Shivaji and His Times c17.s1: § 1. Extent of his kingdom and dependencies
Shivaji and His Times c17.s1
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§ 1. Extent of his kingdom and dependencies
c17.s1.1
At the time of his death Shivaji's kingdom included all the country (except the Portuguese possessions) stretching from Ramnagar (modern Dharampur State in the Surat Agency) in the north, to Karwar or the Gangavati river in the Bombay district of Kanara, in the south. The eastern boundary embraced Baglana in the north, then ran southwards along an irregular shifting line through the middle of the Nasik and Puna districts, and encircled the whole of the Satara and much of the Kolhapur districts. This tract formed what the Marathi documents describe as his *swaraj* or 'own kingdom' and the Persian accounts as his 'old dominions.' Here his ownership was recognized as legally established and beyond question. A recent but permanent acquisition was the Western Karnatak or the Kanarese-speaking country extending from Belgaum to the bank of the Tungabhadra opposite the Bellary district of the Madras Presidency.
c17.s1.2
This, the consolidated portion of his kingdom, was divided into three provinces, each under a viceroy. The northern division, including the Dang and Baglana, the Koli country south of Surat, Konkan north of Bombay, and the Deccan plateau or *Desh* southwards to Puna, was governed by Moro Trimbak Pingle. The southern division, which was made up of Konkan south of Bombay, Savant-vadi and the North Kanara coast,—formed the viceroyalty of Annaji Datto. The southeastern division, ruled by Dattaji Pant, covered the Satara and Kolhapur districts of *Desh* and the Karnatak districts of Belgaum and Dharwar to Kopal west of the Tungabhadra. (Sabh. 77; Parasnis MS.; a Persian MS. roll of Mr. Rajwade; English summary in Mawjee, *J. Bo. B. R. A. S.*)
c17.s1.3
Shivaji's latest annexation was the country extending from the Tungabhadra opposite Kopal to Vellore and Jinji, *i.e.*, the northern, central and eastern parts of the present kingdom of Mysore and portions of the Madras districts of Bellary, Chittur and Arcot. His two years' possession of them before his death was too short to enable him to consolidate his gains here, and this province was really held by an army of occupation and remained unsettled in 1680; only the forts garrisoned by him and as much of the surrounding lands as they could command, acknowledged Maratha rule.
c17.s1.4
Besides these places there was one region where the contest for mastery was still undecided at the time of his death. This was the Kanara highlands, including the South Dharwar district and the principalities of Sunda and Bednur. Shivaji had inflicted some defeats upon the local Nawab, a vassal of Bijapur; but Bankapur, the provincial capital, was still unconquered by him when he breathed his last. So also was Bednur, which merely paid him tribute.
c17.s1.5
Outside these settled or half-settled parts of his kingdom, there was a wide and very fluctuating belt of land subject to his power but not owning his sovereignty. They were the adjacent parts of the Mughal empire (*Mughlai* in Marathi), which formed the happy hunting-ground of his horsemen. In these he levied blackmail (*khandani*, *i.e.*, ransom, in Marathi), as regularly as his army could repeat its annual visit to them. The money paid was popularly called *chauth*, because it amounted to one-fourth of the standard assessment of the land revenue of a place. But as this paper assessment was always larger than the actual collection, the real incidence of the *chauth* was considerably more than one-fourth of what the peasants paid to their legitimate sovereign. The payment of the *chauth* merely saved a place from the unwelcome presence of the Maratha soldiers and civil underlings, but did not impose on Shivaji any corresponding obligation to guard the district from foreign invasion or internal disorder. The Marathas looked only to their own gain and not to the fate of their prey after they had left. The *chauth* was only a means of buying off one robber, and not a subsidiary system for the maintenance of peace and order against all enemies. The lands subject to the *chauth* cannot, therefore, be rightly called spheres of influence.
c17.s1.6
The territory, old and new, under Shivaji contained 240 forts, out of which 111 were built by him and 79 were situated in Madras. [Sabh. 98-101; a helpful list by D. V. Kale in *Shivaji Souvenir*, 1927.]