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Administrative System of the Marathas c23.s16: 7. The Economic Policy

Administrative System of the Marathas c23.s16

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7. The Economic Policy

c23.s16.1

The economic policy of the Maratha government was also a relic of the past. Shivaji tried to control and regulate the price of such articles as areca-nut, salt, etc., according to the needs of the people. The Peshwas went a step further and dictated to the manufacturer what should be the length of a particular kind of cloth, how much gold thread of what quality should be used in manufacturing a headgear and so forth. It is really with surprise that the student of the history of the Maratha administrative system lights on the following regulations in Kautilya's Artha Shastra. The "Superintendent of Commerce shall ascertain demand or absence of demand for, and rise and fall in the price of various kinds of merchandise which may be the products either of the land or of water and which may have been brought in either by land or by water path. He shall also ascertain the time suitable for their distribution, centralisation, purchase, and sale. That merchandise which is widely distributed shall be centralised and its price enhanced. When the enhanced rate became popular, another rate shall be declared. The merchandise of the king which is of local manufacture shall be centralised; imported merchandise shall be distributed in several markets for sale. Both kinds of merchandise shall be favourably sold to the people. He shall avoid such large profits as will harm the people.⁵⁵ Perhaps the state interfered so much with the trade of the country, both in the Mauryan as well as in the Maratha age, because Hindu kings not only identified themselves with the state but also considered themselves to be in the *locus parenti* with regard to their subjects.

c23.s16.2

⁵⁵ Artha Sastra, p. 118.

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