Administrative System of the Marathas c18.s4.13

c18.s4.13

The rise of the Peshwa affected Maratha history in two ways. It destroyed the solidarity of the constitution which Shivaji's Ashta Pradhan Council was expected to maintain and it at once created two distinct classes of Sardars in the Maratha Empire. The Peshwas could, if they liked, suffer the Council to exist, and preside over its deliberations as the deputy of the Chhatrapati. But their ambition led them to establish an autocratic government removing at the same time the only bond of union, the only check to selfish individualism, and setting the ominous example of independence which henceforth became the only ambition of old Sardars like the Angrias, Bhonsles and the Gaikwads to imitate. The result was that the Maratha Empire ultimately became like the Holy Roman Empire, a loose confederacy of ambitious feudal chiefs, and the Peshwa, like the Emperor, gradually descended to the position of the head of a confederacy whose command was met with scant respect, and whose authority was confined within the territories under his direct personal rule.