New History of the Marathas v1.c18.86

v1.c18.86

During the regime of this Chhatrapati Rājārām, one serious departure from Shivaji’s policy came about through the force of circumstances, viz. the system of conferring lands on military commanders for their services. Shivaji had strictly prohibited the grant of land on any account for services rendered to the State, which he always paid in cash. But during the confused situation created by the war and the presence in the Deccan of the Emperor, his whole Court and his huge armies, Shivaji’s healthy precept had to be given up. The Emperor himself offered gifts of land to the Maratha gentry by way of inducements, and unless similar inducements were offered by the Maratha government, it could not raise the required armies for the conduct of the war. The Maratha leaders and soldiers were openly asked to ravage Mughal territories and conquer lands on promise that these would form their own hereditary possession, when the Maratha raj would come to be fully established. These leaders of Maratha bands had to borrow funds from bankers on the mortgage of their prospective conquests, and created personal interests in the lands they laid their hands on. Started indeed as a measure under the stress of war in order to put down the Emperor's sinister designs, this system of jagirs came to be the virtual foundation of the future Maratha rule. In the long run it proved to be a ready instrument both for the rapid expansion and the equally rapid ruin of the Maratha Empire. Masses of published papers confirm this view and supply ample evidence of it.¹³