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Administrative System of the Marathas c18: Sources of Information

Administrative System of the Marathas c18

Language
English

Contents

Sources of Information

1. Original Marathi Sources

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We tread on firmer ground when we come to the Peshwa period. Under the able leadership of the Bhat Peshwas, the Maratha empire rapidly expanded, the Maratha heroes carried their victorious banner from one end of India to the other, and the hoarded wealth of Hindustan filled the coffers of the southern warriors. Prosperity and wealth naturally spurred the literary activities of the Marathas and numerous *bakhars* were written to immortalise the valiant achievements not only of the Peshwa and Shahu Chhatrapati but of lesser chiefs as well. The Dabhades, the Gaikwads, the Bhonsles, the Patwardhans, the Sindhia and the Holkar, all found or employed some able chronicler to compile the history of their respective families.¹ Two chronicles of the *Panipat disaster* have come down to us and the famous prince who led the Maratha army on that fateful day was not left without a biography. As in the old days stirring accounts of national triumphs and national disasters were supplied by those popular bards—the *shahirs*, who wrote not for the learned few but for the teeming masses toiling in the fields and forests, hills and dales, towns and hamlets of the Maratha country. But fortunately we have not to rely on the beautiful ballads of the *shahirs* or on the charming narrative of the chroniclers for an account of the administrative institutions of the Peshwas. We have more reliable materials in the contemporary records and state papers, carefully and methodically preserved in the *Huzur Daftar* or imperial secretariat at Poona.

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¹ A list of these chronicles will be found in *Marathyanchya Itihasanchen Sahitya*, compiled by G. S. Sardesai, T. S. Shejwalkar, D. V. Apte and V. S. Vakaskar.

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The Peshwa *Daftar* of Poona has not yet been thrown open to the general public, but the inquisitive student gets a glimpse of its treasures in the valuable selections published by the Deccan Vernacular Translation Society under the able editorship of a band of erudite scholars. The selections were made by Rao Bahadur Ganesh Chimnaji Wad, but they were published after his death. The nine volumes of *Selections from the Satara Rajas' and the Peshwas' Diaries* edited by Parasnis, Sane, Marathe and Joshi supply information about all the branches of the Peshwas' Government, their social and religious activities not excluded, as the following headings and subheadings under which the papers of the second Baji Rao's regime have been arranged will show:

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1. Political Matters
2. Military Administration
(i) Army
(ii) Forts
3. Land Revenue and its administration
(i) Survey and assessment of land
(ii) Mamlatdars, Kamavisdars, Farmers of land revenue and khots
4. Other Taxes Taxes on sales and purchases of things
5. Village and district Watandars
6. Other revenue officers
7. Administration of Justice
(i) Civil
(ii) Criminal
(a) Conspiracy and treason
(b) Murder and suicide
(c) Dacoity
(d) Forgery
(e) Adultery
(f) Miscellaneous offences
(iii) Police
(iv) Prison
8. Misconduct of Government officers and Jagirdars 9. Grants and continuance of Inams, Allowances, Watans, etc.
(i) Grants
(a) For service done or injury received or as a mark of favour
(b) For charitable purposes and in fulfilment of vows

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10. Postal service
11. Medicine and surgery
12. Mint and coins
13. Prices and wages
14. Slaves
15. Religious and Social matters
16. Public Festivals
17. Poona and its suburbs
18. The Peshwa's tour

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It is needless to add that in these selections not a single department of the Poona government has been left unillustrated and no student of the Maratha administrative system can do without these nine volumes of the *Peshwas' Diaries*. They are however not without defects as was pointed out by Mr. V. K. Rajwade. For unavoidable reasons, over which the editors had no control, some of the papers have not been published in full, and the uninitiated reader sometimes finds it difficult to grasp the purport of a mutilated record. The English summaries given in the footnote are not only very brief but sometimes hopelessly inaccurate. Rao Bahadur D. B. Parasnis further drew upon the Poona records and published two more volumes in his *Itihas Sangraha*. *Peshwe Daftaratil Nivadak Kagad Patre* deals with military matters alone and *Peshwe Daftaratil Sanada Patre* throws fresh light on both the civil and the military branches of the administration. I may here add that the seven volumes of *Itihas Sangraha* abound in original records of the greatest importance.

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To Rao Bahadur D. B. Parasnis and Mr. P. V. Mawji we are indebted for four volumes of *Selections from the Government Records in the Alienation Office of Poona, vis., Sanads and Letters, Vatan Patre Nivad Patre, Kaifyatyadi and Treaties and Agreements*. Many valuable papers have been published in Parasnis's *Bharatvarsha*, Rajwade's *Marathyanchya Itihasanchi Sadhanen*, Sane's *Patre Yadi Bagaire*, the *Ahavals* and *Itivrittas* of the Bharat Itihas Sanshodhak Mandal and the *Itihas Ani Aitihasik*.

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It is impossible to deal exhaustively with all the publications on this comprehensive subject within the short compass of a small chapter, but the works of the late Vasudev Shastri Vaman Shastri Khare of Miraj deserve more than a passing notice. He is by no means the only scholar to bring to light the important family papers of the Sardars and Jagirdars. K. N. Sane and V. K.

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Rajwade were his predecessors in this line and Mr. Apte, the editor of the *Chandrachud Daftar* is expected to be an able successor. But neither Sane nor Rajwade deemed it necessary to arrange chronologically the papers they were going to publish. The records were placed before the public as they were discovered without any arrangement and the absence of an index only adds to the difficulties of the student who has to grope through these volumes for any particular information. Vasudeb Shastri Khare's *Aitihasik Lekha Sangraha*, the twelfth volume of which was posthumously published a few months ago, offers to the wearied reader an agreeable surprise. The records are chronologically arranged and although no index is supplied its absence is more than compensated by an excellent introduction to each section which informs the reader what the succeeding papers have to tell him. In these twelve volumes the late Pandit Khare published for the first time the important papers of the Patwardhan chiefs who served for all practical purposes as the Wardens of the Southern Marches for so many years. No less important to the student of the administrative system of the Peshwas is Khare's *Ichalkaranji Sansthancha Itihas*. A very useful compilation is Mr. Apte's *Itihas Manjari* in which almost all the more important published documents have been included.

