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Nature of The Maratha State Under The Peshwas

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141 views2 pages

Nature of The Maratha State Under The Peshwas

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navishab91
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© © All Rights Reserved
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Nature of the Maratha State under the Peshwas

Three broad phases in the important position in the system, which in


development of the Maratha polity may be its working changed little till the time of
distinguished: the early phase lasting up Baji Rao II, when the old rules were
to the flight of Raja Ram to Jinji (1689); thrown to the winds and land was farmed
the stage of expansion lasting more or to the highest bidder. During his rule,
less up to Battle of Panipat (1761); and many mamalatdars became revenue
the final phase up to the final defeat of farmers or disappeared from the scene.
the Marathas by the British in 1818 and
the establishment of British paramountcy. The assessment under the
The rise of the Peshwas to supreme Peshwas, though perhaps not higher than
power in the state and the gradual decline in the time of Shivaji, was swelled by a
of the Maratha king and the ashtapradhan large number of cesses. The rise of a new
did not imply a great change in the nobility consisting of military chiefs and
Maratha polity as has been greatly their dependents affected the Maratha
assumed. state chiefly in its external aspect. These
chiefs were required to raise their own
Under Raja Ram and Sahu, the troops, and were paid by the assignment
leading officers of the state, the of mokasa and saranjams out of the
pratinidhi, the sachiv, etc. became Maratha claim for chauth and
practically hereditary. As such, they sardeshmukhi from the territories
enjoyed certain perquisites and comprising the Mughal Empire.
privileges, which were called watan. The
lands they had held before as mokasa or The king’s share of the chauth was
saranjam also became their hereditary to be collected for him by his leading
possession (jagir), with administrative officers, the peshwa, pratinidhi, etc. The
and judicial powers vested in the Maratha king thus became, to some
grantees. extent, a pensioner of his leading officers.
This process was carried further by
Efforts to place a check on the assigning to these officers the
local ambitions of these officers, by the responsibility of maintaining different
provision that their chief agents would be departments of the king’s establishment.
appointed by the Peshwa were ineffective
from the beginning. Apart from this, the This system created a multiplicity
general pattern of administration was of local agents. In every mahal, 2 sets of
more or less same as in the time of Maratha agents were appointed – one
Shivaji. The swarajya territory was called the kamaishdars for collecting the
divided into subas, tarf and mauzas as chauth (a levy of ¼ of the land revenue in
before, and various officers – havaldars, return for immunity); the other, the
kamvishdars, mamalatdars, etc. – were gumashta of the sardeshmukhi for
appointed to them. Satish Chandra says realizing the 10%, reserved for the
that, ‘It does not seem that these offices Maratha king. Apart from this, they also
had generally become hereditary’. realized separately, the customary
‘imposts’. Secondly, inclusive of abwabs
The deshmukhs, desais, patils, etc. called faujdari, shiqdari, ziafat, etc., the
helped in collecting the government’s Marathas received merely ½ the total
revenue as before. The assessment was revenue recorded in the government roll.
based upon a careful classification of land
on the basis of productivity and means of Besides this, the Marathas
irrigation. The village patil occupied an appointed their own collectors of rahdari
Nature of the Maratha State under the Peshwas

in each district. Apart from this, in some to pay various charges at a lower scale.
areas where the villages had been laid Mamalatdars, kamvishdars, etc., were
waste by the Marathas, and which had appointed to collect the land revenue
again been brought under cultivation, from the areas not under the great chiefs.
under special agreement, the Marathas
disregarded the agreement and made The revenue was either fixed on
different arrangements. ‘They recognized the individual peasant and collected
3 shares: one was for the jagirdar, one through the patil, or assessed as a lump
they took themselves and the 3rd they left sum on the pargana, which was then
to the raiyats. distributed over the villages in
consultation with the patil. Where the
The expansion of Maratha power patil was not strong enough to secure
into Malwa and Gujarat, and subsequently payment with requisite punctuality, or
into northern India and the Martha policy where from any course they thought it
in these areas forms a part of the 3rd or would pay better, the Marathas either
final stage phase of development. In reduced him to a normal position or gave
Malwa and Gujarat, the claim for chauth over the village to a revenue farmer who
and sardeshmukhi was rapidly commuted agreed to pay in the whole sum assessed.
into a demand for the cession of land and
was followed soon after by the outright A study of the Maratha polity thus
transfer of these provinces to the shows that the Maratha Movement, which
Marathas. In Rajasthan, the Marathas did started as a regional reaction against the
not demand chauth or sardeshmukhi but Mughal Empire, resulted in reproduction
imposed khandani or mamlat (tribute) on in regional centres of many of the
the rajas. essential features of the Decanni-Mughal
system of administration adopted by
As long as the tribute was paid, Shivaji.
the Marathas did not interfere in the
internal administration of the Rajput
states (except for Ajmer). The Marathas
did not displace the zamindars and the
hereditary chiefs in the areas ruled by
them, or disturb the old pattern of land
revenue administration there. The chiefs
were allowed to remain practically
autonomous, subject to the payment of
tribute or quit rent. Marathas were not
appointed zamindar or qanungo of a
province, or to any hereditary district or
village office, north of the Narbada.

The Marathas, however, controlled


the chief offices and supplied the armed
following, and were granted saranjams
for their support. These were for life only
and were not hereditary. The holders of
various types of charitable grants (inam,
madad-i-maash, etc.) were allowed to
enjoy their grants, but they were required

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