Book excerpt: This book is about the landlords or the revenue officers of the administrative system recognized as the Watan System which was rampant for more than five centuries before India’s independence. With a focus on the Deshmukhi Watan or the Desgut, held by Deshmukhs or Desais, this volume presents the hierarchy of the chain of officers like the Patils, Deshpandes, Kulkarnis, etc., and attempts to reflect on the status accorded to them by the society and the treatment they received from the British in the 19th century. Topics explored in this volume relate to the administrative history, the judicial institutions, laws of inheritance, role of religion, commonness of superstition, customs and traditions, etc. We find ample citations of the authoritative sources backing the views expressed by the author at every turn as we proceed. The book has a foreword written by Dr. Teotonio R. de Souza, a historian and the founder of Xavier Center for Historical Research, Goa.