Compiled in 18th and 19th centuries by village accountants, based on earlier records, the kaifiyats are a valuable source of local history.
[3] The kaifiyats are written in multiple scripts and languages, including Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, and Sanskrit.
[1] Even before the kaifiyats were first compiled in the 18th century, the village officials of the Telugu-speaking region maintained chronicles called dandakavile or kavile.
By the late 18th century, such officials had started compiling local records in form of kaifiyats, transmitting them from one generation to another.
[2] The British East India Company officer Colin Mackenzie and his assistants came across the kaifiyats, and valued them as sources of local history.