A History of the Mahrattas v1.c14: Chapter VII
A History of the Mahrattas v1.c14
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Chapter VII
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A.D. 1667.—THE re-appointment of Sultan Mauzum, as viceroy of the Deccan, accompanied by Jeswunt Sing, was very agreeable to Sivajee; with the latter he had become personally acquainted at Delhi. Jeswunt Sing was generally considered of a respectable character, but known to be tainted in a high degree with the vice of avarice, so common to Rajpoots. He was also a staunch Hindoo,¹ suspected by Aurungzebe, whom he first opposed and afterwards joined during his rebellion. Sultan Mohummud Mauzum was in many respects a prince of an excellent disposition: he was brave, generous, and confiding; but with the defects which some of these qualities, unrestrained, may engender; he was fond of pleasure, lavish, easily persuaded, and much swayed by Jeswunt Sing.
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¹ His well-known letter to Aurungzebe concerning the jizeea or poll-tax, on all persons not professing Mahomedanism, is preserved by the Raja of Kolapoor, as the production of Sivajee. [See O.H.I., p. 439 n. Professor Sarkar supports Dr. Smith's thesis that the letter was sent by Sivājī (R.A.S. MS., 71), the actual writer being Nīl Prabhū Munshi. Sivājī, himself, was too illiterate to have composed so finished a composition. Tod (Annals, i. 400 f.) ascribes the authorship of the letter to Rānā Rāj Singh of Mēwār.]
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Sivajee did not deceive himself in supposing that gold might effect much with persons of this character; and he accordingly used it with no sparing hand. The ostensible intercourse between Sivajee and Sultan Mauzum commenced by a petition from the former, imploring the prince to intercede for him, assuring him of his sincerity, and of his intention to adhere for the future to the Emperor, although his services had been slighted. Representations were in due form made to court: and it being at all events then convenient for Aurungzebe to accede to them, Sultan Mauzum obtained for Sivajee the title¹ of Raja,² a confirmation of the munsub for Sumbhajee, and a Jagheer in Berar.³ To the charge of this new and distant acquisition, which was given in preference to admitting any claim on Joonere or Ahmednugur, a Bramin, named Raojee Somnath, was dispatched with a fit establishment, and with the old Beejapoor title of Mokassadar,⁴ thus applied for the first time to a Mahratta collector. Sumbhajee with a body of horse was sent to join the prince at Aurungabad; but owing to his extreme youth he was permitted to return to his father,⁵ and Kartojee Goozur, dignified by Sivajee with the title of Pertab Rao, and with the rank of Surnobut of the horse,⁶ was left in command of the contingent. The districts of Poona, Chakun, and Sopa were also restored to Sivajee, but the commanding forts of Singurh and Poorundhur were retained.⁷
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¹ Original letter.
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² [Professor Sarkar (Shivaji and His Times, p. 204) states that Aurangzeb recognized Sivājī’s title of Rājā in 1668. A letter purporting to be from Aurangzeb to Sivājī, dated February 24, 1668, in which the Emperor ‘dignifies’ Sivājī with the title of Rājā, is printed on page 225 of A History of the Maratha People, by Kincaid and Parasnis.]
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³ Mahratta MSS.
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⁴ Mahratta MS. and paper.
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⁵ Scott’s Deccan, and Mahratta MSS.
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⁶ Mahratta MSS. Netajee Palkur, the predecessor of Kartojee Goozur, was, according to Khafee Khan, made prisoner by Jey Sing, and sent to Delhi by the Emperor’s orders, where he became a Mahomedan, obtained a munsub, and the title of Mohummud Koolee, but afterwards returned to Sivajee. This is not mentioned by the Mahrattas, although it may have been so. Among Mahrattas he never could have been respected, obeyed, or noticed, as a renegado.
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⁷ Mahratta MSS.
