Maratha mapping skills. Although there
is no direct evidence for this premise, the associa-
tion of Indian surveyors with topographical and
revenue mapping, as recorded by R. H. Phillimore
in his collection of HistoricalRecordsof the Survey of
India, is a positive indicator.2
The achievements of western Indian regional
cartography (in so far as it can be traced in
surviving examples) reveal a variety of purposes
for which maps were constructed, including the
administration of revenue, military needs and
maritime functions. Extant maps can be roughly
divided into medium and small scale. Maps of
medium scale cover local regions, such as valley
heads or groups of villages, comparable to a modern
'block'-a sub-division of a district, comprising a
number of villages placed for purposes of revenue
under a single native collector and typically
comprising an area of less than 2,500 square
kilometres-or a group of such blocks. Small-scale
maps, on the other hand, cover an whole region or
even a sizeable part of the country.
Revenue Administration and Regional Mapping
Pre-European revenue administration in the
Maratha lands was largely derived from the system
established by Shivaji, the founder of the Maratha
kingdom in the middle of the seventeenth century.
Agricultural land constituted the basis of village
social organization. Under Shivaji, land was mea-
sured with rods and areas calculated in local units
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such as cubits (approximately 18 inches or 46
centimetres) and gunthas (40 gunthas equalling 1
acre or 0.4 hectare). Land under cultivation
increased under demographic pressure, and new
settlements emerged in hitherto uncultivated areas.
Significantly, it was the village patil (accountant)
who was responsible for inducing villagers to
extend the area under cultivation and for organiz-
ing settlement in newly reclaimed areas. Two main
categories of agricultural land were recognized:
arable land in general and horticultural land, the
latter supplied with a well for the cultivation of
irrigated vegetables and fruit trees.
Revenue came from four types of productive
land: hereditary property; grants of land held rent
free, often as a hereditary award for meritorious
service; non-hereditary land yielding temporary
revenue, often to support military service; and land
donated for religious purposes, usually to a temple.
Revenue collection in the village was carried out by
accountants and revenue collectors, who generally
held hereditary offices, and by landlords, who were
responsible for payment of revenue. These officers
and revenue accountants controlled groups of
villages organized into districts (zilla), the bound-
aries of which were invariably based upon natural
topographical features such as hill ranges or river
valleys. Each district was divided into smaller units
comprising one or more villages, while the province
was a larger grouping of districts. By and large, the
administrative structure reflects the history of
reclamation and colonization.3
The present study covers four Maratha maps of
Konkan and the adjacent Karnataka coasts
(14?30'N to 17?0'N and 73?15'E to 74?30'E),
extending from south of Ratnagiri to Kumta on
the west coast of India. All these maps are classed as
medium in scale. None of the maps originally
included a title, those in use today have been
supplied by archivists and cataloguers from internal
evidence. It is difficult to estimate how many maps
of this type exist; the four discussed here are only a
sample. Our objective in this paper is to draw
attention, through a detailed description of maps
which have not been closely examined anywhere
else, to the hitherto unsuspected heights of Ma-
ratha cartography.4
Map of Vijaydurg Taluka
A map of Vijaydurg Taluka (sub-district) has
been preserved in the archival collection of the
Bharat Itihas Samshodak Mandal, Pune, and a 127
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Fig. 1. English translation of the late eighteenth/early nineteenth century map of Vijaydurg Taluka (district) reproduced in colour in Plate 7. E
in Marathi language written in the Devnagari script. The explanatory note on the right is in the Marathi language writt

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photocopy of it is displayed in the Nehru Centre
exhibition at Mumbai (Plate 7). The map is in
colour. The Marathi-language text on the map is
written in the Devnagari script as opposed to the
explanatory note on the right-hand side of the map
which is written, still in Marathi, in Modi script, a
script developed in the Maratha court to confuse
the Mughal rulers of northern and central India.
The map measures approximately 90 X 120 cm and
was drawn on paper which was then pasted on to
cloth. An English translation of the map is given in
Figure 1 and its modern topographical coverage is
shown in Figure 2.
The Vijaydurg Taluka map is oriented with east
at the top. The sea in the west appears at the bottom
of the map, where a number of small bays and
inlets forms the coastline. Water is painted blue
with a basket-weave pattern simulating waves. The
four rivers represented are (from north to south)
the Machkundi, the Rajapur (or Kodavli), the
Vaghotan and the Devgad (or Kharda). To the left
of the Machkundi River is a note stating that the
area to the north of the river is part of Ratnagiri
taluka. The crest of the Sahyadri range (part of the
Western Ghats, which run parallel to the west coast
of India) is marked in deep red.
The explanatory text on the right of the map is
unique; nothing similar has been seen on any other
Maratha map. It is a description of the colour
scheme used to differentiate the administrative
allegiance of certain villages, that is to say, indicat-
ing the revenue unit to which each belonged. Each
village is also identified by its name, written in
Devnagari script within an oval in the appropriate

