Administrative System of the Marathas c11.s3.t1.13

c11.s3.t1.13

If Fryer's account is borne out by facts, the state of the country was terrible indeed. But Fryer had made only a short trip through Shivaji's dominions and his stay there was by no means long. It does not appear probable that his account was based on personal experience or first hand knowledge of any other kind. Shivaji is still adored as an ideal king, and people referred to his institutions with admiration in days of anarchy and misrule. Traditions may be exaggerated, but they are never entirely baseless. Traditions attribute all sorts of good institutions to such good rulers as Alfred and Elizabeth, but legends have not hitherto paid any tribute to the memory of such bad kings as John and James II. It is a very important point that the memory of Shivaji* is still cherished by the people of Maharashtra as that of a great and good king. If he had really tortured his Brahman officers with red hot pincers and they in their turn had dealt out similar treatment to the Desais, Shivaji would not have been revered as an incarnation of Shri Shambhu Mahadev. We have already seen how the great Maratha had striven to liberate the poor peasants from the tyranny of the Deshmukhs and Deshpandes. It, therefore, seems improbable that he should allow his officers to force lands on the Desais at an exorbitant rate. Far from molesting any Brahman, Shivaji never offered any insult to holy men and holy places of his Muhammadan enemies. Although many temples and idols were defiled and desecrated by Muhammadan bigots, Shivaji never failed to send any copy of the Quran, he might come in possession of, to some of his Muslim officers. Even Khafi Khan, an inveterate enemy of the Maratha hero, paid him an unwilling compliment on that account.³⁷