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2. *Modern Marathi Works:*

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From these old records we may for a short while turn to biographical and historical works of modern Maratha scholars. The foremost place in this section must be assigned to Mr. G. S. Sardesai's *Marathi Riyasat* the fifth volume of which is shortly expected. Among the biographies may be mentioned Natu's Life of Mahadaji Sindhia, Vasudev Shastri Khare's Nana Fadnavis, Atre's Malhar Rao Holkar, Rajadhyaksha's Jivba Dada Bakshi and Parasnis's Brahmendra Swami. In the appendices of the last two works have been published some important contemporary letters not available elsewhere. Bapat's Life of the first Baji Rao is a popular work which does not aim at historical accuracy and space does not permit me to mention other works of this type. Atre's *Ganv Gada* deals with village communities and Kelkar's *Maratha va Ingraj* treats among other subjects of the administrative system.

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3. *Portuguese and Persian:*

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The Portuguese records, though specially important for military and the naval organisation of the Marathas, occasionally give us an insight into the religious, commercial and domestic policy of the Peshwas. The later Persian histories and Rajput Hindi, and Gurumukhi records are important to a student of the political history of the Marathas. He cannot afford to be indifferent to such works as *Siyaru-l Mutakhirin* or *Ibratnama*, but these are not so indispensable to a student of the administrative system, though a knowledge of the Muhammadan revenue system prevailing in the neighbouring provinces is always helpful.

4. English Sources

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Next in importance to the Maratha records are the published and unpublished English records. To the unpublished English papers in the Imperial Records Department I can here make only a passing reference. We get there a detailed account of the Peshwa's revenue compiled by no less a personage than Elphinstone about four years before the final collapse of the Peshwa's powers. We may sometimes learn a good deal about the popular superstitions of the times from the confidential reports of the English diplomats. But for our purpose the most important document is Elphinstone's *Report on the Territories recently conquered from the Paishwa*. This is a veritable mine of information and as Elphinstone had personal knowledge of the Maratha administration, his views command our greatest respect. But unfortunately he saw the Peshwa's government at its worst and probably all his remarks were not equally applicable to the better days of Nana Fadnavis and Madhava Rao I. Jenkins's *Report on the Territories of the Rajah of Nagpore* is an official document of great interest and equally interesting is the second volume of Malcolm's *Central India*. Wellington's and Wellesley's published despatches throw only occasional sidelight on the administrative system of the Marathas and so do the works of those English travellers and officials who had occasion to pass through the Maratha country. Fitzclarence's *A Journey through India*, Broughthon's *Letters written in a Maratha Camp*, Moor's *A Narrative of the Operations of Capt. Little's Detachment* and Valentia's *Voyages and Travels* may be mentioned in this connection, but it is impossible to mention here all works of this nature. Forbes's *Oriental Memoirs*, however, is too important to be silently passed over. He spent the major part of his life in Western India and was a keen observer of human affairs. The Maratha records generally lay down the principles, but they do not always inform us to what extent these principles were respected in practice. This deficiency is made up by the accounts of such foreign observers as Moor and Forbes, although we have to make some allowance for their obvious bias and prejudice. For the military organisation of the Marathas we get invaluable information from such English writers as Thorn, Blacker, Prinsep, Compton and Lewis Ferdinand Smith, while a very interesting account of the Angria's navy has been supplied by Clement Dunning, whose *History of the Indian Wars* was published as early as 1737. Space does not permit me to enter into a critical examination of these works here and I can only barely mention such well-known works as Grant Duff's *History of the Mahrattas*, Forrest's *Selections from Statepapers* and Ranade's *Introduction to the Satara Rajas' and Peshwas' Diaries*.

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This chapter should not be considered exhaustive. It aims to indicate the nature of the materials used in the following pages, and it is expected to be helpful to students who seek further information on the subject.

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THE PERIOD OF TRANSITION

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In their political aims and ideals the Peshwas differed from the founder of the Maratha greatness. Shivaji tried to organise a genuine national movement, and as the avowed leader of the regenerated Hindus of the south, he could not even in theory acknowledge the supremacy of the great Mughal. Consequently when he had to submit to the terms imposed on him by Raja Jai Singh, he got the stipulated *mansab* for his son Sambhaji, then a boy of seven, but did not degrade himself to the position of a Mughal *mansabdar*. This distinction will appear as too subtle to the modern mind, but it succeeded in soothing the easy scruples of a time when conscience was not so rigorous and exacting. After his coronation he tried his utmost to wipe off all traces of Muhammadan influence from his government and his old officers got new Sanskrit designations. Sambhaji cared only for pleasure, and during the stormy days succeeding his death, the Marathas were too busy to care for these comparatively minor things; they had to fight for their existence.

