Administrative System of the Marathas c18.s27: 11. Communication
Administrative System of the Marathas c18.s27
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11. Communication
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In times of famine and scarcity, the favourite remedy of English statesmen during the first four decades of the 19th century had been a sliding scale of tariff, intended to secure agricultural interest, and at the same time to procure relief to the distressed. The Maratha government on such occasions boldly met the difficulty by the total suspension of Zakat and temporary introduction of free import of foodstuff and agricultural necessities. But the means of communication in those days were not so advanced, and in spite of these wise measures famine had often terrible consequences. Means of communication, such as ferry-boats and roads, were not neglected by the Peshwa's government. The government sometimes granted money for the construction of ferry-boats, and the roads were in general good, particularly in the neighbourhood of big cities. The Duke of Wellington, then Sir Arthur Wellesley, remarks in his despatches "The roads are excellent except when the rain is heavy." Among the papers of the second Madhava Rao, we find a letter to Balaji Mahadev, Mamlatdar of Taluka Shivner, (1783-84), ordering him to repair the road through the pass of Malje in Tarf Shivner, one-fourth of the total expense was to be paid from the land revenue of the district and the remaining three-fourths were to be raised by the Kamavisdars of Zakat. The same road was for a second time repaired nine years later. The contribution to the major portion of the expenses by the Kamavisdars of Zakat shows that these roads were mainly meant for trade purposes.²⁸
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²⁸ P. D., Vol. VIII, p. 215.
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*12. Foundation of New Market-towns :*
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We have casually noticed the kauls granted to traders. The cultivators, we have seen, got a kaul for bringing waste land into cultivation and for the improvement of agriculture in general, and kauls were granted to merchants for repopulation of old and deserted market-towns, for foundation of new market places and for the improvement of trade and commerce in general. A kaul was granted to the Shete Mahajan, shop-keepers and traders, and persons following other occupations of Kasba Mukhde in Pargana Patode, of Sarkar Sangamner in the Subha of Khujiste Buniad in 1750-51, because business in the old market of the aforesaid village was not thriving well owing to some disturbance. The kaul was granted not only for the improvement of the trade and for the benefit of the tradesmen, but also because it was to the profit of the government as well. By this kaul old residents of the place were to be exempted from export and import duties for three years, and to be subjected only to the payment of house-tax (levied according to the profession of the house-owner); and new-comers were to be exempted from export and import duties for five years, and from house tax for three years.²⁹
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²⁹ P. D., Vol. 11, pp. 134-135.
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Similarly, when a new peth or suburb was established at Kasba Barshi in 1777-78, a kaul was granted to traders exempting them from all taxes for seven years.³⁰ In the year 1776-77 Chabildas Gulabdas of Burhanpur was exempted from half the usual Hashil for opening a new shop of cloth and embroidery ³¹; and in the year 1789-90 two merchants, Pomaji Naik and Govind Naik Bhake, got a refund of money illegally exacted from them by a Mamledar of Zakat on bhusara grains, specially because their supply proved a great source of relief in time of a famine at Poona.³²
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³⁰ P. D., Vol. VIII, p. 223.
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³¹ P. D., Vol. VIII, p. 225.
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³² P. D., Vol. VIII, p. 225.
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It is to be noted here that special inducements were offered to new traders to come and settle in the Peshwa's territories. Vithoji Krishna Kamat, a Shenvi merchant, having offered to come with five ships and settle at Bassein as a trader, Peshwa Balaji Baji Rao ordered a palanquin and clothes of honour to be given to him in addition to partial exemption from Zakat.³³ Sometimes when tradesmen were pressed hard for money by their creditors, the government interfered in their favour and induced the money lenders to accept easy terms of payments.
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³³ P. D., Vol. II, p. 139.
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*13. Shete Mahajan:*
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Generally the task of establishing a new suburb or market town was entrusted to an enterprising man, who was rewarded on the successful conclusion of his labours with a watan of *Shetepan*. The perquisites of this watan were quite analogous to those of the village officers, and in this case too the Peshwa got important services without any payment whatever from the government treasury. The shop-keepers and traders, who actually paid the Shete's remuneration, had no reason for grumbling, as he was, like the Patil, the natural guardian of his clients' interests. The perquisites of the Shete watan were as follows:
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1. One betel-nut on every weekly market day from each Bania's shop.
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2. Five betel leaves every day from each shop of the leaves sellers.
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3. Nine taks (¼ seer) of oil every week from every oilman's shop.
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4. Half a seer of gram for each bag of grain sold in the market.
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5. Quarter seer of groceries for every bag of grocery sold.
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6. A handful of vegetables from every vegetable shop.
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7. One pasodi (a kind of rough cloth) a year from the weaver community in the suburb.
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8. Two pairs of shoes from the shoe-maker community in the suburb.
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9. Quarter seer of wheat or rice from every shop on such festivals as Dasra, Diwali, Shimga and Varsha Pratipada.
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10. A handful of grain for every bag of corn measured by the measure of the Shetes.
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11. Flesh and dried fish to be taken when offered for sale in the market by butchers and fish-sellers.
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12. A piece of cocoanut at every marriage celebrated in the suburb.
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13. The houses of the Shetes to be exempted from house-tax.³⁴
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³⁴ For another paper recounting similar perquisites see P. D., Vol. VII, pp. 284-285.