Administrative System of the Marathas c18.s2.4

c18.s2.4

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.