Administrative System of the Marathas c24.s2.1

c24.s2.1

After the Afzal Khan incident Shivaji had directed that the widows of those who had fallen in the affray and had no sons should be maintained by (a pension) half (their husbands') pay. The wounded were given rewards of two hundred, one hundred, twenty-five or fifty Hons per man according to the nature of their wound.⁵ The practice of granting suitable pensions to the widows and children of fallen soldiers was continued under the Peshwas, under the style of *Bala parveshi* and *Nan parveshi*.⁶ This system had a long past as will be evident from the following passages from Kautilya's Arthashastra. "The sons and wives of those who die while on duty shall get subsistence and wages. Infants, aged persons, or diseased persons related to the deceased servants shall also be shown favour."⁷ The practice prevailed under the Chola kings of Southern India as Rice informs us on the testimony of their inscriptions. "A grant of land was made for the family of the fallen man which in some early cases is styled *bal-galchu* but is mostly called a *kalnad*, though the term *sivane* is used in the west. Similar grants of rent-free land, called *kodaji*, were made to men who fell in battle.⁸ It may be noted that the practice survived till the fall of the Maratha empire.