Administrative System of the Marathas c18.s25: 3. Exemption of Government Officers and Prabhus

Administrative System of the Marathas c18.s25

Language: English

3. Exemption of Government Officers and Prabhus

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But government officers were generally exempted from Ghar Patti (house-tax) and the Prabhus in the Konkan enjoyed similar exemption with the Brahmans.⁴

"Sanads to Kamavisdars : The Huzur has been informed that in the Konkan, house-tax is demanded from the Prabhus while it is not levied on the Brahmans. Don't levy that tax on the houses of the Prabhus in the Konkan Prant and you should return what you have already realised from them on that account." Consideration as usual was made for the poverty of the taxpayer in levying these extra taxes also. Thus we find that Moro Ganesh Behare of Satara was exempted from house-tax because the gentleman with his brother had been robbed twice and was, therefore, not in a position to pay (1776-77).

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"A letter to Krishna Rao Anant, Mukkam Satara : Moro Ganesh Behare is a resident of Satara. The Huzur is informed that you have dunned his family for house-tax due to the government. The year before last the aforesaid gentleman was robbed by dacoits beneath Morgiri and lost his property. After that, his brother at Vadutha was also robbed last year of all his goods and killed. Therefore he is under great difficulties. So we have taken pity on him and exempted him from this tax. Do not, therefore, dun his family."⁵

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⁵ P. D., Vol. VI, pp. 298-299.

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The principle was that the levy should be *Jivan maphak* or in proportion to the resources of the tax-payer and these various taxes, although they look tremendous on paper, could not be very oppressive except in the hands of bad rulers like Baji Rao II. It is significant that although most of these taxes fell on lands, Mirasi lands always fetched as high a price as ten years' purchase. Some of these taxes however were not levied on the Rayats at all. Vancharai for instance was levied really to safeguard the interests of the peasants. The tax was imposed on the professional shepherds or *khilaris*, whose flocks were often let loose to graze freely in the fields and villages (mountainous regions where cultivation was difficult). To put a check on them these *khilaris* were required to take a license for their sheep and if the number ever exceeded that sanctioned in the license they had to pay a tax of Rs. 6 per hundred sheep. But the Rayats, whether Dhangar or Kunbi, was not to be taxed for the sheep that they might keep. This principle of levying Vancharai is clearly set forth in a letter written to Bapu Rao Yeshwant in 1767-68.

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"A letter to Bapurao Yeshwant : You had been deputed to make an enquiry about the sheep of the *khilaris*, but complaint has reached us that you have levied Vancharai even upon the sheep of the Rayats.

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Though there was no custom of levying that tax upon the Rayats, in the past you extorted Vancharai from them, and so they felt oppressed. It has, on this account, been settled that you should not exact it from the Rayats. Therefore make an enquiry about the sheep not belonging to the Rayats. Those who have got a license should be let alone, but those who graze their sheep along with the license-holders give trouble to the Rayats. Therefore carefully find out the number of unlicensed sheep and levy Vancharai at the rate of Rs. 6 per hundred. Deposit in the Sarkar what you can on account of Vancharai and take a receipt for it. But the Rayats, whether Dhangar or Kunbi, are not to be on any account troubled for the sheep that they may keep."⁶ In fact these khilaris with their flocks had become such a nuisance to the farm lands as well as to the wood lands that in 1770-71, the government was compelled to take the drastic measure of confiscating the licensed as well as the unlicensed flocks grazing in Prant Shirval. The licensed flocks, of course, were restored to their owners shortly afterwards.⁷

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⁶ P. D., Vol. VII, p. 103.

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⁷ P. D., Vol. VII, p. 106.

