The State in Ancient India: A Study in the Structure and Practical Working of Political Institutions in North India in Ancient Times c21.6.1

c21.6.1

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.