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Shahu, however, was brought up by the Grand Mughal in the Mughal court. He had witnessed the splendour of that court in its palmy days, and was dazzled, hypnotised, almost blinded by the Mughal sun, the great Alamgir, whom he had seen face to face. When Shahu returned to occupy his ancestral throne, he was not in a position to appreciate the true significance of the great movement of which his celebrated grandfather was the leader. In his childhood he must have heard from his Mughal teachers that the 'mountain rat' was nothing but a powerful bandit. He could understand Shivaji the empire-builder, but Shivaji the national leader was to him an enigma, a mystery not even vaguely understood, and he did not hesitate to accept a *mansab* of 10,000 from the feeble hands of Farrukhsiyar. Shahu promised to pay to the imperial treasury an annual tribute "for the Surdeshmookhee or ten per cent. of the whole revenue, he bound himself to protect the country, to suppress every species of depredation, to bring thieves to punishment, or restore the amount stolen, and to pay the usual fee of six hundred and fifty-one per cent. on the annual income, for the hereditary right of Surdeshmookh: for the grant of the Chouth, he agreed to maintain a body of 15,000 horse in the Emperor's service to be placed at the disposal of the Soobehdars, Foujdars and officers in the different districts; but upon the grant of the Chouth, no fee was to be paid. The Carnate and the Soobehs of Beejapoor and Hyderabad, which were then overrun by the partisans of Sumbhajee, Raja of Kolapoor, Shao promised to clear of plunderers and to make good every loss sustained by the inhabitants of those provinces from the date of the final settlement of the treaty."¹

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¹ Grant Duff (Oxford Edition), Vol. I, p. 334.

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This arrangement was no doubt convenient to him in more than one way, but it was not merely expediency that led Shahu to make a formal acknowledgment of the Mughal supremacy when he was in a position to defy it most effectively. He was sincere in his belief in the legitimacy of the Mughal claim and it is said that Shahu protested when the Delhi Darwaja gate of Poona was built by the Peshwa, that a gate facing the north would mean defiance and insult to the Badshah. What Shahu sincerely believed, the Peshwas found most convenient to continue. Further, they actually tried to derive what advantage they could from that policy. When Malwa was conquered by Maratha arms, they did not hesitate to have their claims strengthened by an imperial grant. The celebrated Mahadaji Sindhia simply followed this traditional policy when he obtained for his master, the Peshwa, the farman of Vakil-i-mutluq. The great Balaji Janardan, better known as Nana Fadnavis, in his autobiography referred to the Emperor as *prithvi-pati*, master of the world²; in a letter from Ganesh Krishna, dated 1676 shaka, the Emperor is called *Sarbabhauma*³ and the unknown author of the ballad of the battle of Kharda thought that the Emperor was still in a position to order Daulat Rao Sindhia (the Shinde left Hindustan and Guzrat and came to the south, the Badshah ordered him).⁴

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² Nana Fadnavis's Autobiography in Sane's Patre Yadi Bagaire, p. 23.

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³ Sane, Patre Yadi Bagaire, p. 23.

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⁴ Kharda Ballad in Sane's Patre Yadi Bagaire, p. 36. Aurangzib is styled *Sarbabhaum* in a letter of Yesubai, wife of Sambhaji, written during her captivity in the Mughal camp. It is noteworthy that Peshwa Baji Rao I refrained from causing any harm to the Imperial metropolis when it lay at his mercy and the reasons assigned by him for this conduct clearly shows how the Marathas still respected the weak Emperor. For this interesting letter see Parasnis Brahmendra Swami, part II, pp. 21-31.

1. The Raja of Satara

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Next to the Emperor in status came the Raja of Satara, the lineal descendant of Shivaji, and the nominal head of the Maratha Empire. It was he who appointed the Peshwa and the other hereditary officers of state like the Pratinidhi, Sachiv, Sumanta, etc. This appointment or grant of clothes resembles in spirit the ceremony of papal coronation that the Emperors had to undergo at Rome, and was like it, nothing but a time-honoured form. This form was strictly observed so long as the Maratha Empire lasted. Even Baji Rao II, careless as he was of his Sardars' rights, could not or did not venture to do away with this formal ceremony. In his daftar has been found a document, an account of state expenses, which begins as follows:

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"Abaji Krishna Shelukar went to Satara to bring from Shrimant Maharaj Rajashri Chhatrapati Swami, the clothes of peshwaship for Rajashri Baji Rao Raghunath Rao and brought the clothes on the 3rd Jamadilakhar."¹⁵ It should be noted here that unlike the Pope, the Chhatrapati Maharaj raised no trouble about granting his sanction to the authority already seized, even if the grantees were usurpers. Thus Raghunath Rao, Chimnaji Raghunath transformed by Parashram Bhau Patwardhan into Chimnaji Madhava, and Vinayak Rao, son of Amrit Rao, had no difficulty in getting the clothes of peshwaship, although they could not retain the authority which they aspired to, or (as in the case of Chimnaji) which was thrust on an unwilling victim of state conspiracy. In the case of the other chiefs, the hereditary successors of the members of Shivaji's Ashta Pradhan Council, the saranjam or jagir was invariably granted by the Peshwas, but they were either referred to the state prisoner at Satara for grant of clothes of their office, or this mark of royal sanction was procured for them by the Peshwa's agent. Thus Madava Rao I writes to Achyut Rao Ganesh (1762-1763) that "the pratinidhiship as before has been granted to Shrinivas Pandit and he has been accordingly sent to the Raja to receive clothes of honour." 6

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¹⁵ Peshwas' Diaries, Vol. V, Baji Rao II, p. 14.