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A.D. 1668.—There is no way in which we can account for the Emperor’s acquiescing in all these favours to Sivajee, unless with a view of again alluring him into his power, as is asserted in the Mahratta manuscripts; but there is no evidence of Sultan Mauzum’s having been from the first privy to that design, or any satisfactory proof of his lending himself to his father in a feigned rebellion, for the triple purpose of entrapping Sivajee, ascertaining the disaffected nobles in the empire, and rendering himself an object of suspicion and distrust to all who would venture their lives in his cause.
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Of such refinement in intrigue, it is on first view very possible to conceive Aurungzebe capable; but further considered, danger, folly, and baseness in the parties, are too conspicuous to admit the probability without the clearest proof.
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About the middle of this year, a treaty was concluded at Agra betwixt Aurungzebe and Ali Adil Shah; the terms, on the part of the Beejapoor court, were negotiated by Shah Abdool Hoossein Kamana, who gave up, as the price of peace, the fort of Sholapoor and territory yielding 180,000 pagodas of annual revenue. No other particulars are ascertained; but in consequence, as is supposed, of this treaty, Sivajee, lest the Moghuls should interfere, had an interview with Jeswunt Sing and the prince, in order to purchase their connivance to his designs on Beejapoor and Golcondah.¹ He was about to levy his chouth and surdeshmookhee from the former, when Abdool Mohummud, the prime minister, purchased exemption, by agreeing to pay him an annual sum of three lacks of rupees.² This compact, like the others entered into with that minister by Sivajee, was kept secret at Beejapoor,³ where the Mahomedans had still pride enough to feel the degrading submission of paying tribute to Hindoos, although a factious nobility and a wasteful court deprived the minister of means to assert the dignity of the kingdom.
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¹ English Records and Mahratta MS.
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² Mahratta MSS., and Scott's Deccan.
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³ Mahratta MSS.
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Some agreement of a similar nature was entered into by Kootub Shah,⁴ and the amount stipulated at five lacks of rupees.
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⁴ Scott's Deccan.
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Whilst such was the state of his political relations in the Deccan, Sivajee turned his attention to acquiring complete possession of the Concan. Goa and Jinjeera were his first objects; but a plot he had formed for the surprise of the Portuguese settlement was discovered and frustrated,⁵ and his utmost efforts were in vain exerted to possess himself of the impregnable Jinjeera. The Seedee, however, was hard pressed; he solicited assistance from the English at Bombay; and the factors were so little conscious of the importance of their own island, that they suggested to their supreme council at Surat the many advantages of Jinjeera over Bombay as a settlement⁶; but their injudicious recommendation appears to have been treated with the neglect it merited.
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⁵ Mahratta MS. and English Records.
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⁶ English Records. Letter from the factors at Bombay. [Pepys echoed the general opinion when he spoke of Bombay as ‘the poor
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A.D. 1669.—The years 1668 and 1669 were those of greatest leisure in Sivajee's life. Some of his contemporaries, speculating on future events, supposed, from his apparent inactivity, that he would sink into insignificance¹; but he employed this interval in revising and completing the internal arrangements of his government; with which, and his various institutions, we shall now endeavour to make the reader acquainted. They will be found well worthy of attention, not only in themselves, but as a key to elucidate the forms of government afterwards adopted by every Mahratta state. Sivajee's regulations were gradually formed and enlarged, but, after a certain period, underwent no change by the extension of his territory, until he assumed the ensigns of royalty. Even then, the alterations directed were rather in matters of form than innovations on established rules. The plans of Mahratta encroachment, which were afterwards pursued so successfully by his nation, may be traced from a very early period; and nothing is more remarkable, in regard to Sivajee, than the foresight with which some of his schemes were laid, and the fitness of his arrangements for the genius of his countrymen.
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The foundation of his power was his infantry; his occupation of the forts gave him a hold on the country, and a place of deposit for his plunder. His cavalry, as far as we have proceeded, had not yet spread the terror of the Mahratta name where the existence of such a people was unknown; but we shall at once state, as briefly as the subject will admit, the rules of formation and discipline for his troops, the interior economy of his infantry and cavalry, the regulations for his forts, his revenue and judicial arrangements, and the chief offices through which his government was administered.
