History of Aurangzib, Based on Original Sources v5.c80.s3.5

v5.c80.s3.5

The Marathas had reduced spoliation to a system. "As the Emperor and his troops were engaged in the inaccessible hills far in the south, the Marathas began to show greater audacity and raid the old provinces of the empire. Wherever they arrived they engaged in a regular revenue collection of the place and passed months and years there with wife and children in peace of mind. They divided the parganas among themselves, and in imitation of the imperial Government they appointed their own subahdars, kamavish-dars (revenue collectors) and rahdars (road-guards). Their subahdar was a leader of troops: whenever he heard of a large caravan coming, he overtook it at the head of [some] seven thousand cavalry and looted it. Everywhere kamavish-dars were posted for collecting the chauth. When a kamavish-dar was opposed by a strong zamindar or imperial faujdar and could not levy the blackmail, the Maratha subahdar came to his aid, besieged and desolated the habitations there. The duty of the Maratha rahdar was this,—when traders wanted to travel unmolested by these people, the rahdar took a sum of money from each cart or bullock (three or fourfold the imperial faujdar's transit duty), and left the road open to them. In each subah the Marathas built one or two small forts (garhis), which they made their place of refuge and from which they issued to raid the country around.