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Similarly when Parashram Shrinivas succeeded his father, a similar letter was written by the second Madhava Rao to Babu Rao Krishna (1777-78). "The command of God has reached Shrinivas Pandit Pratinidhi (i.e., he is dead), the clothes of the post have to be given to his son; clothes of honour, a head-dress and arms, have therefore been sent with Sadashiv Anant; request the Shrimant Maharaj Rajashri Swami to give the aforesaid personage the Pratinidhi's dress of honour." 7 And with this recommendation were also sent a dress of honour, a head-dress and arms to be given to the nominee; perhaps in consideration of the poverty of the Raja. The same Peshwa had again to write three letters to Krishna Rao Anant, Babu Rao Krishna and Nilkantha Rao at Satara in connection with the appointment of Jivan Rao Viththal to the office of Sumanta (1785-86), requesting them to procure a dress of honour and a sanad for his watan and saranjam, although the newly-appointed officer had already got both sanad and dress of honour from the Peshwa.⁸ But Madhava Rao II apparently did not consult the Raja's pleasure when Ramchandra Raghunath was appointed Pandit Rao.⁹ Baji Rao II, however, did not omit to procure a dress of honour for the new incumbent to the Sachiv's post when the old Sachiv Shankar Rao Pandit died (1799-1800), and was succeeded by his adopted son Chimnaji Shankar. "A letter to Krishna Rao Narayan to the effect that the command of God reached Sankar Rao Pandit Sachiv, father of Chimnaji Shankar, in the year Tisa Tisen. The latter was adopted by the Sachiv in his lifetime. Therefore the Surnis's dress of honour is to be given to him according to the old custom. A separate list of the clothes of honour is sent. Accordingly you should request the Maharaja and deliver the dress of honour to Krishnaji Bhagavant, a Karkun sent from the Sarkar. The latter will hand it over to Chimnaji Shankar."¹⁰ Two letters of the second Madhava Rao addressed to the Bhonsle of Nagpore clearly show that, jealous as that chief was of the Peshwa's authority, he also could not think of dispensing with royal sanction of his succession to the hereditary dominions.

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⁶ Peshwas' Diaries, Vol. IX, Madhava Rao I, p. 110

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⁷ Peshwas' Diaries, Vol. IV, p. 158.

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⁸ "In the year Tisa Sabain, Jivan Rao Viththal got the watan and saranjam of the office of Sumanta with the customary dress of honour. Then a letter was written to you to request Shrimant Maharaj Rajashri Chhatrapati to give the Sumanta's dress of honour to Jivan Rao and to get the sanad of the watan and saranjam of that office in his name: upon that a dress of honour was given to him. A sanad was to be procured but that was not done; therefore this letter is now sent; please give him a sanad for the saranjam and watan he is enjoying." Peshwas' Diaries, Vol. IV, p. 177.

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⁹ Peshwas' Diaries, Vol. IV, p. 176.

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¹⁰ Peshwas' Diaries, Vol. V, p. 77.

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"A letter to Shivaji Bhonsle Sena Saheb Subha; Shrimant Maharaj Rajashri Chhatrapati Swami being kindly disposed towards you, has appointed you Sena Saheb Subha and has given the dress of honour and jewels of that office with a shield, a sword, a seal and an elephant. These presents have been sent to you; accept them on an auspicious day" (1774-75).¹¹ "To Raghuji Bhonsle Sena Saheb Subha: you have been appointed Sena Saheb Subha by the order of the Shrimant Maharaj Rajashri Chhatrapati Swami; you should, therefore, serve the government with devotion and carry on the administration of your province and army" (1779-80).¹²

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¹¹ P. D., Vol. IV, p. 196.

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¹² P. D., Vol. IV, p. 198.

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Although the vanity of being addressed by the Peshwa for sanads and dresses of honour was still left to him, the position of the Raja of Satara was worse than miserable. Perhaps the meanest of the Maratha Sardars would not have liked to change place with him. An organic part of the state, he had not the ordinary right of an ordinary man of dismissing and appointing his servants. He had the mortification of seeing his household controlled by an officer of the Peshwa. Even his *khijmatgars* were appointed and sent from Poona. Five *khijmatgars* were sent to fort Satara¹³ for service with the Maharaja by Madhava Rao I in 1767-68.

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¹³ P. D., Vol. IX, p. 53.

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His personal attendants applied for promotion or increase in remuneration, not to him but to the Peshwa. Sometimes, when in blissful oblivion of his position, he issued orders of arrest or imprisonment, he ran the risk of undergoing the humiliation of seeing them countermanded. In the year 1797-98, Ganesh Anant and Babu Rao Krishna were arrested in connection with some disturbance that took place in the fort of Satara. The former was fined, the latter was imprisoned with his family and his property was attached. On an appeal to the Peshwa, the order was set aside and they were restored to their former offices.¹⁴

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¹⁴ "Krishnaji Anant Karkun, fort Satara, informs the Huzur that some disturbance took place in the aforesaid fort last year, when some people misrepresented facts to Shrimant Maharaj Rajashri Chhatrapati Swami and his brother Ganesh Anant, an employee in the fort, was imprisoned and money was taken from him.....Therefore do not take money from him and no dunning should be made for payment. He had not got his salary for the year saman tisen, pay that. Formerly two men from the shibandi (force) of the fort worked under him. Therefore appoint two men to work under him and obtain, as before, the work from his hand and give him his salary." "Last year a disturbance took place in the fort of Satara. Then Shrimant Maharaj Rajashri Chhatrapati imprisoned Babu Rao Krishna and his family and attached his house and Inam village. Detailed

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This humiliating subordination was not compensated by plenty, and to the unfortunate puppet was not granted even the mean satisfaction of forgetting his imprisonment in the midst of luxury and pomp. The account of his household was checked with more scrutiny perhaps than that of any department of the Peshwa's government. Strict regulations were framed even about such minute details as the grains required for the Raja's stables.¹⁵ The Chhatrapati lacked even the very necessities of a middle class Maratha with a slender income. We learn from a document of Madhava Rao I's time that the Maharaja had not even a garden for growing green vegetables, and that excellent prince ordered that a garden suitable for vegetables should be given him. The same paper goes on to say that the Maharaja had no pasture ground for his horses either.¹⁶ Madhava Rao I also sanctioned an allowance of Rs. 80 per month for two dancing girls, Hira and Achhi by name, for the singing

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¹⁵ Venkoji Mankeshwar and Vishnu Narhar are informed that requisition for the grain required for horses in the Raja's stable should be made every day. In making the requisition the number of horses newly arrived and that of horses sent away should be taken into consideration. The Huzur has come to know that instead of doing that you get from the Pratinidhi grain for eight days at a time. Peshwa's Diaries, Vol. IX, p. 51.

