Shivaji and His Times c13.s10.5

c13.s10.5

This was the authorized or regular exaction. But the sufferings of the people of the unhappy land, whose only crime was their wealth, did not end with paying it. Behind Shivaji's army came a vast crowd of some 20,000 unattached persons, mostly hungry Brahmans in search of official employment in the province to be conquered. Nothing could exceed their shameless greed and dishonesty. The newly appointed administrators of Shivaji and even their soldiers plundered the wayfarers and the town-dwellers without fear or mercy.