Administrative System of the Marathas c18.s4.10

c18.s4.10

Here it should be noted that the Chhatrapati Maharaj was not only the political but also the ecclesiastical head (if we are allowed to use that term) of the state. This has to be remembered as we shall afterwards find the Peshwas frequently regulating social and religious affairs. Because the Peshwas happened to be Brahmans it may be wrongly supposed that they derived this authority from their Brahman birth. This was not the case. The rise of Shivaji was preceded by a revival of Hinduism in the south; and according to Hindu notions, the king is not only the chief magistrate of the state, but the principal regulator of social custom and the protector of religion as well. Cases regarding social custom and religion were generally referred to the Pandit Rao for direction by the Chhatrapatis, but it seems that the Brahman officers had for the sake of legal completion to procure the Non-Brahman Raja's sanction for the order passed in his name. A document dated March 16th, 1686, relates how when one Gangadhar Raghunath Kulkarni, a Brahman, who had been converted into Muhammadanism, and who had, though involuntarily and for a very short time to dine with the Muhammadans, applied for readmission into his caste after the performance of a prayashchitta, the Chhandogyamatya had to acquaint Sambhaji with the circumstances of the case and take the royal permission for the formal penance.²⁸ So the Peshwas exercised this authority as the authorised deputies of the Chhatrapati, and had inherited it with other royal prerogatives from Shahu. Within the territories under their direct rule the Peshwas were like the Chhatrapatis before them, the sole depository of the sovereign authority of the state in all its modern significance.