Fig. 2. Modernsketchmap of area shown on the map of VijaydurgTaluka.Northis at the top of the map. 129

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 colour. Main roads between the villages and across
river valleys are shown by thick red lines. Admin-
istrative areas are also distinguished by ground
colour. Large parts of the central and southern
districts have no villages marked; this appears to
indicate forest areas on the summit of the plateau.
In the Deccan, to the east beyond the Sahyadri
range, on a grey-wash ground, are the forts of
Vishalgad, Gagan Bavda and Shivgad. Passes across
the crest of the mountain range are indicated by a
ladder symbol. Villages beyond the range are
described as belonging to 'Amal [owing allegiance
to] Vishalgad' and 'Amal Bavdekar'. No boundaries
demarcating village territories are shown, but it
may be assumed that all villages in existence at the
time the map was constructed have been named.
Although not drawn to scale, the Vijaydurg
Taluka map is a topological generalization. It shows
the relative location of villages within the district of
Vijaydurg. Use of colour and map symbolism
suggest that the purpose of the map was the
identification and location of villages from which
revenue might be expected. The inlets along the
coast are not accurate navigational configurations,
but they are in correct sequence and relative
position and can be identified. Administrative
terms and allegiances provide a rough indication
of the date of the map, since the terms taluka and
mahal were not in use in the area before the late
eighteenth century. It may be assumed, thus, that
the Vijaydurg Taluka map was prepared at the end
of the eighteenth century or early in the nine-
teenth, just prior to British control of south Konkan
in 1815.
Two Maps of South Konkan
Two maps of southern Konkan are in the
collection of the Bharat Itihas Samshodak Mandal
and depict the area immediately south of Vijaydurg
district. Both maps show the villages on the north
bank of the Devgad, or Kharda, River, but while
one extends as far south as the Terekhol River on
the Goa border (most of modern Sindhudurg
district), the other stops at the valley of the Gad
River. Both maps are bounded on the west by the
Arabian Sea and on the east by the crest of the
Sahyadri range.
During the eighteenth century Maratha power
in the subcontinent was devolved among several
lesser chieftains. Although they owed allegiance to
the titular Maratha leader in Pune, each petty ruler
130 attempted to collect revenue not only from his own
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but also from neighbouring areas, that is, areas also
claimed by another chieftain, which caused fre-
quent clashes within the Maratha hegemony. Thus
as a result of the decline of the Muslim ruler in
Bijapur, a region on the plateau beyond the
Western Ghats, the rulers of Satara (the original
Maratha base), Kolhapur, and Sawantwadi were
disputing the control of southern Konkan, the area
depicted in these two maps.
The two South Konkan maps can be given
approximate dates from internal evidence. The map
covering the larger area (Plate 8) distinguishes land
under Bavdekar administration from the territory
held by 'foreigners' (in this case the Portuguese),
and from the area controlled by the Wadi Bhonsles
(the Maratha family ruling from Sawantwadi).
Forts built by the Bavdekar administration in
1701, and in use until their destruction by the
British in 1818, are shown. Furthermore, the fact
that the villages identified do not extend into the
Sawantwadi territory or the area north of the
Devgad River, but comprise only the revenue
district of Malvan that was part of the Kolhapur
kingdom, suggests that the map was prepared
between 1780 and 1810. The second, larger scale,
map (Plate 9) depicts only the Devgad area. It
appears, from the road network it shows, to be of a
slightly later date.
Both maps have east at the top. Both measure
approximately 92 X 61 cm. They are painted in
water colour on paper afterwards pasted on to
cloth. The Marathi text is written in Devnagari
script. As in the Vijaydurg map, water features on
both the map of Devgad and the map of Malvan are
shown in blue, with wave markings. Fish symbols
probably indicate the tidal limits in the rivers.
Unusually, a bright blue is used to indicate
vegetation and trees, with flowers in red, in a
convention taken from illustrated manuscript texts
of the Hindus and Jains. Elaborate tree motifs have
been used to fill blank spaces in the southern part of
the area shown. Roads are in red, and the forts are
prominently drawn, usually in elevation, to indi-
cate their military and administrative significance.
Although no scale is given, comparison with a
modern large-scale topographical map (Figs. 4 and
6) suggests that approximate proportional distances
have been maintained.
No special attempt has been made to represent
relief, but the scarp of the Sahyadri range is
depicted in elevation as wooded terrain on the
eastern edge of the Konkan, with three forts
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Fig. 3. English translation of the Marathi map of the revenue-administrative system in the taluka of Malvan (1780-1810) reproduced i

