Administrative System of the Marathas c21.s3.12

c21.s3.12

One point however should be noted here. In the Maratha army, a career was open to every man of ability, and every soldier carried a Marshal's baton in his knapsack, and many Sardars, like Napoleon's generals, rose from very low position. Says an English writer about Napoleon's Marshals, "Those men who under the Emperor are the greatest in the country have been the one a waiter, the next a wine-smuggler, the next a cooper of barrels, and the next a house painter. Those are the trades which gave us Murat, Massena, Ney and Lannes." Of the Maratha Sardars Ranoji Sindhia was the slipper-bearer of the Peshwa, Malhar Rao Holkar was a goatherd, Govindpant Bundele, a cook. Balaji Vishvanath, the founder of the Peshwa family, was a village clerk and the ancestor of the Ramdurgkars was a domestic servant. Fate Sing, Raja of Akalkot, can be regarded as a foundling. This similarity between the French army under Napoleon I and the Maratha army under the Peshwas, however, is extremely superficial. The latter lacked the solidarity and discipline that characterised the former.