The State in Ancient India: A Study in the Structure and Practical Working of Political Institutions in North India in Ancient Times c21.6.3

c21.6.3

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.