Administrative System of the Marathas c18.s2.5

c18.s2.5

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