Administrative System of the Marathas c18.s3.17

c18.s3.17

This humiliating subordination was not compensated by plenty, and to the unfortunate puppet was not granted even the mean satisfaction of forgetting his imprisonment in the midst of luxury and pomp. The account of his household was checked with more scrutiny perhaps than that of any department of the Peshwa's government. Strict regulations were framed even about such minute details as the grains required for the Raja's stables.¹⁵ The Chhatrapati lacked even the very necessities of a middle class Maratha with a slender income. We learn from a document of Madhava Rao I's time that the Maharaja had not even a garden for growing green vegetables, and that excellent prince ordered that a garden suitable for vegetables should be given him. The same paper goes on to say that the Maharaja had no pasture ground for his horses either.¹⁶ Madhava Rao I also sanctioned an allowance of Rs. 80 per month for two dancing girls, Hira and Achhi by name, for the singing