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Sivajee's infantry was raised in the Ghaut-Mahta and Concan; those of the former tract were called Mawulees, those of the latter Hetkurees.¹ These men brought their own arms, and were only
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¹ Correspondence of the English factories.
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little Island.' Sir Gervase Lucas, who arrived in Bombay as Commander-in-Chief in November 1666, took a more optimistic view of the value of the island, but its great potentialities were first recognized fully by Gerald Aungier, after its transfer by Charles II to the Company. (See B.C.G., ii. 48.)]
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² [The Hetkarīs, who may have comprised a certain number of Konkani Marāthās, were chiefly Bandhārīs, between whom and the Marāthās there is a distinct ethnological affinity. The Bandhārīs are divided into several endogamous and exogamous septs bearing the
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furnished with ammunition by government. Their dress, though not uniform, was generally a pair of short drawers coming halfway down the thigh, a strong narrow band of considerable length tightly girt about the loins, a turban, and sometimes a cotton frock. Most of them wore a cloth round their waist, which likewise answered the purposes of a shawl.
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Their common arms consisted of a sword, shield, and matchlock. Some of the Hetkurees, especially the infantry of Sawunt-Waree, used a species of firelock; the invention of the lock for the flint having been early received from the Portuguese. Every tenth man, instead of firearms, carried a bow and arrows which were useful in night attacks and surprises, when the firearms were kept in reserve or prohibited. The Hetkurees excelled as marksmen; but they could seldom be brought to desperate attacks, sword in hand, for which the Mawulees of Sivajee became celebrated. Both of them possessed an extraordinary facility of climbing, and could mount a precipice or scale a rock with ease, where men of other countries must have run great risk of being dashed to pieces.
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Every ten men had an officer called a Naik, and every fifty a Havildar. The officer over a hundred was termed Joomladar, and the commander of a thousand was styled ek-Huzaree. There were also officers of five thousand, between whom and the Surnobut, or chief commander, there was no intermediate gradation.
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The cavalry were of the two kinds already described, Bargeers and Sillidars¹; only Sivajee’s Bargeers were generally mounted
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¹ The Sillidars, and all horsemen who did not belong to the Pagah, were obliged to furnish their own ammunition; there were particular rules, and the most careful system of economy laid down by Sivajee for subsisting his Pagah.
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same names as the corresponding Marāthā divisions, e.g. Gāvade, or Gāude, and Shinde, Jādhav, Kadam and Chavān. One of these divisions, the Kitte, is again subdivided into Hetkaris and Upakaris. The Kitte Bandhāris rose to power in Alībāg, Chaul and Bassein, and in later years formed a trusty element in the military and naval forces of the Portuguese, Angria and the British. The chief occupation of the caste being the drawing of toddy (tādi) from the palm tree, the name is usually held to be derived from the Sanskrit mandhārak, ‘a distiller.’ Mynak Bundaree (Māi Nāik Bandhāri) mentioned on page 148, belonged to this caste, which is settled on the western sea-board and regards Mitgavana village, Ratnāgiri District, as its head quarters. (For further particulars of the Bandhāris and Konkani Marāthās, see B.C.G., i. 231-6; I.G. Bom., ii. 150; B.E.S., Monograph 43.)]
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on horses, the property of the state. A body of this description is termed *Pagah*, or household troops, and Sivajee always placed more dependence on them than on the Sillidars, or any horse furnished on contract by individuals; with both the one and the other of the latter description, he had a proportion of his Pagah intermixed, to overawe the disobedient, and to perfect his system of intelligence, which abroad and at home penetrated into a knowledge of the most private circumstances, prevented embezzlement, and frustrated treachery.
