Administrative System of the Marathas c18.s3.27

c18.s3.27

Poor and powerless as he was, the Raja of Satara was a political factor of no mean importance. Though slighted in private, he was honoured in public. The Peshwas and other chiefs paid *nazar* to him and to his relatives whenever they went to pay their respects to the Chhatrapati or when the king was pleased to honour them with a royal visit in their camp. Large sums were spent on occasions likely to attract public notice. When a son was born to queen Anandi Bai, the eldest wife of the reigning Raja (1792-93), Madhava Rao II ordered Rs. 1,000 to be spent for distribution of sugar and other ceremonies. In 1807-8 the Peshwa granted Rs. 25,000 for the funeral obsequies of Raja Shahu. In the same year more than Rs. 8,000 was spent at the time of the new king's coronation, and the Peshwa Baji Rao II ordered 100 shots to be fired from a cannon to celebrate that occasion. In 1809-10 more than Rs. 17,000 was spent on the occasion of the royal marriage and some other ceremonies of minor importance. The servants and relatives of the king were exempted from taxes and customs duties, and sometimes a small pension in the form of land or cash was granted to his near relatives.²¹