Administrative System of the Marathas c27.s1: 1. Non-interference of Muhammadan Rulers
Administrative System of the Marathas c27.s1
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1. Non-interference of Muhammadan Rulers
c27.s1.1
In the preceding book, an attempt has been made to point out the intimate relation between the actual practices of the Maratha Government and the theories laid down by old Hindu political thinkers. It has been fairly established that the Maratha administrative institutions had been evolved from their ancient Hindu prototypes. But the part played by the Muhammadan rulers of India in this interesting evolution was by no means insignificant. For centuries they had governed the land and had given the administration the shape in which the Marathas inherited it from them. The vast kingdom of Vijayanagar had come to an end before the rise of Shivaji, and although the Hindu system of administration still survived in many of the petty Hindu States of the South, it would have been altogether impossible for Shivaji and his successors to revive the old Hindu institutions, had they been quite extinct in the hilly district, that formed the nucleus of the Maratha empire and had once been an integral part of the Bahmani Kingdom. Like the present rulers of the Bombay Presidency the Muhammadan conquerors of the Deccan did not aim at an administrative revolution. They kept the system they found in existence at the time of their conquest practically intact, but made a change here and an addition there to suit their taste and the theories they had inherited from Muslim theologians. When, therefore, the Hindu Padshahi was founded by Shivaji he had to follow in the footsteps of his Musulman predecessors and continue their policy of conservation and reform. So the evolution went on unchecked and people could hardly perceive any change in the main theories and principles of their Government. Maratha Subhedars replaced Muhammadan Subhedars, and the Maratha Chhatrapati occupied the position of the Muhammadan Sultan; but the revenue was still paid in Muhammadan coins, the revenue terms were still Persian, the sanads and instructions issued to Revenue collectors were mere translation of Persian farmans of the Muhammadan rulers.
c27.s1.2
We have before us the financial theories of old Hindu law-givers, but the principles laid down by them had been embodied by Muhammadan rulers in their instructions to Revenue officers. The Marathas simply continued the same form, the same terms and almost the same language in their appointment letters. Thus the survival of the old Hindu principles was due to the Muhammadans, and the Marathas in their turn helped the survival of the Muhammadan forms and practices.