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¹⁶ P.D., Vol. IX, pp. 53-54.

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items about the removal of the attachment (then follows)" Peshwa's Diaries, Vol. V, pp. 4-5. The disturbance probably took place in connection with the Raja's attempt to assert his independence in 1798 at the instigation of Nana Fadnavis.

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establishment of his so-called master and an allowance was made for the fattening diet of a pet leopard.¹⁷

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¹⁷ P.D., Vol. IX, p. 55.

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Madhava Rao II or his chief adviser was not so indulgent. Although he appointed Nimbaji Pawar on a salary of Rs. 12, every two months, for training the Raja's son in the art of fencing,¹⁸ and granted saranjam to each of the two queens and to each of their two daughters, he refused to grant a sum adequate for the repair of an aqueduct which conveyed water to the palace of Satara. It was represented that two or three thousand rupees would be necessary for the work, but the Peshwa did not grant more than Rs. 800. It may be objected that perhaps the agent at Satara had over-estimated the necessary cost and the Peshwa naturally reduced it to a more reasonable amount, but we do not observe the same attitude so far as his other grants and expenses were concerned.¹⁹ The poor Maharaja, however could not do without praying to the Peshwa. So poor and helpless was he, that although about four years had elapsed since his marriage, he could not make the customary present of land to his sister until a grant of sixty bighas had been made for that purpose by the Peshwa in 1782-83.²⁰

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¹⁸ P.D., Vol. IV, p. 34.

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¹⁹ To Krishna Rao Anant : a pipe conveys water to the palace of Satara from Yavateshwar ; it is damaged at different places ; two to three thousand Rupees will be necessary for repairing it. You have written to Sadashiv Anant to request for the grant of the above sum from the Sarkar. He accordingly prayed for the grant, but it will not be convenient to give so much. But as the work is urgent, a grant of Rs. 800 is made for repairing the pipe. P.D., Vol. IV, p. 34.

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²⁰ Maharaja Rajashri Chhatrapati Swami married twice, but his sister Saubhagyavati Santubai Mahadik did not get on those occasions the customary present of Karavali-pan. Therefore a new inam of 60 Bighas in all (¼ a Chavar of 1st, 2nd, and 3rd class land) is made to her with all dues and rights assigned to it. P.D., Vol. IV, p. 37.

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Poor and powerless as he was, the Raja of Satara was a political factor of no mean importance. Though slighted in private, he was honoured in public. The Peshwas and other chiefs paid *nazar* to him and to his relatives whenever they went to pay their respects to the Chhatrapati or when the king was pleased to honour them with a royal visit in their camp. Large sums were spent on occasions likely to attract public notice. When a son was born to queen Anandi Bai, the eldest wife of the reigning Raja (1792-93), Madhava Rao II ordered Rs. 1,000 to be spent for distribution of sugar and other ceremonies. In 1807-8 the Peshwa granted Rs. 25,000 for the funeral obsequies of Raja Shahu. In the same year more than Rs. 8,000 was spent at the time of the new king's coronation, and the Peshwa Baji Rao II ordered 100 shots to be fired from a cannon to celebrate that occasion. In 1809-10 more than Rs. 17,000 was spent on the occasion of the royal marriage and some other ceremonies of minor importance. The servants and relatives of the king were exempted from taxes and customs duties, and sometimes a small pension in the form of land or cash was granted to his near relatives.²¹

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²¹ For the family of Narsingh Rao Guzar, brother-in law of Shrimant Rajashri Chhatrapati Swami, an annual pension of Rs. 1,000 has been granted. Out of that, a village of an income of Rs. 500 has to be given. The remaining Rs. 500 are to be paid from Satara (1783-84), P. D., Vol. IV, p. 38. Shrimant Khatriyakulavatansa Maharaj Rajashri Chhatrapati Swami's relatives and servants are enjoying inam and saranjam. Pressure has been put on them for cesses owing to varat from the Sarkar. This letter is written to you exempting them from the cess now. Therefore do not press them for payment.

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To keep up appearances in public, Satara was allowed to enjoy comparative security in the midst of military depredation and public plunder. William Henry Tone, an Irish officer in the service of Baji Rao Raghunath, observes in his *Letter to an Officer on the Madras Establishment* (published 1799). "The country circumjacent to Sattarah enjoys an exemption from military depredations of all kinds; and whenever any chief enters this district, all the ensigns of royalty are laid aside, and the nagara or the great drum of the empire ceases to beat."

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Twice had Nana Fadnavis attempted to bring the peculiar political position of the Raja of Satara into use, and twice he failed. When Mahadaji Sindhia, jealous of Nana's influence at the Peshwa's court, and perhaps with an ulterior object of putting himself at the head of the Maratha empire with the Peshwa as a useful and convenient puppet in his hands, had procured for Madhava Rao II the high-sounding and lengthy title of *Vakil-i-Mutluq Amirul-Umara Mutkhar-ul-Mumalik Madarul-maham Maslatlajat Umedwara Kinkhis Fat Far Wafadar Shirdsakar Sadatmand Bajyadebam Farjand Khas-ul-Khas Makja Maharajadhiraj Rao Pandit Pradhan Bahadur*, Nana pointed out that the Peshwa could not, as a servant of the Raja of Satara, assume the title of Maharajadhiraj. But the problem was easily solved, as it was not very difficult for Sindhia to procure the gracious consent of their royal master. Again after the suicide of Madhava Rao II, Nana had for a moment indulged himself in the idea of re-establishing the authority of the House of Shivaji, but the impracticability of the scheme was apparent. The claims of the Raja were recognised by the English government after the fall of the Peshwa; and while the last Peshwa was pensioned off, the descendant of Shivaji was re-installed as a ruling chief. We may now leave him in the temporary enjoyment of power and plenty and turn to the real head of the Maratha confederacy—the Peshwa.