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 guarding roads through the passes. Main rivers
with their tributaries and the smaller tidal creeks
are clearly delineated, and their sources and
confluences placed fairly accurately in relation to
human settlements.
The Area between the Devgad and
Terekhol Rivers
The smaller-scale South Konkan map depicts the
area between the fort of Devgad and the Portu-
guese fort at Terekhol (Plate 8 and Fig. 3). The
identification of revenue villages by name and the
definition of boundaries are its most distinctive
features. The limits of each taxable village are
demarcated by a boundary line. The name of the
village is contained within this boundary. Villages
are placed in three geographical groups differen-
tiated by the colour of the boundary line: those
south of the Gad River are enclosed within a red
line; those north of the Gad but south of the Devgad
(Kharda) River are within a blue line; and the few
villages on the north bank of the Devgad are within

Fig. 4. Modern sketch map of the region shown on the Marathi map of the taluka of Malvan. North is at the top of
132 the map.

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Fig. 5. English translation of the Marathi map of the South Konkan coastal area reproduced in Plate 9. The text is in the
Marathi language in Devnagari script. East is at the top.
133

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 another red line. The villages nestling in the deep
valleys of the foothills have no surrounding
boundary line. Colour also appears to have been
used to distinguish the different revenue units
within the district and to indicate within which
jurisdiction each village lies. The unattached vil-
lages of the Sahyadri foothills are possibly new
revenue villages without any established land
tenure or forest villages on the fringes of older
settled land where cultivation had been only
recently established.
The absence of identification and demarcation of
villages in the Sawantwadi in the south and the
Rajapur in the north suggests that this map was
meant for the collection of taxes in the Malvan
district by the Kolhapur kings. The function of the
map in connection with revenue administration is
corroborated by the symbol of a building with a flag
on top of it (kacheri means office), suggesting a
revenue office at Malvan. The identification of
Bavdekar villages at Kachirana and Kurali in the
north-east as distinct from Malvan villages is also a
possible indicator of such a function. A domed
structure at Achra near the coast may represent a
customs post at the port.
Boats on the sea have been carefully depicted.
Near Devgad and Achra are two double-masted,
partly decked fishing boats, while to the south of
Malvan is a three-masted trading vessel. Prominent
on the map are several forts, drawn in plan form
but exaggeratedly large in proportion to other
features. The suffix 'gad' itself means fort, and the
number of names with this ending indicates the
large number of fortified villages. However, only
the major ones been have shown with red and blue
circular symbols, the smaller ones such as Sidhgad
and Ramgad are enclosed only by rectangles.
The map shows the Maratha system of tax
administration in southern Konkan as it existed in
the late eighteenth century, with clearly marked
revenue villages, the local revenue headquarters,
defensive military outposts and harbours. The
importance of maritime links in this part of the
Konkan can be inferred from the number of ports
that have been named and from the harbour and
estuarine defences; roads, especially those inland or
running in a north-south direction, have largely
been ignored.
The Area between the Devgad and Gad Rivers
The second map of southern Konkan in the
134 Bharat Itihas Samshodak Mandal collection is
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similar in style to the first but differs in several
important respects (Plate 9 and Fig. 5).5 It is the
same size, but since it is drawn at a larger scale, a
smaller area is shown. It also has east at the top,
uses a similar colour scheme and has Marathi text
in Devnagari script. On this map, however, village
names are simply given in elliptical frames and no
attempt has been made to define the boundaries of
tax districts. Forts are coloured blue but are less
prominently depicted. The anchorage at the port of
Devgad is shown further inland, within a protected
inlet; the canoes at the ports of Devgad and Achra
are smaller. No reference is made to revenue
jurisdiction in any area.
The emphasis on this map appears to be
mobility, rather than revenue collection. This is
borne out by the large number of roads marked in
red. Most of these roads run inland from the coast.
Four are shown ascending the scarp of the Sayhadri
range and crossing over to the Deccan plateau at
fortified points. Along the foothills a road runs in a
north-south direction.
The depiction and distribution of vegetation is
also different from that on the smaller-scale map.
Wooded areas, shown with blue tree symbols, are
especially noticeable on the western slopes of the
Sahyadri and along the stream beds. Fewer tree
symbols and a larger number of villages are shown
along the Achra valley, possibly as an indication of
recent deforestation resulting from the increased
use of the river for transport and the establishment
of new ports at the estuaries, and boat building. If
this map is truly of a later date, then a comparison
of the two maps could indicate the beginning of the
process of deforestation in southern Konkan which
has continued to this day.
Map of North Kanara
The National Archives at Delhi holds in its
collection a map catalogued as 'Goa Zillah' [dis-
trict], which is actually a portrayal of north Kanara
(Uttar Kannada) (Figs. 7 and 8).6 The map is on
paper mounted on cloth and measures 166 X 60
cm. It is hand-written in black ink on several sheets
of paper, each measuring roughly 41 X 32 cm. R. H.
Phillimore said that he found a Portuguese water-
mark on the paper.7 The Marathi text is written in
Modi script. Some English translations have been
added here and there in two different inks. All text
is written in one direction, to be read with the map
oriented towards the east.
This map, written in Marathi although it does
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Fig. 6. Modern sketch map of the region shown on the Marathi map of the South Konkan coast. North is at the top

