Mahar families inherited village land in return for hereditary service; Ambedkar told them to give it up, and Bombay abolished the watans in 1958

Under the village service system, Mahar families, classed as untouchable, served as watchmen, trackers of thieves, messengers and wall-menders, settled boundary disputes and removed dead cattle. In return the village gave them a watan: a hereditary right to a small piece of rent-free land and a share of the harvest. Watans passed by primogeniture and could not be freely sold. The whole family could be called for service at any hour. Shahu of Kolhapur abolished the Mahar watan in his state in 1918. B.R. Ambedkar saw it as a major part of Dalit exploitation that gave "false security" and tied Mahars to the village. In 1927 he asked Mahars to give up their watan lands. On 3 and 4 August 1928 he presented a proposal in the Bombay legislature to amend the Hereditary Offices Act of 1874. In 1956 he and his followers converted to Buddhism at Nagpur, and he died about two months later. The 1958 Act abolished "the hereditary village offices of lower degree" and their watans. The land was taken by the government and regranted to the holders as occupants on payment of a multiple of the land revenue. Courts were still deciding regrant and title disputes under the Act in 2020.