2. The Peshwa

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Here again theory and practice did not agree. Originally the Peshwa was only a member of the Ashta Pradhan Council of Shivaji; he was one of the eight pradhans or ministers of state. The post was not even hereditary, as in Shivaji's time officers were frequently transferred from one post to another. Balaji Vishwanath Bhat was the seventh Peshwa; a glance at the list of his predecessors in that post will at once show that only in one case a father (Moro Trimbak Pingle) was succeeded by his son²² (Nilkanth Moreshwar). In theory, therefore, the other pradhans had every reason to regard the Peshwa as their equal. Nay, as Justice Ranade points out, he was even inferior in rank to at least one of them. "In the official order of precedence," says Ranade, "the Peshwa was a smaller functionary than the Pant Pratinidhi, whose office was created by Rajaram at Jinji, and Pralhad Niraji was made vicegerent of the Raja. The fixed salary of the Pratinidhi was 15,000 Hons, while for the Peshwa the salary was fixed at 13,000 Hons."²³ Balaji Vishwanath by his ability and statesmanship not only succeeded in making the Peshwaship hereditary in his family, but he and his more famous son Baji Rao I made the Peshwa's position superior to the other seven, and actually became what the Pratinidhi ought to have been, the vicegerent of the king. Baji Rao's position was further strengthened when his policy of expansion towards the north was accepted by Chhatrapati Shahu in preference to the opposite policy of southern conquest championed by the Pratinidhi. The Peshwa became the head of the Maratha Empire in name as well as in reality when Shahu appointed Balaji Baji Rao and Govinda Rao Chitnis, joint guardians of his successor, a minor. Tarabai helped to put the finishing touch to the Peshwa's work by imprisoning Ram Raja in the fort of Satara and thus preparing a perpetual prison for her own dynasty. This transfer of authority from the master to the servant was so gradually, silently, carefully accomplished, that the successive steps, important as they were in relation to the whole move, escaped all contemporary notice. Scott-Waring very pertinently remarks that "the usurpation of the Peshwas neither attracted observation, nor excited surprise. Indeed the transition was easy, natural, and progressive."[24]

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²² The first six Peshwas were (1) Shamraj Nilkanth Rozekar, (2) Moro Trimbak Pingle, (3) Nilkanth Moreshwar Pingle, (4) Parashram Trimbak Pratinidhi, (5) Bahiru Moreshwar Pingle, and (6) Balkrishna Vasudev.

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²³ Ranade, The Miscellaneous Writings, p. 345.

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The Marathas had long been familiar with delegated authority. During Shivaji's absence in Northern India, the Government was carried on by a small council of regency of which Jijabai was the acknowledged head. It was notorious that Sambhaji did not care to look after the affairs of the state and although the royal authority was never formally delegated to anybody during his short reign, Kalusha, his favourite, did in fact rule the kingdom with his master's consent and tacit approval. After Sambhaji's death and Shahu's capture, Rajaram became the ostensible head of the Maratha people, but he also permitted two of his officers to conduct the government as they liked. Ramchandra Pant Hukamatpanha, placed as he was, far from Jinji, where his master then resided, had no other alternative but to carry on the civil and military affairs of the country without waiting for his master's opinion. But even at Jinji, Rajaram resigned his authority to the able hands of Pralhad Niraji. Thus the Bhat Peshwas had in their favour a series of important and well known precedents. At Kolhapur during the minority of Sambhaji II, Ramchandra Pant continued to be the real head of the state. And things were not much different at Satara during the closing years of Shahu. The King lost his reason more than once. The empire had expanded far and wide and the weak old man, never used to exertion and industry, found it necessary to leave the reins of the state entirely in the hands of the young, energetic, and ambitious Peshwa. The Marquis of Alorna, Viceroy and Governor-General of the Portuguese Estate in India, regarded him as a mere phantom, an idol, worshipped but not always obeyed by his subjects.

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²⁴ Scott-Waring, p. 169.

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This does not signify that Shahu Chhatrapati was a mere puppet in the hands of his powerful ministers and unconsciously left his successor a victim to the ambitious intrigues of a Konkanastha Brahman. Shahu was not altogether a weakling. His ability like that of Charles II of England has been considerably underestimated by posterity. A state prisoner while still an infant, brought up as he was in the midst of the luxury and corruption of a Mughal court, we cannot expect from Shahu, the hardihood and untiring activity of his famous grandfather, or the careless bravery which characterised his licentious father even to the last moment. But he had inherited to a considerable extent the administrative qualities of the great Shivaji and he *ruled* as well as reigned. Here again we may profitably quote that great Maratha savant, Mahadev Govind Ranade: "In the forty years of rule enjoyed by Shahu, he was not merely a titular head of the Maratha Government; but he directed all operations, ordered and recalled Commanders, and he exercised a great controlling power on the chiefs, though he led no armies in the field. It was due to his efforts that Gujarath was divided between the Peshwa and the Dabhades or Gaikwads in equal halves after the battle of Dabhoi. When Balaji Baji Rao wanted to invade Bengal, Raghoji Bhosale protested at Satara, and Shahu was strong enough to enforce moderation even over the towering ambition of Balaji, and forced him to leave the Eastern provinces of India free for the development of the Bhosale's power. Baji Rao was only a general under Shahu, and the Pratinidhis, Bhosales, Nimbalkars, Dabhades, Gaikwads, Kadambandes, Angres, Ghorpades all respected his orders.²³

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²³ Ranade, The Miscellaneous Writings, pp. 348-49.