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Fig. 7. Transcription of the map of the North Kanara taluka (? late eighteenth century). Place-names are in the Marathi language written in the M
original, not reproduced here, is in the National Archives, Delhi.

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 Fig. 8. English translation of the North Kanara map.

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 ir*q' -

Fig. 9. Modernsketchmap of the area shown on the NorthKanaramap. Northis at the top.

not depict Maratha territory, shows part of the
north Kanara coast, south of Goa, and covers the
districts of Karwar and Ankola and part of Kumta
district. From internal evidence it appears likely
that it was prepared in the second half of the
eighteenth century when this area was controlled
at various times by the Portuguese, the British and
the Marathas, with occasional incursions by Hyder
Ali and Tipu Sultan from Mysore. Susan Gole
quotes Phillimore's opinion that the map might
have been prepared some time after 1799, follow-
ing the defeat of Tipu Sultan by the British, but she
suggests that its similarity to other Maratha maps
138 implies that such cartographic artefacts were in use
before this date. The map is in the same carto-
graphical tradition as the maps from southern
Konkan, and is probably of a date similar to them,
the last quarter of the eighteenth century.
The area depicted stretches from the Kali River
on the Goa border in the north to the Aghanashini
(Tadri) River in the south. It thus covers an area of
approximately 60 kilometres along the coast and 20
kilometres inland, 14?25'N to 15?N, and 74?3'E to
74?30'E. Figure 9 shows the area in question on a
modern map. Single lines depict village boundaries,
but unlike the maps just discussed, signs and
symbols are little used apart from the portrayal of
two fish in the sea and several forts. But the map