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The Mahratta horsemen are commonly dressed in a pair of tight breeches covering the knee, a turban which many of them fasten by passing a fold of it under the chin, a frock of quilted cotton, and a cloth round the waist, with which they generally gird on their swords in preference to securing them with their belts.¹ The horseman is armed with a sword and shield; a proportion in each body carry matchlocks, but the great national weapon is the spear, in the use of which, and the management of their horses, they evince both grace and dexterity.² The spearmen have generally a sword, and sometimes a shield; but the latter is unwieldy, and only carried in case the spear should be broken.³
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¹ For ornament many of them wear very heavy gold and silver rings, and large ear-rings, which go round the back of the ear; thick necklaces of silver, and sometimes of gold, curiously wrought, are also much worn. All natives of India wear mustachios, and the Mahrattas when they wish to describe a person as *extraordinarily* fierce-looking, mention his turban tied beneath his chin, and mustachios almost as thick as their arm.
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² The trained spearmen may always be known among Mahrattas by their riding very long, the ball of the toe touching the stirrup; some of the matchlockmen, and most of the Bramins, ride very short and ungracefully.
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³ With respect to the horse’s appointments; the bridle consists of a single head-stall of cotton-rope, or leather, with a small but very severe flexible bit. There is a second head-stall over that of the bridle, to which is fixed a thong, or cotton band, tightly fastened to the girths, and this forms a strong standing martingale. The Mahratta saddle is composed of two pieces, or sides, of very thick felt, strongly sewed and tied together with thongs or cotton rope, leaving a small space between the sides, so as to prevent pressure on the horse’s backbone; attached to this is a crupper, made of cotton rope, frequently covered with a piece of coloured silk or broad cloth. When the saddle is put on, the horseman lays over it his blanket, sometimes a carpet, and any spare clothes he may have. Two cotton bags, or pouches, tied together by a string and thrown over the front part of the saddle, carry either provision or plunder: when all these are adjusted, the
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Over every twenty-five horsemen Sivajee had a Havildar. To one hundred and twenty-five there was a Joomladar; and to every five Joomlas, or six hundred and twenty-five, he had a Soobehdar. Every Soobeh had an accountant and auditor of accounts, appointed by Sivajee, who were liable to be changed, and were invariably Bramins or Purvoes. To the command of every ten Soobehs, or six thousand two hundred and fifty horse, which were only rated at five thousand, there was a commander styled Punch-huzaree, with whom were also stationed a Muzzimdar, or Bramin auditor of accounts, and a Purvoe register and accountant, who was called Ameen. These were government agents; but besides these, every officer, from the Joomladar upwards, had one or more Carcoons, paid by himself, as well as others in the pay of government.
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There was no officer superior to the commander of five thousand, except the Surnobut or chief commander. There was one Surnobut for the cavalry, and one for the infantry.
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Every Joomla, Soobeh, and Punch-huzar had an establishment of news-writers and avowed spies, besides the secret intelligencers. Sivajee’s head spy was a Mahratta, named Byherjee Naik, to whom, some of the Bramins readily admit, he owed many of the discoveries imputed to the goddess Bhowanee.
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The Mahrattas, and probably all natives of India, are in a peculiar manner roused from indolence and apathy when charged in any degree with responsibility, in what regards their own conduct, or that of another person. Sivajee, at the commencement of his career, personally inspected every man who offered himself, and obtained security from some persons already in his service, for the fidelity and good conduct of those with whom he was not acquainted. This system of security must soon have made almost every man answerable for some of his comrades; and although it could have been in most instances but a mere form, owing to the facility with which the responsibility could be evaded, it was always a part of Sivajee’s instructions to his officers.
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horseman mounts, and the last thing is to seize his spear, which is stuck by the horse’s head in the ground. On the left side and hind part of the saddle is suspended the tobra or feeding bag already described, in which the pegs for picketing the horse, and his head and heel ropes are carried. The horses in India are tied by ropes fastened to two tent pegs, one on each side, and also by ropes extended behind, which secure their heels.
