Shivaji and His Times c19.s2.29

c19.s2.29

Thus, by the character of his State, the Maratha’s hands were turned against everybody and everybody’s hands were turned against him. It is the Nemesis of a *Krieg-staat* to move in a vicious circle. It must wage war periodically if it is to get its food; but war, when waged as a normal method of supply, destroys industry and wealth in the invading and invaded countries alike, and ultimately defeats the very end of such wars. Peace is death to a *Krieg-staat*; but peace is the very life-breath of wealth. The *Krieg-staat*, therefore, kills the goose that lays the golden eggs. To take an illustration, Shivaji’s repeated plunder of Surat scared away trade and wealth from that city, and his second raid (in 1670) brought him much less booty than his first, and a few years later the constant dread of Maratha incursion entirely impoverished Surat and effectually dried up this source of supply. Thus, from the economic point of view, the Maratha State had no stable basis, no normal means of growth *within itself*.