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Why Shahu made the Peshwa his heir's guardian it is not very difficult to guess. He had no issue of his own. Sambhaji of Kolhapur was the probable successor. Shahu had no reason to be favourably disposed towards his Kolhapur rival. Eventually a young prince of the Kolhapur branch was discovered, whose boyhood, to say the least, was obscure and who was rightly or wrongly regarded as an impostor by the enemies of the Peshwa. It is quite natural that Shahu did not feel the same zeal for transmitting the royal prerogatives undiminished to an unknown boy about whose identity sinister whispers were made, as he would have felt for keeping untarnished all the divine rights of royalty for an heir of his body. On the other hand he knew the ability of his ministers. He had known them long. The family had served him for three generations, and constant association must have produced a natural attachment, and Shahu had probably nominated Balaji Baji Rao a guardian of the young Raja as a reward for good service, knowing fully well that the reward was well-deserved and the power was vested in able hands. Govinda Rao's incompetence or indifference, Tarabai's ambition, and Ram Raja's weakness gradually led to the promotion of the Peshwa to the real headship of the empire. In any case it secured the continuity of the royal line. Shahu's successors were all weaklings, and but for this transfer of authority: a revolution was bound to follow sooner or later, resulting in the deposition of the family in name as well as in reality. It is to be noted that the dynasty of the Mikados was also preserved from the possible consequences of weakness and incompetence, by the rise of the Shogunate, an institution quite analogous to the Peshwaship.

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3. The Religious Head of the State :

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Here it should be noted that the Chhatrapati Maharaj was not only the political but also the ecclesiastical head (if we are allowed to use that term) of the state. This has to be remembered as we shall afterwards find the Peshwas frequently regulating social and religious affairs. Because the Peshwas happened to be Brahmans it may be wrongly supposed that they derived this authority from their Brahman birth. This was not the case. The rise of Shivaji was preceded by a revival of Hinduism in the south; and according to Hindu notions, the king is not only the chief magistrate of the state, but the principal regulator of social custom and the protector of religion as well. Cases regarding social custom and religion were generally referred to the Pandit Rao for direction by the Chhatrapatis, but it seems that the Brahman officers had for the sake of legal completion to procure the Non-Brahman Raja's sanction for the order passed in his name. A document dated March 16th, 1686, relates how when one Gangadhar Raghunath Kulkarni, a Brahman, who had been converted into Muhammadanism, and who had, though involuntarily and for a very short time to dine with the Muhammadans, applied for readmission into his caste after the performance of a prayashchitta, the Chhandogyamatya had to acquaint Sambhaji with the circumstances of the case and take the royal permission for the formal penance.²⁸ So the Peshwas exercised this authority as the authorised deputies of the Chhatrapati, and had inherited it with other royal prerogatives from Shahu. Within the territories under their direct rule the Peshwas were like the Chhatrapatis before them, the sole depository of the sovereign authority of the state in all its modern significance.

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²⁸ Rajwade, M.I.S., Vol. VIII, p. 36, D. 40.

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4. The Consequence of the Rise of the Peshwas :

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The rise of the Peshwa affected Maratha history in two ways. It destroyed the solidarity of the constitution which Shivaji's Ashta Pradhan Council was expected to maintain and it at once created two distinct classes of Sardars in the Maratha Empire. The Peshwas could, if they liked, suffer the Council to exist, and preside over its deliberations as the deputy of the Chhatrapati. But their ambition led them to establish an autocratic government removing at the same time the only bond of union, the only check to selfish individualism, and setting the ominous example of independence which henceforth became the only ambition of old Sardars like the Angrias, Bhonsles and the Gaikwads to imitate. The result was that the Maratha Empire ultimately became like the Holy Roman Empire, a loose confederacy of ambitious feudal chiefs, and the Peshwa, like the Emperor, gradually descended to the position of the head of a confederacy whose command was met with scant respect, and whose authority was confined within the territories under his direct personal rule.

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5. *The Old and the New Aristocracy* :

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Some distinction between the old and the new aristocracy in question of precedence was bound to arise after the promotion of the Peshwa. The old nobility regarded the Peshwa as their equal. They obeyed him only as the deputy of the king, while the new nobility, the Sindhia, the Holkar, the Rastias were the Peshwa's servants. They regarded the Peshwa as the master whose bread they ate and whom they were bound to serve. Their sentiment is voiced by Nana Fadnavis when he says in his autobiography: 'we have long eaten his bread and he has favoured us as his children' and again 'this body is grown on his bread.'¹ These Sardars, therefore, were at first more amenable to discipline and obeyed the Peshwa without reluctance. The old Sardars, however, expected the Peshwa to remember that any respect that might be shown to him was a matter of courtesy and not of right, and that he in his turn should in courtesy return it. The Angria, for example, expected the Peshwa to come two miles from Poona to receive him on his visit to that city. It was also expected that the Peshwa should dismount on his approach and receive him on a *gasha* (an embroidered cloth) and then accompany him to his (Peshwa's) residence, always keeping on the left side of the visitor and after he has taken the betel leaf at his place, send him to the residence appointed for his use and send a dinner also. And in the hall of public audience the Angria expected the Peshwa to rise to receive him and then sit on the same galicha.²⁸ The Jadhava Rao also claimed similar privileges²⁹ and the Peshwa found it convenient to gratify their vanity by celebrating the occasion of the Jadhava Rao's visit to the Peshwa's palace by releasing prisoners.³⁰ As a logical consequence of this idea the old Sardars claimed precedence over the new Sardars in the field of battle. If the Bhonsle of Nagpur and the Sindhia of Gwalior were both present in the battle field, the Bhonsle would demand the chief command as a matter of right.

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¹ Nana's Autobiography in Sane's Patre Yadi Bagaire, p. 88.

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²⁸ Kaifiyats Yadis, ed. Mawji and Parasnis, p. 24.

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²⁹ Kaifiyate Yadis, p. 54.

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³⁰ Kaifiyats Yadis, p. 56. Shrimant Nana Saheb Peshwa (i.e., Balaji Baji Rao) addressed Balaji Jadhava Rao as Kaka, the prisoners in the government prison were released in honour of his visit to the government house.

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6. The Structure of the Government:

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During the Peshwa period the feudal barons, both new and old, exercised sovereign authority within their fiefs, although the Peshwa had the prerogative of appointing their chief officers. The Dewans of the Gaikwad, the Holkar, and the Sindhia were always appointed by the Peshwa, but all of them claimed uncontrolled exercise of sovereign rights.³¹ Thus says the Jadhava Rao, "The management of Malegaon, where we live, has been always with us; the Sarkar has no authority over it."³²

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³¹ Some of the new Sardars were descendants of the relatives or friends of Balaji Vishwanath. Thus Vishwanath Bhat Mehendale was Balaji Vishwanath's sister's son and Ambaji Tryambak Purandare his friend.

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³² Kaifiyats Yadis, p. 54.

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The Supekar Pawars also claim the same right of managing their saranjam without any interference from the Peshwa.³³ Numerous other instances could be cited of similar claims. The villages over which these Sardars ruled, were self-contained units, and their democratic institutions remained unaffected and undisturbed till the lax supervision of the Peshwa's government was replaced by the more centralised and more efficient administration of the English. A detailed description of the village institutions, we should postpone for the present and try to understand the general structure of the Maratha government.

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³³ Kaifiyats Yadis, p. 78.

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At the head of the government was the Peshwa who had power to act as the deputy of the Satara Raja. He was therefore the head of the feudal nobles and one of them at the same time. The feudal nobles rendered military service in return for their fiefs or saranjams and were independent rulers in everything but name. The villages in Maharashtra proper, however, were managed by their own officers under the supervision of the Saranjami's agents. Thus the whole constitution was a curious combination of democracy and feudal autocracy. In fact no single term of political philosophy can be applied to it. Unable to call it a monarchy, aristocracy or democracy, Tone calls it a Military Republic. This is true only in one sense that the meanest soldier, if he had ability, could logically expect to be a Sardar of the empire. The empire itself, as Tone points out, was based, not upon confidence, but jealousy; and incapable of a comprehensive policy of national patriotism which had been the aim of Shivaji, fell to pieces when it came into conflict with a nation which combined individual self-sacrifice with national ambition.

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VILLAGE COMMUNITIES

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In the administration of his home provinces the Peshwa was a despot but not a tyrant. Like the benevolent despots of contemporary Europe, he was the head of a paternal government anxious to secure plenty, if not peace, for the governed. He was ready to do everything for them, and, unlike his fellow rulers in Europe, also allowed many things to be done by them. Yet in theory as well as in practice, his prerogatives were such as his European brethren might well have sighed for. Like them he was the head of the state, and unlike them he was the head of the 'church' as well (the word church cannot be strictly applied to the Indian institution, but for want of a better word it may be used here in a modified sense). With all these powers and prerogatives at their command the Peshwa might have aspired to a centralised despotism as Louis XIV had established in France; but their native good sense (with one unfortunate exception, that of Baji Rao II) always told them how far they would be tolerated by the independent spirit of the Maratha peasant and it told them also where to stop. The Maratha peasant, unlike his brother of Bengal, was not the timid creature ready to submit to all sorts of tyranny and even to kiss the foot that kicked. Elphinstone was struck by the independence of spirit and easy manner with which they met the English officers after the annexation of the Peshwa's territories to the British dominions. Although there could be no doubt about their loyalty to the established government of the country, they would not easily part with the rights and privileges enjoyed by their ancestors. A Maratha would go to any extreme to save his watan, and the Peshwas had to take this fact into consideration in regulating their policy of home administration. With an exhausted treasury and always in debt, the Peshwas had to remember that their ultimate chance of reaching a financial equilibrium lay in the material prosperity of their country and the policy of developing the commercial resources of the Maratha dominions inaugurated by Shivaji from patriotic motives was continued by the Peshwas from consideration of expediency. Consequently the Maratha plunderer is absent in the Maratha administrator; or to be more accurate, he appears in another character, different in form but not in reality. His motives in plundering his enemy was the same that led him to protect his own land. The Maratha warrior like all other warriors in all ages, wanted to weaken his enemy and strengthen his own resources. Consequently, whenever they annexed a new province they tried their utmost to improve its agriculture and industries and secure, so far as it was possible under the circumstances of the times, the material prosperity of the people. In this respect all the feudal states were similar with only some local variations that can be dismissed as of minor importance, and the Peshwa's government can be regarded as the type of them all.

1. Village Communities

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It has already been pointed out that allowance had to be made for the spirit of independence of the Maratha peasants and the Peshwa had to leave undisturbed what they thought were their ancestral rights. The village communities were allowed to administer their own affairs under the paternal and lax supervision of a set of government officers. The work of these officers again was supervised by the officers of *Huzur Daftar* supposed to be under the direct control of the Peshwa through his Karbhari. At the top of the system was therefore this daftar or secretariat, and at its base were the village communities. For convenience, we will discuss separately how the daftar and the village communities worked, and how the tiny states at the base were connected with the daftar at the top by a chain of hereditary and non-hereditary government officials.

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