Western India in historical transition

A great book if you want to understand Deccan society in early modern period. Hiroyuki Kotani is a Japanese scholar who can be called a successor of another brilliant Japanese scholar Hiroshi Fukazawa. Kotani's essays help us understand the 'balutedari' system prevalent in the Maratha-controlled region and the role that hereditary officials such as Deshmukh, Deshpande, Patil, Kulkarni, vatandar Mahar, etc, performed in this society. Kotani also describes the transformation that the Deccan society went through after the East India Company wrested power from the Peshwas in 1818.