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The Mawulees sometimes enlisted merely on condition of getting a subsistence in grain; but the regular pay of the infantry was from one to three pagodas¹ a month; that of the Bargeers was from two to five; and that of a Sillidar from six to twelve pagodas monthly.² All plunder, as well as prize, was the property of government. It was brought at stated times to Sivajee's durbar or place of public audience, and individuals formally displayed and delivered their captures. They always received some small compensation in proportion; they were praised, distinguished, and promoted according to their success; and to plunder the enemy is to this day used by the Mahrattas to express a victory, of which it is in their estimation the only real proof.
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¹ A Beejapoor Pagoda was valued at from three to four rupees.
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² The pay of a Joomladar in the infantry was seven pagodas; in the cavalry twenty. A Soobehdar of cavalry had fifty pagodas and a palanquin. The pay of a Punch-huzaree was 200 pagodas a month, besides an allowance for a palanquin and aftabgeer.
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The horse, especially at an advanced period of Sivajee's history, were subsisted, during the fair season, in the enemy's country; during the rains, they were generally allowed to rest, and were cantoned in different situations near kooruns or pasture lands, under the protection of some fort, where the grass of the preceding season was stacked, and grain prepared by the time they returned. For this purpose persons were appointed, to whom rent-free lands were hereditarily assigned. The system was thus preserved, when many of Sivajee's institutions were neglected; and it proved of much consequence to the cause of his countrymen.
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The ancient Hindoo festival of the Dussera³ was observed by Sivajee with great pomp. It falls at the end of the monsoon, and was particularly convenient for a general muster and review of his troops previous to their taking the field. At this time, each horse was examined, and an inventory and valuation of each soldier's effects were taken, in order to be compared with what he brought back, or eventually to be made good. If a horseman's effects were unavoidably lost, his horse killed, maimed, or destroyed in the government service, they were on due proof replaced; but all plunder or articles discovered, of which a satisfactory account could not be given, were carried to the credit of government, either by confiscating the article, or deducting the amount from the soldier's arrears. It was at the option of the captors to retain almost any article, if fairly brought forward, valued, and paid for.
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³ [The Dasahrā (Dussera), so called from dash (ten) and ahar (day), falls on the tenth day of the Navaratra, or Nine Nights' festival in honour of the goddess Mahādēvī, whose various manifestations and exploits are described in the Devī Mahātmya of the Mārkandeya Purān. The festival is also known as Durgotsava, i.e. Durgā's holiday. Celebrated at the beginning of October, which marks the close of the rains and the commencement of the cold season, the festival is of special importance among the princely and military classes. Ordinary Hindus regard the Dasahrā as auspicious for the commencement of any new business, and in Bombay children usually attend school for the first time on this day. Soldiers worship the weapons which they hope to use during the coming season; all Hindus worship the tools and implements of their calling; and couples who have been betrothed at an early age frequently begin living together on this day. I have seen the engine-room staff in a Bombay cotton-spinning mill garland and worship the engine on this occasion. Connected with the festival is the worship of the shami or apta (Prosopis spicigera), the leaves
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The accounts were closed annually, and balances due by government were either paid in ready money, or by bills on the collectors of revenue in favour of the officers, but never by separate orders on villages.
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The only exceptions to plunder made by Sivajee were in favour of cows, cultivators, and women¹; these were never to be molested, nor were any but rich Mahomedans, or Hindoos in their service, who could pay a ransom, to be made prisoners. No soldier in the service of Sivajee was permitted to carry any female follower with him in the field, on pain of death.
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¹ [Despite Sivājī's views, the cultivating classes cannot be said to have prospered under Marāthā rule. The methods of government, the forays, and the extortionate and destructive practices of the Marāthā armies prevented the peaceful cultivation of the countryside and inflicted great misery upon thousands of innocent people. (O.H.I., p. 433.) Professor J. Sarkar remarks that Sivājī's regulations were often violated in practice except where he was personally present. The assertion that his soldiers had to deliver every item of booty to the State is contradicted by the sack of Dharamgaon (1679). 'It was impossible for Sivājī to prevent private looting by his troops and camp-followers. In the wake of the Marāthā army gangs of private robbers took the road. The Pindhārīs were the logical corollary of the Marāthā soldier, to whom rapine was a normal duty.' (Shivaji and His Times, Calcutta (1919), p. 476.)]
