Scribes in early modern South Asia relied on their skill in writing to secure the support of powerful courtly patrons. The rapid expansion of emerging regional states in the eighteenth century created new opportunities to apply these skills to administration, land-holding, and politics. This article examines the changing professional identity of the Kayastha scribal household in eighteenth-century western India. I focus on the ascendancy of the Chitnis household of Satara in the context of the growth and diversification of Kayastha employment under the Maratha sovereign Shahu Bhonsle (1682–1749). By consolidating portfolios of titles, appointments, and rights to property, ambitious scribes and secretaries, as epitomised by the career of Govind Khanderao Chitnis (d. 1785), were able to pursue riskier and more lucrative political assignments and form networks of kinsmen and associates across Maratha governments. Yet greater scrutiny and competition for state largesse, not least from within the Chitnis household itself, forced members of later generations to adopt creative and sometimes risky strategies to defend their claims to property. This article explores how the profound dislocations of political transformation in eighteenth-century South Asia enabled distinctive modes of individual and collective self-fashioning amongst skilled, upwardly mobile groups.

现代南亚早期的抄写员依靠他们的写作技巧来获得强大的有礼貌的顾客的支持。十八世纪新兴区域国家的迅速发展创造了将这些技能应用于行政管理，土地所有权和政治的新机会。本文研究了18世纪印度西部Kayastha抄写员家庭不断变化的职业身份。我将重点放在马拉塔什国王沙胡·蓬瑟（Shahu Bhonsle，1682-1749年）领导下的Kayastha就业的增长和多样化的背景下，萨塔拉（Satara）的奇特尼斯（Chitnis）家庭的崛起。通过合并所有权，任命和财产权，雄心勃勃的文士和秘书的投资组合，正如戈文德·坎德劳·奇特尼斯（Govind Khanderao Chitnis（卒于1785年））的职业所体现的那样，能够从事更具风险和更有利可图的政治任务，并在整个马拉松政府之间形成亲属和同伙的网络。然而，对国家慷慨的严格审查和竞争，尤其是在基特尼斯家庭内部，迫使后代成员采取创造性的，有时甚至是冒险的策略来捍卫其财产权。本文探讨了十八世纪南亚地区政治转型的深远错综复杂，是如何在技能娴熟且向上流动的群体中实现独特的个体和集体自我塑造模式的。迫使后代成员采取创造性的，有时甚至冒险的策略来捍卫自己对财产的主张。本文探讨了十八世纪南亚地区政治转型的深远错综复杂如何使熟练的向上流动的群体实现了独特的个体和集体自我塑造模式。迫使后代成员采取创造性的，有时甚至冒险的策略来捍卫自己对财产的主张。本文探讨了十八世纪南亚地区政治转型的深远错综复杂，是如何在技能娴熟且向上流动的群体中实现独特的个体和集体自我塑造模式的。