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compensates for the lack of symbolism by an
abundance of text relating to topography, vegeta-
tion, drainage and cultural features such as settle-
ments, forts, roads and ferries, and the main
markets or bazaars. Along the coast the location
of bays, such as Belekeri Alwe and Manjguni Alwe,
is noted. The apparent lack of selectivity between
trivial and major features gives the map a clumsy
appearance but the vast store of information that
has been included makes it a remarkable docu-
ment.
The map appears to have been produced for
military purposes and prepared in non-Maratha
territory. Aesthetically unappealing, and perhaps
unfinished, it is simple in design, layout and
composition. The details reveal a fair knowledge
of land survey, and it can be suggested that it
formed a primary source for the surveys initiated by
Colonel Colin Mackenzie in this area in 1806 and
that Mackenzie had in some way acquired and used
it. The fact that it has been preserved in the British-
established Archives in New Delhi (now called the
National Archives) with English translations of
some place-names, supports such a view. It is
known that later on Mackenzie paid particular
attention to hilly and forested areas, and both these
categories are well depicted on this map, with
indications of the differences in quality of the forest.
Mackenzie was always alert for maps and other
useful material while carrying out his surveys, and
he left substantial collections on his death.
Although apparently in the same style as the
maps of south Konkan, the map of North Kanara
differs in its lack of decorative work, poverty of
symbolism and reliance on script for contextual
description. Although Mackenzie used it much
later, the Mysore-Maratha wars, and the occupa-
tion of the area by Marathas for a short time in the
second half of the eighteenth century, perhaps help
establish its date of composition.
Cartographical Evaluation
The authorship of the four maps is elusive, since
none has been signed. Nor is it possible to establish
which court or courts provided the royal patronage
for their preparation. All lack a stated scale.
Comparison with modern topographic maps sug-
gests that there may have been an underlying sense
of scale, but neither verbal nor graphic indication of
scale has so far been found on any Maratha map
before the beginning of the nineteenth century.
Direction, like distance, is also a difficult param-
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eter to establish and use in mapping. All Maratha
maps without exception state which is the top of
the map. Like the majority of Hindu maps from
western India, Maratha maps usually placed east-
the direction of the rising sun-at the top. In many
cases, the named cardinal points are intended not
as accurate readings but rather to indicate the broad
sector.
Rarely were locations pin-pointed with a dot, as
in Western maps; more commonly a site was
roughly identified by its name which was some-
times encircled. Symbols came to be used in maps
of large areas, although frequently they are fewer
than might be wished. Relief was depicted through
a generalized hillcrest profile. Streams were shown
by irregular lines, often double or more thickly
drawn towards the mouth. Vegetation received
particular attention, especially in the later maps.
The use of different vegetation symbols on a single
map is common, and study is required to elicit any
intended differentiation between various types of
flora. Forts and royal centres were usually depicted
symbolically, and in the Konkan maps their size is
also indicated either by the use of different symbols
or by colour. Distinction was made among the
Sahyadri hill forts, forts in the plains and those on
the coast. Fish were drawn in the sea and navigable
rivers, and boats, both sailing and rowing, were
shown near the harbours.
The size of the symbols varied according to the
aesthetic taste of the maker and to the space
available on the map. Most were grossly dispropor-
tionate to reality. No attempt was made to
standardize or conventionalize the use of symbols,
though their similarity to natural features creates a
certain homogeneity. No legends were used to
explain the meaning of the symbols, and the user
was left to identify them from the context or by
analogy.
Colour and shading were used in most of the
maps but not according to any conventional
principle. The most common colours are blue,
yellow-grey, brownish-red and red-all natural
pigments derived from vegetable dyes or ochres
that can readily be used in a wash. Although blue is
the most frequent colour for water, sometimes a
grey wash has been used; however, alterations in
the pigment may have occurred over the years. The
age-old convention in Indian painting of blue
vegetation with red flowers is frequently seen, but
sometimes the vegetation is green. Roads are
usually grey-brown or red. In the revenue maps 139
 of Konkan and Bavda, colours appear to have been
used rationally to differentiate revenue units and to
provide quick identification.
Maps in the Maratha tradition did not carry
descriptive legends; the symbolism, however, was
clearly well recognized among those for whom the
maps were prepared. The sole map with a legend so
far discovered is that of Vijaydurg (Plate 7) with its
panel explaining the use of colours to distinguish
villages belonging to various revenue units. The
earliest Maratha maps were almost entirely pictor-
ial. The use of text to indicate location gradually
came into use, and this practice was extended for
other aspects of the map, such as distance and
ownership. The script used was either Modi or
Devnagari for Hindu maps and Persian or Urdu for
Islamic maps. No systematic pattern appears to
have been followed, and on early maps text was
often in two or more lines according to the available
space and ran in any direction. Later the text came
to be written in a uniform direction in relation to
the orientation of the map. Little use was made of
differing size or style of lettering to indicate relative
importance.
Acknowledgements. The authorsare thankfulto the autho-
rities of Bharat Itihas SamshodhakaMandal, Pune, the
Nehru Centre,Mumbai,and the NationalArchives,New
Delhi, for their co-operationin the preparationof this
article. Particular thanks are due to Susan Gole for her
invaluable help, especially over an early draft of this
paper.
for the History
Paper read at the 17th InternationalConference
of Cartography,Lisbon, July 1997. Revisedtext receivedJuly
1997.
NOTESAND REFERENCES
1. D. V. Kale, 'Maps and charts', Bharata Itihasa
Samshodhaka Mandal Quarterly (Pune), special issue for
the Indian History Congress of 1948, vol. 29, nos. 115-16,
pp. 60-65; C. D. Deshpande, 'A note on Maratha
cartography', The Indian Archives, 7 (New Delhi, 1953):
87-94; Susan Gole, Indian Maps and Plans from Earliest
Times to the Advent of European Surveys (New Delhi,
Manohar, 1989), 140-41.
2. R. H. Phillimore, ed, HistoricalRecordsof the Surveyof
India (5 vols., Dehra Dun, Office of the Geodetic Branch,
Survey of India, 1945-1968).
3. S. Sen, AdministrativeSystemsof the Marathas (Calcutta,
Calcutta University Press, 1925).
4. In Volume 2 of the Historyof Cartography(pp. 422-24),
Joseph Schwartzberg makes reference to two of the maps
(Devgad and North Kanara) examined in this paper, as
well as a later map of western India (J. E. Schwartzberg,
'Geographical Mapping', in The Historyof Cartography,Vol.
2, Book 1: TraditionalCartographyin the TraditionalIslamic
and South Asian Societies(Chicago, University of Chicago
Press, 1992), 388-493).
5. Susan Gole, India within the Ganges (New Delhi, Jaya
Prints, 1983), 15-23.
6. National Archives of India (Delhi), Cat. No. F124/2.
7. R. H. Phillimore, 'Three Indian maps', ImagoMundi, 9
(1952): 113-14.

