Administrative System of the Marathas c21.s2.9

c21.s2.9

In another letter addressed to the Siddi fifteen years earlier the Portuguese government had emphasised the same principle by saying, "the Portuguese are the sovereigns of seas and not pirates."⁸ The Marathas could and did advance the same argument.⁹ Moreover, it should not be forgotten that the merchantmen captured by the Portuguese or the Marathas were not necessarily unarmed or unprotected. From the Cartazes published in Biker's monumental collection, it appears that some of the merchantmen that sought and got Cartazes were well armed. A ghurab of Govind Das Nana, a Gujrat merchant, for instance carried nine pieces of artillery.¹⁰ It is therefore clear that they deliberately defied a power claiming sovereignty of the sea when they omitted to procure its *Cartaz* or *dastak*, and if they suffered in consequence they had very little reason to complain.