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His system of intelligence was the greatest check on every abuse,
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of which are presented to the goddess, and then distributed among friends and relatives. (Sleeman's Rambles, ed. V. A. Smith, p. 241; Thurston, O. and S.S.I., pp. 174–5; B.C.G.I., p. 173.) See also Crooke, 'The Dasahra: an Autumn Festival of the Hindus,' in Folklore, vol. xxvi (March 1915), pp. 28–59.]
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as well as embezzlement; and his punishments were rigorous. Officers and men who had distinguished themselves, who were wounded, or who had suffered in any way, were always gratified by promotions, honour, or compensation. Sivajee did not approve of the Jagheer system; he confirmed many, but with the exception of the establishment for his forts, he seldom, if ever, bestowed new military Jagheers, and gave away very few as personal assignments. Enam lands were granted by him as well in reward of merit, in conformity with the tenets of his faith; a gift of land, especially to Bramins, being of all charities the most acceptable to the divinity.¹
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¹ *Jāgīrs* and *Ināms* comprise lands, wholly or partly free from assessment, allotted for services connected with the State, temples, &c. In 1852 the Government appointed an Inām Commission to inquire into many claims to rent-free lands which appeared to be held without authority, one of the members being Mr. Manson, who was murdered by the Chief of Nargund in 1858. (*I.G. Bom.*, 1909, i. 33, ii. 539.)
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Sivajee’s discipline, which required prompt obedience to superiors in every situation, was particularly strict in his forts. The chief person, or Killidar, in the command of a fortress, was termed Havildar²; and under him there was one or more Surnobuts. In large forts, such as Poorundhur, Raigurh, and Panalla, there was a Surnobut to each face. Every fort had a head clerk, and a commissary of grain and stores; the former, a Bramin, was termed Subnees³; the latter was commonly of the Purvoe cast, and was called Karkanees. Orders in respect to ingress and egress, rounds, watches, and patrols, care of water, grain, stores and ammunition were most minute; and the officer of each department was furnished with distinct rules for his guidance, from which no deviation was permitted. A rigid economy characterized all Sivajee’s instructions regarding expenditure.
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² I am inclined to think that all commanders of forts, under the Mahomedan governments, not appointed by the king, were termed Havildars, and that the term Killidar now in universal use, was originally the distinguishing appellation of those governors of fortresses who were specially appointed by a royal commission.
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³ [The *Sabnīs* (*Subnees*) was sometimes a Prabhū, as evidenced by the use of the term as a surname among Kāyasth Prabhūs. Other professional surnames among Prabhūs are *Chitnīs*, *Phadnīs* and *Potnīs*.]
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The garrison was sometimes partly composed of the common infantry; but independent of them each fort had a separate and complete establishment. It consisted of Bramins, Mahrattas, Ramoosees, Mhars, and Mangs; the whole were termed Gurhkurees.¹ They were maintained by permanent assignments of rent-free lands in the neighbourhood of each fort, which, with the care of the fort, descended hereditarily. The Ramoosees, Mhars, and Mangs were employed on the outpost duty; they brought intelligence, watched all the paths, misled enquiries, or cut off an enemy’s stragglers. This establishment, whilst new and vigorous, was admirably suited to Sivajee’s purpose, as well as to the genius of the people. The Gurhkurees, in their own language, described the fort as the mother that fed them; and amongst other advantages, no plan could be better devised for providing for old or meritorious soldiers.
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¹ [Gadhkarīs (Gurhkurees) means ‘fort-men.’]
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Sivajee’s revenue arrangements were founded on those of Dadajee Konedeo. The assessments were made on the actual state of the crop, the proportionate division of which is stated to have been three-fifths to the ryot and two-fifths to government. As soon as he got permanent possession of any territory, every species of military contribution was stopped; all farming of revenue ceased; and the collections were made by agents appointed by himself.
