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village accountants liberally patronized poets and many individuals of talents were maintained by them.
Although, the Maratta language was spoken many ages ago and is a dialect of the Sanscrit, it was never brought to a standard till the time of Gnaneswar Namadeo, and Sopanadeo, who compiled dictionaries and vocabularies of that tongue, but still no granmmar was in existence until a long time, afterwards a bramin named Anuntadeva Bhatt undertook the task, and composed a philological treatise, which is frequently referred to; the work is entitled Sarva Sastra Upayogi, and possesses considerable merit. The Maratta princes and chiefs were principally of a warlike character, and no great encouragers of learning, or poetry, there were consequently very few poets produced in that country, and their talents were principally confined, to the praises of deities and similar subjects.
The materials to compile the present biographical sketches were collected by me,
