Administrative System of the Marathas c27.s7.27

c27.s7.27

Thus we find that many of the cesses and taxes had been inherited by the Marathas from their ancient Hindu ancestors through the Muhammadans, while for others they were indebted to the Muhammadans alone. The term Zakat they must have borrowed from their Islamic rulers; but their Zakat could hardly be identified with the Poor tax which every follower of the Prophet of Mecca deemed it his bounden duty to pay for the benefit of the poorer and more indigent members of their community. The payment of Zakat formed part of the Islamic faith, technically therefore it could not be levied for the benefit of the State nor was an unbeliever entitled to pay it.³⁰ But it has to be remembered that Zakat was collected from tradesmen too for complete nisabs of articles of trade they possessed, by the ashirs. "The ashirs were collectors stationed by the imam on the public road in order to collect the Zakat of Moslem traders, as well as the tolls imposed on the dhimmi and harbi traders who pass him." It is not difficult to guess how the Zakat which originally formed an obligation on the part of all Muhammadan householders who possessed the taxable amount of property, became a source of income of the Non-Muslim Maratha rulers. The Muhammadans of course brought their theories of finance with them and tried to enforce them as far as possible, and as the payment of Zakat was an obligation on the part of all true believers, they continued to pay them. Gradually the more unscrupulous of the Muslim rulers began to appropriate the Zakat collected by public officers for their own use instead of properly disbursing it according to the injunctions of the Quran. The Hindus also became familiar with its collection by officers on the roadside and whether they were familiar or not with its origin, they began to regard it as a source of revenue like other taxes and cesses. When therefore the Marathas replaced the Muham-madans the term lost its original Quranic sense and acquired a far wider meaning. It was collected from all traders irrespective of their faith, caste and creed, and like some other taxes were farmed out to a contractor. But sometimes as we have seen a Kamavisdar of Zakat was appointed to check the oppression and corrupt practices of the tax-contractors.