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Every two or three villages were superintended by a Carcoon, under the Turufdar or Talookdar, who had charge of a small district, and was either a Bramin or Purvoe. A Mahratta Havildar² was stationed with each of them. Over a considerable tract there was a Soobehdar² or Mamlitdar,³ who had charge of one or more forts, in which his collections both of grain and money were secured.
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² Both those authorities were civil, not military, as the names might lead some of my readers to suppose.
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³ [Māmlitdār (Māmlatdār in Marāthi) is a shortened form of the Persian and Hindustani mu’āmalatdār (from Arabic Mu’āmala, ‘affairs,’ ‘business’). Yule’s Hobson-Jobson, ed. Crooke (1903), s.v. Mamlutdar. For reference to the modern Māmlatdār, see page 64 n., supra.]
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Sivajee never permitted the Deshmookhs and Deshpandyas to interfere in the management of the country; nor did he allow them to collect their dues until they had been ascertained; when an order was annually given for the amount.
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The Patells, Khotes, and Koolkurnees were strictly superintended, and Sivajee’s government, though popular with the common cultivators, would have been quite the reverse with the village and district officers, of whom Sivajee was always jealous, had it not been for the resource which all had by entering his military service.
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The method which the Bramin ministers of the Mahratta government afterwards adopted, of paying the military and civil servants by permanent assignments on portions of the revenue of villages, is said to have been early proposed to Sivajee; who objected to it, not only from fear of immediate oppression to the ryot, but from apprehending that it would ultimately cause such a division of authority as must weaken his government and encourage the village and district authorities to resist it, as they frequently did that of Beejapoor. With the same view he destroyed all village walls, and allowed no fortifications in his territory which was not occupied by his troops.
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Religious establishments were carefully preserved, and temples, for which no provision existed, had some adequate assignment granted to them; but the Bramins in charge were obliged to account for the expenditure. Sivajee never sequestrated any allowance fixed by the Mahomedan government for the support of tombs, mosques, or places of commemoration in honour of saints.
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The revenue regulations of Sivajee were simple, and in some respects judicious; but during his life it is impossible they could have been attended with such improvements and increase of population as are ascribed to them by his countrymen. His districts were frequently exposed to great ravages; and he never had sufficient leisure to complete his arrangements by that persevering superintendence which alone can perfect such institutions. The Mahomedan writers, and one contemporary English traveller,¹ describe his country as in the worst possible state; and the former only mention him as a depredator and destroyer; but those districts taken by him from Beejapoor, which had been under the management of farmers or direct agents of government, probably experienced great benefit by the change.
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¹ Fryer. [The description alluded to by Grant Duff occurs in Letter IV, Chapter I, page 146, of the 1698 edition of Fryer's New Account of East India and Persia, begun 1672 and finished 1681, and is quoted on page 435 of O.H.I.]
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The judicial system of Sivajee, in civil cases, was that of Punchayet, which had invariably obtained in the country. Disputes of his soldiers were settled by their officers; but he extracted his criminal law from the Shasters; and the former rulers professing the tenets of the Koran had naturally introduced innovations, which long custom sanctioned and perpetuated. This accounts for the differences that may be still found between Hindoo law and Mahratta usage.
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To assist in the conduct of his government, Sivajee established eight principal offices, the names of which, and the persons holding them at this period, were as follows:
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1st. Peishwa, head manager or prime minister. This office, we have already mentioned, was held by Moro Punt,¹ or Moreishwur Trimmul Pingley.
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¹ Moro Punt was his familiar name, or that which would be used in conversation; a custom common among Mahrattas, but which often makes it difficult to recognize, in their writings or letters, the names of people with whose history or persons we may be well acquainted. The very next name is an instance and illustration of this remark, Neeloo Punt Sonedeo was the real name of Abajee Sonedeo; but the familiar appellation of Abajee, given to him in boyhood, is that by which he is generally known, though his real name frequently occurs in the Mahratta manuscripts.