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4. Forests:

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Now to pass on to the preservation of government forests for they were a source of income to the Peshwas. Forests, do not seem to have yielded much in cash. We find that a man paid Rs. 154-10 for a farm of the bherali palms in Pargana Ghosala for one year (1743-44)⁸ and of course the Peshwas got something by selling their permission for cutting wood both for building purposes and for fuel; the usual fee for fuel was As. 4 per bullock load. The honey from the bee-hives, whatever it might have yielded, formed another item of the forest revenue. But it seems that the kurans were also included in the forest department. The Peshwas preserved the forests and kurans more for their direct produce than for any revenue as will be seen in the document below:

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⁸ P. D., Vol. III, p. 250.

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"Balaji Krishna was appointed to the Mamlat of the Kurans and the following instructions were issued to him.

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1. He should deliver to Government in Poona fifteen lakhs of bundles of grass, and should keep a similar quantity ready for Government use in Kurans within a radius of five or six Kos from the city. (This last quantity should be given to the stables and camel stables, on presenting a letter from the Peshwa's officers.)

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2. He should take in his charge all the Kurans existing within a radius of fifteen to twenty Kos of Poona, whether belonging to Government or to private individuals, and there establish Government Kurans.

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3. He should deliver to Government in Poona 1,600 khandis of fuel and 150 khandis of coal.

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4. Out of the timber, fuel, grass, bamboos, leaves and other produce realised in a private Kuran, a quantity sufficient to meet his annual wants should be given to the owner. The rest should belong to the Government and should be sold, excepting such portion as may be required for Government purposes, and the proceeds credited to the Government.

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5. A duty of As. 4 per bullock load, or if possible more, should be levied from all traders carrying wood on bullocks, and Vancharai should be levied on all cow-herds grazing their flock in the Kuran and the proceeds should be credited to the Government."⁹

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⁹ K. B. Marathe's Summary, P. D., Vol. VI, p. 256.

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The Peshwas sometimes allowed government officers to take timber free for constructing their houses. Sometimes building materials were given to villagers in distress and in need of public help.

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"The houses of the Kunbis of Mauja Talawade belonging to Moro Babu Rao having been burnt, Keso Krishna is ordered to give them 750 bamboos from the Kuran of Mauja Chas in Tarf Chakan." ¹⁰ For works of public utility building materials could be freely obtained from government forests with the sanction of the Peshwa, very easily obtainable on such occasions.

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¹⁰ P. D., Vol. VI, p. 255.

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5. Mints:

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A third source of revenue was the mint. The mints during the Peshwa period were, unlike those of our own days, in private hands. "The Hindu financier," says Mr. Ranade, "whose opinions were so prominently referred to in one of the articles on Indian affairs published in a recent issue of the *London Times*, reflected the views of his countrymen faithfully enough when he observed that 'No Government has the right to close its mints, or to say that the currency of the country was either deficient or redundant. That was a question solely for the bankers, traders and merchants to consider. If they do not require money they will not purchase bullion to be coined. The duty of Government is merely to assay all bullion brought to the mints for coinage and to return the value of the Bullion in money.'" ¹¹ Shivaji also advocated the same policy in his reply to the prayer of the English that their "money should go current in his dominions."

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¹¹ The Miscellaneous Writings, p. 330.

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Its natural consequence was that no less than twenty-six different sorts of gold coins of different value were current in Shivaji's time, and "in an official table published for the guidance of the Civil Courts in the Bombay Presidency, the names of no less than thirty-eight gold coins and over one hundred and twenty-seven silver coins are mentioned as still so far current in different parts of this Presidency as to make it worth while to give the relative intrinsic values of these local currencies in exchange for the Queen's coin."¹²

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¹² Ranade, The Miscellaneous Writings, p. 331.

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The inevitable corollary of this system was private minting; not free but licensed. For this license, the Sonar (the owner of private mints was usually a Sonar or Goldsmith) had to pay some royalty to the government which varied in different cases. But the license-holder had to stipulate for keeping up the standard proportion in the alloy and the purity of the metal used for coining purposes. A breach of this contract meant fine or forfeiture of the license. Even a random quotation of a document bearing on mints will illustrate the principle well.

