Administrative System of the Marathas c18.s2: 4. English Sources
Administrative System of the Marathas c18.s2
- Language
- English
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Next in importance to the Maratha records are the published and unpublished English records. To the unpublished English papers in the Imperial Records Department I can here make only a passing reference.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.