The State in Ancient India: A Study in the Structure and Practical Working of Political Institutions in North India in Ancient Times c21.6

Language: English

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Further north, the Koṅkan, the narrow strip of land between the Western Ghats and the sea retained its autonomy throughout the medieval period. The Marāṭhās whose homeland it formed were indeed deeply influenced by their contact with the Deccan Sulṭāns, particularly, by the Niẓāmśāhi court of Aḥmadnagar, where they played the game of high politics with skill and dexterity. Through the Sultanates the Marāṭhās also received ideas and suggestions from the Mughals whose impact roused their energies in the seventeenth century A.D.¹ Nevertheless, the new Marāṭhā State which reared its head in the latter half of the seventeenth century and which, within two generations, developed into an empire, reproduced certain features of ancient Hindu polity. The coronation of Śivājī, the founder of the Marāṭhā power, which symbolised the emergence of a new factor of first-rate importance in Indian politics, was performed at Rāigaḍh in 1674 A.D. in studiously orthodox Brahmanic style. The administrative system of the Marāṭhās represented a fusion of Hindu and Musalmān elements. The number of the Aṣṭapradhāna or Council of Eight which Śivājī instituted reminds one of the Mahābhārata and Manusmṛiti. The Council of Bārbhāis or Twelve Brothers which emerged later and which was destined to be set aside by Nānā Fadnavis, also carries the mind to ancient India. The designations of some of the officers—Amātya, Mantrī, Saciva, Senāpati—were borrowed from old Hindu practice.

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The numerous Lekhakas formed the counterpart of Kāyasthas.² The eighteen Kārkhānās, and twelve Mahâls, altogether thirty departments which Śivâji organised, were designed, of course, primarily to meet the exigencies of the situation. But naturally they were based partly on old Marâṭhâ practice and on contemporary institutions in other parts of India. Their description in the Marâṭhâ chronicles reminds one as much of Abul Fazl’s Âin-i-Akbarī, the astounding Imperial Gazetteer of the Mughal Empire as of the Kauṭilīya Arthaśāstra and the inscriptions which lie between the Gupta period and the last age of ancient India. They included Treasury, Cash, Jewellery, Harem, Agriculture, Liquor, Chariots, Mints, etc.¹ In the domain of local government the designation of the Marâṭhâ village officer, the Pâṭil, corresponded to the Paṭṭakila of the inscriptions which, in its turn, was akin to the Akṣapaṭalika or Mahâkṣapaṭalika which occurs so frequently in ancient epigraphic records. The Pâṭil answered also to the ancient Grâmâdhipati and, like him, performed some police, judicial and fiscal duties. The other Marâṭhâ village officer, Kulakarṇi, is reminiscent of the ancient Karaṇika. The dues levied from the people again recall the ancient inscriptions and are, in fact, more numerous than those mentioned in any single inscription of old. A list of twenty-two of them has been compiled from a Marâṭhī deed of sale.

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Besides the usual land revenue, they include a bundle of fuel, a quantity of grain, and twenty-five bundles of jawâr sticks from each cultivator, nine ṭakas of oil from each oil-mill, thirteen leaves per day from each seller of betel leaves, one goat from each herd on the Daśerâ (Vijayadaśamī) day, one piece of cloth per loom per year from all classes of weavers, half a cocoanut from every marriage-negotiation, every ordinary marriage as well as every widow-remarriage, some vegetables from vegetable-growers, usual tolls from each seller in the market and every petty trader's stall, the seer per bag of grocery from a grocer's shop, etc., etc. These payments in kind went to support the local officials as in ancient times. In spite of all their weaknesses, the Marâthâ rulers were, like the kings and statesmen of old, often conscious of high ideals. "Propagate the Dharma of Mahârâṣṭra," said Râmadâsa, the preceptor of Śivâji to the latter's son Sambhâji.¹ The Marâthâ regime was the Augustan age of Marâṭhi literature and was equally remarkable for the intense cultivation of Sanskrit learning. The Marâthâ rulers covered the country with temples and images, forts and palaces, tanks and anicuts, many of which still survive intact or in ruins. Their charity halls were almost innumerable. Religious toleration was the rule in Mahârâṣṭra. In all this the Marâthâs were in line with the ancient Hindu tradition. They were in line with it also at some weak points.

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The administrative organisation was not rigid enough. The Marâthâ empire of the eighteenth century was a mere confederacy. The Gâekwâḍ of Baroḍâ, Sindhiâ of Gwâlior, Holkar of Indore and the Bhonslâ of Nâgpur recognised the hegemony of the *de facto* king, Peśwâ of Pooṇâ, or the *de jure* monarch, the Râja of Satârâ, in a very rough and ready fashion. They would sometimes rally to his standard and sometimes war with him. Sometimes they would fight among themselves and sometimes band together against the common foe. With obvious differences of setting and detail, they acted the political drama of ancient India on the stage of the eighteenth century.