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2d. Muzzimdar,² general superintendent of finance and auditor-general of accounts. His civil duties were consequently very important, and his establishment necessarily extensive. Abajee Sonedeo, Soobehdar of the province of Kallianee, was Muzzimdar.
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² This word, already used, is a corruption of the Persian muzmooadar; but the correct expression would scarcely be understood by the Mahrattas. Muzzimdar is now in fact a Mahratta word. Instances of the kind occur repeatedly, where I have preferred using the word generally known in the Mahratta country. Although I may offend the ear of Persian scholars by such a practice, any one who has much to do with Mahrattas, will, I think, find it more useful, and in the Mahratta history it is surely more correct.
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3d. Soornees, general record keeper, superintendent of the department of correspondence, examiner of all letters; all deeds and grants were first entered on his books, and the attestation of his examination and entry was necessary to their validity; this office was held by Annajee Dutto.³
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³ [See Sarkar, Shivaji and His Times (1919), p. 57.]
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4th. Wankanees. The duty of this officer was to keep the private journal, records, and letters. He was a superintendent of the household troops and establishment : the office was held by Duttajee Punt.
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5th. The Surnobut. There were two Surnobuts, one commanding the cavalry, Pertab Rao Goozur, and another the infantry, Yessjee Kunk.
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6th. Dubeer, or minister for foreign affairs, and in charge of all business and messengers from other states. This office belonged to Somnath Punt.
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7th. Nyadeish, or superintendent of judicial affairs. This department was managed by Neerajee Rowjee and Gomajee Naik.
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8th. Nya Shastree, expounder of Hindoo law and the Shasters ; all matters of religion, of criminal law, and of science, especially what regarded judicial astrology, belonged to this office ; to which Sembha Oopadheea, and afterwards Rugonath Punt,¹ was appointed.
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¹ This Rugonath Punt Nyashastree was one of Sivajee's earliest and most confidential adherents ; he was frequently employed as his envoy, but must not be confounded with Rugonath Punt Hunwuntay.
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The officers at the head of these civil situations, except the Nyadeish and Nyashastree, held military commands, and frequently had not leisure to superintend their duties. All, therefore, had deputies called Karbarees, to assist them, who frequently had power to annex the seal or mark of their principals on public documents ; when so empowered, they were styled Mootaliqs and each department, and every district establishment, had eight subordinate officers, under whom there were an adequate number of assistants. These officers were,
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1st. The Karbaree, Mootaliq, or Dewan.
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2d. The Muzzimdar, or auditor and accountant.
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3d. The Furnees or Furnuwees, deputy auditor and accountant.
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4th. The Subnees, or clerk, sometimes styled Dufturdar.
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5th. The Karkanees, or commissary.
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6th. The Chitnees, or clerk of correspondence.
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7th. The Jamdar, or treasurer in charge of all valuables except cash.
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8th. Potnees, or cashkeeper.
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Attached to himself, Sivajee had a treasurer, a Chitnees, and Furnees, besides a Farisnees, or Persian secretary. His Chitnees was a Purvoe, named Ballajee Aujee, whose acuteness and intelligence are recorded by the English government at Bombay, on an occasion of his being sent there on business.
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Bal Kishen Punt Hunwuntay, a near relation of the head ager of Shahjee, was Sivajee’s Furnees, and it is remarkable, as it bespeaks a connection maintained, that his treasurer was the grandson of Seshao Naik Poonday of Chumargoondee, the person with whom Mallojee Bhonslay’s money was deposited before the marriage of Shahjee.¹
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¹ This account of Sivajee’s institutions is as brief an extract as I could make, from original papers now in possession of the Raja of Satara, or his Chitnees, the hereditary descendant of Ballajee Aujee. I have also obtained considerable information from a mass of records belonging to Surwuttum Baboo Rao, the present Punt Amat.
Linked texts (6)
- Mārkaṇḍeyapurāṇa — Vyāsa, Sanskrit
- Devīmāhātmya — Sanskrit
- Śāstra
- Sinhagad
- Pune
- Supa