Cartesregionalesde la cartographiemarathe:6tudedes cartesindigenesde l'Inde occidentale

Les differentes cartes heritees des anciennes possessions marathes de l'Inde occidentale font preuve d'un
degre de valeur et d'evolution certain dans l'histoire de la cartographie indigene de l'Inde. La plupart des
cartes conservees remontent aux dix-septieme et dix-huitieme siecles. Plusieurs sont deja bien connues pour
leurs descriptions de forteresses terrestres et maritimes et de plans de batailles. Pourtant ce n'est que
recemment qu'on a retrouve un certain nombre de plans ou de cartes regionales, en ecriture modi ou
devnagari, qui fournissent des indications administratives, des implantations strategiques ainsi que les
principales voies de communications. Nous apportons dans cet article une description complete de quatre de
ces cartes regionales-de la region cotiere de Konkan (de Mumbai, auparavant Bombay, a Mangalore)-et un
jugement critique sur leur cartographie.

eine Untersuchungzu einheimischenKartenIndiens

Gebietskartenin der Maratha-Kartographie:
Das vielfaltige kartographische Erbe der ehemaligen Marathen-Gebiete reprasentiert ein bedeutendes und
hoch entwickeltes Stadium in der einheimischen indischen Kartographie. Der Grogteil der erhaltenen Karten
stammt aus dem siebzehnten und achtzehnten Jahrhundert. Aufgrund ihrer Darstellungen von Festungen
auf Hugeln oder an der Kuiistesowie von Schlachtfeldern wurden einige von ihnen bereits allgemein bekannt.
Erst vor kurzer Zeit entdeckte man hingegen eine Reihe von Gebiets- oder Regionalkarten (in Modi- oder
Devanagari-Schrift), die administrative Aspekte sowie wichtige Siedlungen und bedeutende Verkehrsver-
bindungen zeigen. In diesem Beitrag werden vier derartige Gebietskarten-das Kuistengebiet von Konkan
(Mumbai, ehemals Bombay, bis Mangalore) betreffend-systematisch beschrieben und ihr Kartenbild kritisch
140 bewertet.

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Plate 7. Map of Vijaydurg Taluka administrative area. East is at the top. See Figures 1 and 2 in text. The text on the map is
in Marathi language written in the Devnagari script. The explanatory note on the right is in the Marathi language written in
Modi script. (From archives, Bharat Itihas Samshodak Mandal, Pune.) (pp. 128 & 129.)

Plate 8. Marathi map of the revenue-administration system in the taluka of Malvan, between the Devgad and Terekhol
rivers, on the south Konkan coast north of Goa. (From archives, Bharat Itihas Samshodak Mandal, Pune.) (pp. 130 & 131.)

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Plate 9. South Konkan coastal area between the Devgad (Kharda) and Gad rivers. This seems to be a road map, possibly of slightly
later date than than the map in Plate 8. The text is in the Marathi language in Devnagari script. (From the archives, Bharat Itihas
Samshodak Mandal, Pune.) (pp. 130 & 133.)

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