Administrative System of the Marathas c11.s4.22

c11.s4.22

The Chauth was originally nothing but a black mail. The subjects of the Koli Raja of Ramnagar used to give considerable trouble to the Portuguese subjects of Daman by their robbery, depredation and plundering raids. At last the peaceful inhabitants of some villages in the District of Daman came to an amicable arrangement with the Raja of Ramnagar and agreed to pay him an annual tribute called the Chauth (Chouto) provided his people no longer caused them any loss or trouble. The Raja of Ramnagar was styled in the Portuguese records as the king Choutia as he used to receive Chauth. When this arrangement was made we do not exactly know, but it has been mentioned by Fr. Antonio de Gouveia as early as 1603. (Jornada, Fl. 125 quoted in Dalgado's *Glossario Luso Asiatico*, Vol. I, p. 280.) The King Choutia and his claim to Chauth has been referred to in a royal letter in 1605. After the annexation of the Koli principalities of Jawhar and Ramnagar Shivaji asserted his claim to the Chauth of Daman. He demanded Chauth from his Muhammadan enemies for the first time in 1665 and it is noteworthy that he had passed through the principality of Ramnagar on his way to Surat in the previous year. It is therefore clear that Shivaji was not the originator of Chauth but he was certainly responsible for its wider application. For a more detailed discussion of this interesting question, the reader is referred to my *Historical Records at Goa*, pp. 12-24. The unpublished Portuguese It is true that Shahu had, in return for the grant of Chauth, bound himself to maintain a body of 15,000 horse in the Emperor's service, to be placed at the disposal of the Subhedars, Faujdars and officers in the different districts "and to maintain peace and order." But neither Shahu nor the Peshwas ever cared to assist the Subhedars of the Deccan unless it served their own interest. Shivaji also had often offered his services to the Emperor of Delhi, but he had exacted Chauth at the point of his sword; the Emperor did not expect that Shivaji would ever look after the Mughal interests and Shivaji also knew that no treaty would serve him better than his own strong arms. It cannot, therefore, be denied that the Maratha kings exacted Chauth without undertaking the least responsibility for the country's welfare, and it should also be remembered that they never expected the Chauth-paying states to give up their diplomatic independence. Here lies the fundamental difference between the subsidiary system and the exaction of Chauth. The East India Company always held themselves responsible for the defence of the allied state, while they expected it to renounce