Administrative System of the Marathas c23.s4: 1. Site of the Metropolis

Administrative System of the Marathas c23.s4

Language: English

1. Site of the Metropolis

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Let us turn to Shivaji's capital. His *abhisheka* or coronation was celebrated in an impregnable hill-fort, where he could with impunity defy his enemies to do their worst, for aircraft was still undreamt of in Aurangzib's time except in nursery tales, and contemporary European writers tell us that the defenders of Raigad could easily repulse their assailants by rolling down huge pieces of stone only. It was in such an impregnable fort, well protected by a strong wall, ditch and arms, that the sage of the Mahabharata advised the king to establish his capital.¹ Manu has also counselled that the king should build his capital town, "making for his safety a fortress, protected by a desert, or a fortress built of (stone and earth), or one protected by water or trees, or one (formed by an encampment of armed) men or a hill-fort."²

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¹ Santi Parva, ch., 86.

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² Manu, VII, 70, S. B. E., p. 227.

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But we need not lay too much emphasis on this coincidence. It was a matter of common prudence, and one so able and shrewd as Shivaji did not want the injunctions of the Mahabharata, or the Manu Samhita, to see that his capital should be well-fortified, well-protected, well-provisioned and favourably situated on an inaccessible rock, within a convenient distance from the sea. But the buildings and quarters of his newly founded metropolis were not unconnected with the past and will well repay our attention. We can profitably turn to his son's court historian, Krishnaji Ananta Sabhasad for necessary information on this head. According to him Shivaji had built in the fortress of Rairi not only palaces for his queens, separate quarters for the Sarkarkuns and Commanders of five thousand and men of note, council-hall building and market, but also stables for elephants, horses and camels, sheds for palanquins, chariots, and cattle and a store-house. "The palace is to be in the midst of the council-buildings," Shukracharya tells us, "and it, must have stables for elephants, horses and cattle."³ He further recommends that "dwelling houses for ministers, clerks, and members of council and officers should be built separately to the north and east." "The wise king should provide for the house of the people in order of wealth and birth near his palace in all directions."* It is remarkable that, while recounting the buildings to be constructed within a fort, Kautilya mentions among others, the royal kitchen, elephant-stables, the store-house, the treasury, the accountant's office, the store-house for forest produce, the arsenal, stables for asses and camels, stables for conveyances and chariots, shops and hospitals, stables for cows and horses, and quarters for the superintendents of the city, of commerce, of manufactories, and of the army. But this was not all. Raigad will bear a detailed comparison with the ideal fort of Kautilya and the ideal metropolis of the Shukraniti.

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³ Shukraniti, S. B. H., p. 29.

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Raigad was capital of the Maratha kingdom for sixteen years only and had to stand a siege of eleven days in 1818, when many of the houses and public buildings were badly damaged. Since then it has been suffered to fall into ruins and to-day it is deemed quite uninhabitable. But still there is no scarcity of ponds and cisterns in the ruined city, two of which, the Ganga Sagar and the Kushavarta tank, are fairly large. This naturally reminds one of Shukracharya's injunction that the capital "must ever be provided with wells, tanks and pools."[5] It is not easy to establish the identity of all the ruined buildings, but in the map published in the Bombay Gazetteer[6] we find that the ministers' quarters and the bazar were situated to the north-east, there were two store-houses to the south and the south-east, and the Mahadeva temple stood far to the north of the palace and around the temple were the dancing girls' quarters. Within two hundred yards of the Rang Mahal or palace of pleasure, to the north of it, stood the citadel and the powder magazines were built near the Shrigonda point to the east. To the north-west of the palaces were the elephant-stables. According to Shukra, "houses should be built towards the west for cows, deer, camels, elephants and other animals"[7] "Dwelling houses for ministers, clerks, members of the council and officers should be built separately to the north or east. Leaving a space of 100 cubits towards the north and 200 cubits towards the east of the palace, military cantonments are to be laid out."[8] Kautilya observes that "royal teachers, priests, sacrificial place, water reservoir and ministers shall occupy sites east by north to the palace; to the north by west shops and hospitals; to the north the royal tutelary deity of the city.¹⁷⁹ It is not easy to dismiss this resemblance as a chance coincidence. The more logical inference is that these conventional rules of town-planning have been transmitted from generation to generation, and the plan of Raigad had been evolved from one that was in fashion in Northern India more than three centuries before Christ.

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⁴ Shukraniti, S. B. H., p. 33.

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⁵ Shukra Niti, S. B. H., p. 29.

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⁶ Vol. XI, p. 357.

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⁷ S. B. H., p. 30.

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⁸ Shukra Niti, S. B. H., p. 33.

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Thus it is clear that not only was his cabinet modelled on the Mantri Parisads of old, but his secretaries, his eighteen Karkhanas, and twelve Mahals, and even the palaces, council-halls, the officers' quarters, and other buildings of Shivaji's capital formed a link between the Maharashtra of the 17th century A. D. and Mauryan Aryavarta of the 4th century B. C. But these were by no means the only old institutions, others could boast of an antiquity equally remote and could tell a story of slow evolution and gradual adaptation that would interest all students of Comparative Politics.

Linked texts (3)

Kauṭilīya Arthaśāstra — Kauṭilya, Sanskrit
Mānava Dharmaśāstra — Manu & Bhṛgu, Sanskrit
Mahābhārata — Vyāsa, Sanskrit