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"Balaji Bapuji is permitted to establish a mint at Kasba Nagothane and coin pice ten Masas in weight. If pice of the prescribed weight is coined it will be all right; but if the pice is made of a less weight, he will be fined." The permission was given for three years and for the license Balaji Bapu had to pay Rs. 50 for the first year (in four instalment of Rs. 12-8 each), Rs. 75 for the second year (four instalments), and Rs. 100 for the third year (four instalments).¹³ Mr. Ranade points out that the document quoted above furnishes the first notice of such licensed private mints in the Peshwas' Daftar, and both Shahu and the Raja of Kolhapur had their own mints.

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¹³ P. D., Vol. II, p. 157.

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Though the Peshwas granted license for private mints they were by no means ready to tolerate unlicensed mints or debased coins. But in some provinces the Zamindars established their own mints and issued counterfeit coins. The most notorious in this respect was Subha Dharwar, and it was not very easy to put a stop to this corrupt practice, so profitable to the offenders. The first notice of counterfeit coins we find in a document of Balaji Baji Rao dated 1760-61.¹⁴ It states:

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¹⁴ P. D., Vol. II, p. 164.

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"In Subha Dharwar the mints for coining Hons, Mohars, and Rupees issue false coins. In the old mints good coins were struck. Recently the Zamindars have established mints almost

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at every house and are issuing bad coins." The remedy proposed was to abolish these spurious mints and to establish one central mint for which a license was granted to Pandurang Murar.

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"It causes loss to the government. You represented that all these mints should be abolished and in their place one central mint should be established at Dharwar. Bad coins should be discontinued and good coins issued. Such a measure will be profitable to the government. Therefore agreeing with your view that the continuation of the issue of bad coins is not desirable and should be discontinued, the management has been entrusted to you. You should pull down the mints established in different places and establish a central mint at Dharwar. You should also destroy the bad coins and issue good ones." The mint charges was fixed at seven per thousand (six coins for the government and one for the manager). "The customary charge from former time is one Mohar for each thousand Mohars and one Rupee per thousand. The work of the mint should be profitable, therefore the Sawkars have been exempted from this charge for one year from Rabilakhar, San Ihide, to Rabilakhar, San Issanne Sitain. After this you should take the customary due of six per thousand coins and remit the same to the government. In addition to this, take one coin more with the free consent of the Sawdars in your own name, and remit that also to the government. Your dues will be afterwards fixed according to your service." But this reform could not be carried out till 1765-66 when the first Madhava Rao had to issue a circular letter to the Kamavisdar, Zamindars and Sawkars telling them that no payment should henceforth be accepted by the government except in new coins. We have many other instances of suppression of spurious mints and counterfeit coins.¹⁵ But the government confined itself to supervision only, and the actual control of the currency was never undertaken. The currency was further strengthened by an extensive use of *hundis* or credit instruments. The Peshwas always instructed their revenue officers to make use of *hundis* in the transmission of money to the central treasury. How popular the use of *hundi* had become is seen in a letter written by one Ganesh Bhat, where he says that he has remitted Rs. 13-8 by *hundi*.¹⁶

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¹⁵ P. D., Vol. VII, pp. 291-297.

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¹⁶ Rajwade, M. I. S., Vol. X, p. 21.

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6. *Customs Duties* :

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We may now turn to the Peshwas' income from customs duties and other taxes levied on traders. These duties fell under two classes, Mohatarfa or duties on traders, and Zakat which included duties on sales and purchases as well as octroi duties. A chart of the rates of Mohatarfa during the administration of Balaji Baji Rao Peshwa can be framed from four documents, a letter to the Kamavisdar of Mamla Revdanda written in 1742-43,¹⁷ a letter to Nathuram Chaudhari dated the same year,¹⁸ a Sanad to the officer in charge of Janjira Revdanda (1750-51)¹⁹ and a Sanad to Shridhar Jivaji issued in 1752-53.²⁰ The Kamavisdar of Mamla Revdanda was asked to levy Mohatarfa at the following rate: