[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Studies](https://indike.org/pramana/ins) › [Polity, law and society](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity) › [Administrative System of the Marathas](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sen-1923) › c7 # Administrative System of the Marathas c7: Sources of Information Administrative System of the Marathas c7 - **Language:** English ## Contents - [c7.s1 Sanskrit Sources](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sen-1923.c7.s1) — 5 parts - [c7.s2 Tamil and Telugu Sources](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sen-1923.c7.s2) — 1 part - [c7.s3 Persian Sources](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sen-1923.c7.s3) — 1 part - [c7.s4 French Sources](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sen-1923.c7.s4) — 3 parts - [c7.s5 Portuguese Sources](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sen-1923.c7.s5) — 10 parts - [c7.s6 English Sources](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sen-1923.c7.s6) — 20 parts ### Sources of Information ### [c7.1](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sen-1923.c7.1) A comprehensive history of the Maratha administrative system is still a desideratum. ### [c7.2](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sen-1923.c7.2) While dealing with the Peshwa period, we are confronted with such an amazing abundance of materials, that we can hardly expect to do justice to them. State-papers have been carefully preserved. Revenue regulations, instructions to revenue collectors and higher officials, deeds of sale, and other documents, judgments in both civil and criminal suits, have come down to us in their hundreds and thousands. They give us a vivid picture of the government as it actually was in the Peshwa period. But when we approach the Shivaji period, we are confronted with such a scarcity of materials as is most discouraging. Of state-papers we have but very few, and they are not very important either. Mr. Rajwade complains¹ that during his twenty years of labour and research, he has hardly come across twenty-five important Shivaji-papers. Most of these papers again are political and diplomatic correspondence, and do not enlighten us about the administrative system. Fortunately, however, some old documents, that cannot properly be styled as state-papers, have after ages seen light, thanks to the labour of Mr. V. K. Rajwade. These give us useful information about some of the early adherents of Shivaji, the history of their \*watans\*, sometimes an account of their deeds and exploits and often a long and exhaustive list of the taxes, cesses, and \*abwabs\* of those days.² From these family papers of the old \*Sardars\* and \*Jagirdars\* we can frame a fairly accurate sketch of the administrative system of Shivaji, but these papers have to be used with extreme care and caution. ### [c7.3](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sen-1923.c7.3) ¹ \*Itihas Ani Aitihasik.\* ### [c7.4](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sen-1923.c7.4) ² These papers have been published by Mr. Rajwade in the 8th, 15th, 16th, 17th, 18th and the 20th volumes of his \*Marathyanchya Itihasanchi Sadhanen\*. ### [c7.5](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sen-1923.c7.5) Next in importance, are the \*bakhars\*³ or Marathi prose chronicles. ### [c7.6](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sen-1923.c7.6) ³ Most of these \*bakhars\* have been published by Rao Bahadur Sane in the \*Kavyetihas Sangraha\*. ### [c7.7](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sen-1923.c7.7) Supremely indifferent, like their Muham-madan teachers, to everything that affected the ordinary people, the Maratha chroniclers pay very little attention to the administrative system of their times and the economic condition of their country. They give lengthy accounts of battles, gossiping stories of the superhuman deeds of their heroes, interesting anecdotes of well-known personages, and confine themselves mainly to the narration of political events. Consequently, we learn very little from them. Sabhasad, who wrote in 1694, is perhaps the most sensible as he is the earliest of Shivaji's biographers. Condensed and concise in style, he devotes a few pages to Shivaji's regulations, both civil and military. Chitragupta, who elaborated Sabhasad's work, added a few stories and verses of his own composition. The only additional information that we obtain from Chitragupta is a short page where he enumerates the duties of the secretariat officers. ### [c7.8](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sen-1923.c7.8) Malhar Ram Rao Chitnis, who wrote his bakhar long after Sabhasad, does not give us any additional information about the administrative system. His \*Rajniti\* is a treatise on polity, in which he compiles the theories of public administration from old Sanskrit works. It could not, therefore, have any bearing on the actual government of Maharashtra as it then existed, although the duties of the eight \*Pradhans\* might probably have been compiled from some old papers. \*Shivadigvijaya\*, the most voluminous work of its kind, is full of legends and impossible stories, but has not a word to say about the working constitution of Maharashtra in Shivaji's days. The only thing we should note here is that Messrs. Dandekar and Nandurbarkar, the joint editors of \*Shivadigvijaya\*, have failed to prove their contention, that it is the work of Khando Ballal, son of Balaji Avaji.⁴ It is in all probability a very recent work; and consequently, its evidence has but little weight with the modern student, who aspires to study history as a science. The same editors have published another \*bakhar\*, \*Shri Shivaji Pratap\*, which is nothing but a compilation of myths and legends. The anonymous author had not only no historical training, but he seemed to lack historical knowledge altogether. This \*bakhar\* is, therefore, absolutely useless both for a reconstruction of the political history of Maharashtra, and for the compilation of an account of Shivaji's administrative system. Very recently a sixth \*bakhar\* has been published by Mr. Bhave in his \*Marathi Daftar\*. It is only an elaboration of \*Sabhasad\*. The anonymous author has copied freely from an old manuscript of Sabhasad's \*bakhar\*, and his own additions are not at all trustworthy. About Shivaji's civil and military regulations, he has nothing more than an extract from Sabhasad to give. Even there he has omitted some old and obsolete words, which he evidently did not understand. ### [c7.9](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sen-1923.c7.9) ⁴ I have discussed the point more fully in my \*Extracts and Documents relating to the Maratha History\*, Vol. I. ### [c7.10](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sen-1923.c7.10) A seventh \*bakhar\*, \*viz.\*, the \*Shahanavkalmi bakhar\* was discovered and published in the columns of the now defunct periodical, the \*Prabhat\*—by Mr. Chandorkar; this \*bakhar\* is alleged to have been found by the old copyist in the \*daftar\* of Annaji Datto, a Brahman officer, who played an important part in Shivaji's service. It is, however, devoted mainly to political history, and it is not quite trustworthy. ### [c7.11](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sen-1923.c7.11) An English translation of a \*bakhar\* found at Rairi has been published by Prof. Sir G. Forrest. Scott-Waring, who wrote in 1811, spoke very highly of the original. This, however, has unfortunately been lost. The accuracy of the English translation has been challenged by the late Justice Telang.³ On the whole, it may be safely asserted that this \*bakhar\* is not worth much. The \*Kayastha Prabhunche Bakhar\* is very modern and is of no use to us. ### [c7.12](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sen-1923.c7.12) ³ Ranade's \*Rise of the Maratha Power\*, p. 259 \*f\*. ### [c7.13](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sen-1923.c7.13) Lastly there remains a \*bakhar\* of peculiar interest. Discovered and published by Mr. V.K. Rajwade in the abovementioned magazine, the \*Prabhat\*, this \*bakhar\* is of very little historical value, but it is a wonderful specimen of human industry. The published \*bakhar\* covers more than one hundred pages honestly printed, and the whole of it was found inscribed on the stone walls of a temple at Tanjore. ### [c7.14](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sen-1923.c7.14) A work of unique value and character is \*Sambhaji's Adnapatra\* or \*Marathshahitil Rajniti\*. It is commonly attributed to Ramchandra Panta Amatya, who commenced his political career under Shivaji and was responsible for the defence of Maharastra during Rajaram's absence at Jinji. He lived to witness the return and restoration of Shahu but remained loyal to the Kolhapur cause of which he was the mainstay after Tarabai's fall. The present work is believed to have been compiled in 1716 at the request of Sambhaji II of Kolhapur and was published for the first time, half a century ago, in the columns of the \*Vividha Dnan Vistar\* of Bombay in 1875. The work, however, long remained unnoticed, and the manuscript was in the meantime lost. It was reprinted in 1922 from the printed text, when its importance was realised by Mr. G. S. Sardesai. The language leaves no doubt about its antiquity and the work is most probably genuine. The author, whoever he might have been, had close personal knowledge of Shivaji's government. In the second decade of the 18th century the antifeudal policy of Shivaji had already been abandoned in practice, but the author still recommends it in a manner that leaves no doubt that he had served under the great Shivaji and was merely echoing him. ### [c7.15](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sen-1923.c7.15) Mention should also be made here of \*Jedhe Yanche Shakavali\*, published by the late Mr. B. G. Tilak, but its main importance is chronological. A few Marathi papers have also been published by the Bharat Itihas Sanshodhak Mandal of Poona. Some more papers have beer published by Rao Bahadur Sane in his \*Patre Yadi Bagaire\* and by Messrs. P. V. Mawji and D.B. Parasnis in their \*Sanads and Letters\*. Sardesai's \*Marathi Riasat\* is not of much importance in this respect, though it is invaluable to a student of political history. And this fairly exhausts the materials we have in Marathi. ### Sanskrit Sources ### [c7.s1.1](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sen-1923.c7.s1.1) A few years ago only two Sanskrit works \*viz.\*, \*Shiva Raj Prashasti\* of Gaga Bhatta and \*Shiva Kavya\* of Purushottam Kavi were known. The latter was a Maharashtra Brahman and the former a contemporary of Shivaji and their works are useless for our purpose. ### [c7.s1.2](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sen-1923.c7.s1.2) But the untiring labours of Maratha scholars are daily unearthing many new works composed by contemporary poets. Of these the \*Parnal Parvat Grahanakhyana\* edited by Sadashiv Mahadev Divekar and \*Radha Madhava Vilasa Champu\* edited by V. K. Rajwade have already been published. The author of both these poems was one Jayaram Pinde, a scholar and linguist of no mean ability. These works may be made to yield, after a careful examination, many interesting historical information. But the most important of all such poetical biographies, \*Shiva Bharat\*, yet awaits publication. The work was first discovered by Mr. Divekar in its Tamil version in the Tanjore Library. But a critical examination of the text led Mr. Divekar to suspect that the original must be in Sanskrit. An elaborate search proved that he was right, but we do not as yet know what new light it may throw on the civil and military institutions of Shivaji. The most important Sanskrit work for our purpose is \*Rajvyavahar Kosh\* attributed to Raghunath Pandit. It is a dictionary compiled at Shivaji's request in which Sanskrit synonyms have been supplied for all current words of Persian and Arabic origin. The dictionary is in verse and divided into ten different chapters or sections after the manner of the \*Amarkosha\*. The author knew the institutions and their working and his list of the Karkhanas and the Karkhana officers supplies information not available elsewhere. The work, short as it is, throws light not only on the civil institutions but also on the military establishments of Shivaji. This invaluable little work was published at Bombay as early as 1860 by one Kashinath Gangadhar Kshatri, but is now extremely rare. It is needless to say that it deserves republication and a critical edition will be of immense use to all students of Maratha history. ### [c7.s1.3](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sen-1923.c7.s1.3) \*Hindi Sources.\* ### [c7.s1.4](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sen-1923.c7.s1.4) In Hindi, there is only one contemporary work—the poems of Shivaji's court poet Bhushan. ### [c7.s1.5](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sen-1923.c7.s1.5) His \*Shiva Raja Bhushan\* and other poems may be of considerable literary merit, but they are of very little interest to a historian. Moreover, they do not make the slightest reference to Shivaji's administrative system. \*Chhatra Prakash\* by Lalkavi is useless to a student of Maratha administrative institutions. ### Tamil and Telugu Sources ### [c7.s2.1](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sen-1923.c7.s2.1) As has already been pointed out, \*Shiva Bharat\* was first discovered in its Tamil rendering. Prof. Krishnaswami Ayangar told me that linguistic evidence led him to believe that the Tamil version could not be very old. In a paper read before the Second Oriental Conference at Calcutta, the Late Pandit Subba Rao of Madras pointed out that a short biography of Shivaji was available in the colophon of an old Telugu work dedicated to one of his Tanjore relatives. The Tamil and the Telugu sources, however, are for most students of Maratha history a sealed book and cannot be utilised without the co-operation of Madras scholars. ### Persian Sources ### [c7.s3.1](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sen-1923.c7.s3.1) Both Hindu and Muhammadan writers must have written a good deal about the wonderful career of Shivaji in Persian. There are moreover very important letters, so far as political history is concerned, written by Jai Singh and other officers of Aurangzib from the Deccan. Whether these make any incidental reference to Shivaji's administrative system is yet to be investigated. This source, however, promises to be fruitful in more than one way. For the present, I have to be satisfied with such imperfect English translation as we get in Scott's Ferishta, Vol. II. and still more inaccurate and fragmentary translation as has been given by Elliot and Dowson in their History of India. Of the authors selected there the most important is Khafi Khan, but there is very little in his work to help us in our study of the administrative system of the Marathas. ### French Sources ### [c7.s4.1](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sen-1923.c7.s4.1) Dr. Dellon, a French physician, visited the western coast of India and published a short account of his travels on his return home. The small volume was so interesting that it was translated into English shortly after its publication. He praises Shivaji as a tolerant and liberal prince. But his information was derived mainly from hearsay. ### [c7.s4.2](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sen-1923.c7.s4.2) Many French travellers came to this country when Shivaji rose to power. Of these the works of Bernier and Tavernier are well known. Both of them made reference to Shivaji's military power and the terror he created in the minds of his enemies. Bernier alludes to the respect and consideration Shivaji had shown for persons of character and piety during the first sack of Surat. Monsieur de Thevenot visited India in 1666. He devotes an entire chapter to Shivaji, but his account of the great Maratha's career is hopelessly inaccurate. According to Thevenot, Shivaji was born at Bassein and was thirty-five in 1664, when he sacked Surat. He does not mention the Afzal Khan incident and credits Shivaji with the capture of Shaista Khan's daughter, who was treated with all honour and respect to which she was entitled. His account of Shivaji's flight from the Imperial Court is also untrustworthy. Martin's \*Memoirs\* is of great importance to students of military history; the extracts published by Prof. J. N. Sarkar in the \*Proceedings of the Historical Records Commission\*, however, throw no light on the civil institutions of Shivaji. An interesting account of Shivaji's Karnatak expedition has been left by the Jesuit missionaries of Madura. This is available in Bertrand's \*Mission de Madure\* and an English translation of the relevant portion will be found in the appendices of \*History of the Madura Nayaks\* by Prof. R. Sathinathayer of Trichinopoly. The Jesuit letters substantially corroborate the Maratha account of the expedition and as Shivaji undoubtedly made an adequate arrangement for the government of the conquered country, we may unhesitatingly hold that the aim of this expedition was conquest and annexation and not merely plunder as suggested by Prof. Jadunath Sarkar.⁶ Like Martin's \*Memoirs\* the contemporary Jesuit letters compiled by Bertrand and the earliest French biographies of Shivaji are of very little use to a student of his administrative system. ### [c7.s4.3](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sen-1923.c7.s4.3) ⁶ Prof. Sarkar himself admits that civil Governors were appointed for the newly conquered tracts and an army of occupation was left to quell all disturbances and risings. He goes further and says—"The districts that he retained in Central and Eastern Mysore as the result of his Karnatak expedition, had to be connected with his old dominions by the conquest of the Southern corner of Bijapur." This was effected and "the country was formed into a regular province of Shivaji's kingdom and placed under Janardan Narayan Hanumante as Viceroy" (Shivaji and His Times, pp. 405-407). It is difficult to reconcile this with the Professor's dictum that, "It is incredible that a born strategist like Shivaji could have really intended to annex permanently a territory on the Madras coast, which was separated from his own dominions by two powerful and potentially hostile states like Bijapur and Golkonda, and more than 700 miles distant from his capital." (Shivaji and His Times, First edition, pp. 366-67). This is, however, not the place to examine this question in detail. ### Portuguese Sources ### [c7.s5.1](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sen-1923.c7.s5.1) One of the earliest biographies of Shivaji was written in Portuguese. The author, Cosme da Guarda, styles himself as a citizen of Marmugao near Goa. His work, though composed in 1695, was not published till 1730 and the editor says that the manuscript was discovered by a fortunate accident only. Of the author we know absolutely nothing. According to the \*Diccionario\* \*Bibliographico Portuguez\*, Prof. Pissurlencar informs us,⁷ Cosme da Guarda was not the real name of Shivaji's Portuguese biographer (O nome de Cosme da Guarda é affectado) and the late Sr. J. A. Ismael Gracias seriously held that Guarda, though a genuine Portuguese, did not belong to Portuguese India at all. Guarda's work seems to have been known to that indefatigable English historian Robert Orme, for among his manuscripts we find an index of a work called \*Vida de Celebre Sevagy\*.⁸ Cosme da Guarda, whoever he might have been, did not care, like many of his contemporaries, for accuracy and he gravely asserted that Shivaji, though popularly known as the youngest of Shahaji's twelve sons, was really the offspring of an illicit relation between Jijabai and Dom Manoel de Menezes, a Portuguese gentleman of Virar near Bassein. This naturally reminds us of Clement Dunning's story about the Abyssynian origin of Kanoji Angria. The credulity of that age rendered Guarda incapable of being overcritical, but strangely enough even in these days of historical criticism Guarda's story has afforded a source of interminable and bitter controversy. The story was given currency in English by the Late Dr. Gerson da Cunha in the \*Journal of the\* Bombay Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society and it at once drew an angry retort from Mr. V. K. Rajwade in the \*Saraswati Mandir\*. Rajwade demolished this palpably absurd story so thoroughly that his article was expected to give the controversy a quietus. But only recently another Luso Indian writer Dr. J. J. Fragoso has come forth to vindicate Guarda in a small pamphlet entitled \*Xivaji Maharaj Vencedor de Abdulcan\*. He suggests that the word doze in "doze filhos de Sagy" was a printing mistake and if we substitute dois (two) for doze (twelve), there need not be any difficulty in accepting Guarda's story. Prof. Pissurlencar has given a crushing reply to Fragoso's contention in his \*Xivaji Maharaj Com Sangue Portugues\* and this question need not detain us any longer. Full of gross inaccuracies as Guarda's work is, it is not altogether useless to a student of Maratha history for it supplies some information about Shivaji's navy. ### [c7.s5.2](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sen-1923.c7.s5.2) ⁷ Shivaji Maharaj Com Sangue Portuguez? ### [c7.s5.3](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sen-1923.c7.s5.3) ⁸ Hill, Catalogue of Manuscripts in European Languages belonging to the Library of the India Office, Vol II, pt. 1, p. 204. ### [c7.s5.4](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sen-1923.c7.s5.4) Julio Firmino Judice Biker has published in his \*Cooleçao de Tratados e Concertos de pazes que o Estado da India Portugueza fez com os Reis e Senhores com que teve relaçoes nas partes da Asia e Africa Oriental\* the texts of two treaties concluded between Shivaji and the Portuguese in 1667 and 1670. They throw some light on the military and naval exploits of the Maratha hero as well as on his diplomatic activities. An English summary of the more important clauses of these treaties will be found in the present writer's \*Report on the Historical Records at Goa\*. ### [c7.s5.5](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sen-1923.c7.s5.5) The late Dr. Dalgado of the Academy of Sciences, Lisbon, informed Prof. Sarkar that there are no Portuguese State papers relating to Shivaji at Lisbon.⁹ The perusal of Danvers's report also leads one to the same conclusion.¹⁰ None of these scholars make any reference to the Goa records. The courtesy of H. E. Dr. Jaime de Morais, late Governor General of Portuguese India, afforded the present writer an opportunity of going through some unpublished Portuguese records embodied in the \*Livros dos Reis Visinhos\*. The first volume of \*Reis Visinhos\* is of unique importance to the students of Shivaji's administrative institutions as we come across here some letters throwing new light on the origin of Chauth. An English translation of these letters has been for the first time published in my \*Historical Records at Goa\*, but the Portuguese original is not yet available to the general reader. I am inclined to think that further researches at Goa and Lisbon may be rewarded with adequate results. The Portuguese had for so many centuries to deal with the Marathas, both as friends and foes, that many contemporary events must have found place in their letters, reports and despatches. ### [c7.s5.6](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sen-1923.c7.s5.6) ⁹ Sarkar, Shivaji, 1st Ed., p. 508. ### [c7.s5.7](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sen-1923.c7.s5.7) ¹⁰ Report to the Secretary of State for India in Council on the Portuguese Records relating to the East Indies, contained in the Archivo Da Torre Do Tombo, and the public Libraries at Lisbon and Evora, by F. C. Danvers, Registrar and Superintendent of Records, India Office, London, 1892. ### [c7.s5.8](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sen-1923.c7.s5.8) The Portuguese deliberately refrained from interfering with the ancient rights and privileges enjoyed by village communities of Goa and the Government often instituted enquiries about the customary rights and perquisites of the village officers. The results of one such enquiry are available in a Foral issued by Affonso Mexia, Veedor da Fazenda, as early as 1526. The text of this Foral is available not only in official publications like \*Codigo das Communidades\* but also in such popular works as \*India Portuguesa\* by Lopes Menedes. An abstract of this important document was published by R. S. Whiteway in his \*Rise of the Portuguese Power in India\* and B. H. Baden-Powell dealt with it more minutely in a learned paper contributed to the \*Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society\* in 1900 under the heading—\*The Villages of Goa in the Early Sixteenth Century\*. The Portuguese also decided to retain the old taxes and duties levied by their Muhammadan predecessors and as a result many of these old taxes survived in Portuguese India long after they had become obsolete in Maharashtra. A reference to taxes and duties in Portuguese India therefore sometimes enables us to ascertain the real nature and incidents of similar taxes mentioned in old Marathi records. In this respect, Saldanha's \*History of Goa\*, Moniz's work on Daman, Joao Baptista Amancio Gracias' \*Subsidios para a Historia Economico. Financeira da India Portugueza\* and Phillipe Nerry Xavier's works on village communities are of very great use. ### [c7.s5.9](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sen-1923.c7.s5.9) As the average British Indian reader is not sufficiently aware of the importance of the Portuguese sources of Maratha History, I may here briefly indicate how much we can learn about the army and navy of Shivaji's successors even from published Portuguese works. Almost all the important records of a political character have been published by Cunha Rivara, Balsemão, Phillipe Nerry Xavier, Ismael Gracias and others. Most of these published records have found a place in the monumental work of Judice Biker. They afford us an insight not only into the military and naval organisation of the Marathas but also in their court life and civil institutions. We get an interesting account of Sambhaji's campaign against Goa in Ismael Gracias's \*Uma Dona Portugueza no corte do Grao Mogol\*.¹ In the appendices of the same work we come across a few original letters about the maritime activities of the Angrias. Ismael Gracias has published almost all papers relating to the Maratha conquest of Bassein in \*O Oriente Portugues\* of which he was long the sole editor and principal contributor. No more important and reliable account of the Maratha military system can anywhere be obtained than that supplied by an exceptionally brilliant Viceroy, the Marquis of Alorna, in the instructions that he left for his successor, the Marquis of Tavora. The original Portuguese work was published more than seventy years ago under the able editorship of F. N. Xavier and a few extracts were quoted by Danvers in his \*Portuguese in India\*. The entire work has, however, been rendered into English by the present writer. The Marquis of Alorna did not confine himself to military matters alone, and his remarks upon the peculiar organisation of the Maratha empire and its inherent weakness deserve careful consideration. An estimate of the military and naval power of the Marathas is found also in \*Instrucçoes do Dom Jose I\*, the authorship of which is rightly attributed to the celebrated Marquis of Pombal. Pombal had no first-hand knowledge of Maratha affairs, but he must have found ample materials for his subject in the reports and correspondence from India. Space does not permit me to deal with this subject in detail here, nor am I in a position to give a list of the interesting manuscript accounts of naval encounters between the Portuguese and the Marathas, preserved at Lisbon and Evora. Curious readers are referred to the works of Cunha Rivara and Ismael Gracias. It is superfluous to say that the unpublished records of Goa have not all been exhaustively studied and they may be made to throw light where darkness now prevails. The Portuguese Government have appointed a distinguished Indian scholar as Curator of their archives at Goa, and there is every reason to hope that his contribution to our knowledge of Maratha history will not be less important than that made by his predecessor and teacher J. A. Ismael Gracias. ### [c7.s5.10](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sen-1923.c7.s5.10) ¹ A Portuguese account of this campaign translated into English for the India Office has been published by Prof. Sarkar in the \*Journal of the Hyderabad Archaeological Society\* (1919-20). The word \*Lascarin\* in that paper (p. 15) however, has somewhat puzzled the learned Professor. It stands for, as every student of old Portuguese records knows, native Sepoys. Dalgado has explained the word in his \*Glossario\*. ### English Sources ### [c7.s6.1](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sen-1923.c7.s6.1) In English we have a number of works about Shivaji and the Marathas. The Surat and Bombay Factory Records are invaluable historical documents, and their importance cannot be overestimated. They are useful to the writer of a political history, and some information about Shivaji's navy and his commercial policy can be gleaned from them. ### [c7.s6.2](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sen-1923.c7.s6.2) In addition to these old factory records, English travellers have left us the accounts of their travels in the Maratha country, and English historians have left us the result of their researches. The earliest English traveller to write an account of the Maratha country and Shivaji's court was Fryer. A physician by profession, he had visited Bombay and seen some parts of Shivaji's dominions. But his stay in the Maratha country was very short, and his information was by no means accurate. His account of "Several Brachmins whose Flesh they tear with Pincers heated Red hot, drub them on the Shoulders to extreme Anguish," betrays a good deal of humour, but is evidently untrustworthy. Even Khafi Khan, who delighted in abusing Shivaji, gave him credit for the respect he had usually shown to holy places and holy men both Hindu and Muhammadan. ### [c7.s6.3](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sen-1923.c7.s6.3) Mannucci's \*Storia Do Mogor\*, another contemporary work, has been translated into English by a great scholar, the late Mr. Irvine. The gossiping adventurer loved to give anecdotes in which he himself figured. He claims to have met Shivaji in Jai Singh's camp, but unlike most European writers refrains from giving any account of his dominions, his people and government. ### [c7.s6.4](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sen-1923.c7.s6.4) Robert Orme wrote his \*Fragments\* long after Shivaji's death. But all that he learnt of the great Maratha ruler were popular legends. These were reproduced by John Bruce, Esq., M.P. and F.R.S., Keeper of His Majesty's State-papers and Historiographer to the Hon'ble East India Company, in his \*Annals of the East India Company\*. Both Orme and Bruce failed to give any account of the administrative system of Shivaji. What their version of political history is worth, will be evident from the following account of the night attack on Shaista Khan : ### [c7.s6.5](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sen-1923.c7.s6.5) In the next campaign, Aurungzebe reinforced Chaest Chan's army by sending the troops of the Maha-Rajah of Joudpore to join him. These generals were at variance with each other; the Maha-Rajah, to gratify Sevagee undertook to assassinate Chaest—the murderers broke in on Chaest, who escaped with severe wound; but his son was slain.¹² ### [c7.s6.6](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sen-1923.c7.s6.6) ¹² Bruce, Vol. II, p. 39. Orme was more accurate than Bruce. ### [c7.s6.7](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sen-1923.c7.s6.7) The most important English work, from our point of view, is Major Jervis's \*Geographical and Statistical Memior of the Konkun\*. He was a junior contemporary of Elphinstone, and the work of surveying the Konkan was entrusted to him. While so engaged, he gathered valuable information about land revenue settlement, in all probability, from popular traditions. He tells us many things about Malik Ambar's and Shivaji's land revenue settlement, Annaji Datto's survey and assessment, but never quotes any authority. It is, therefore, extremely difficult, or rather impossible, to verify his assertions. Hitherto I have come across only one Marathi document,¹³ a circular letter of Annaji Datto, that supports Jervis's account of the \*bighaoni\* survey. But this does not improve our situation much. We can, without much hesitation, accept Elphinstone's account of the administrative system of the Peshwas or Sir John Malcolm's account of the Central India chiefs. For both of them had personal acquaintance with men who had served under the Peshwas and the Maratha and Rajput chiefs of Central India, and who could give them first-hand information. But the case of Jervis is altogether different. He lived and wrote two centuries after Shivaji. Most of the old documents were yet unknown in his time, and he had to rely mainly upon popular traditions transmitted from generation to generation. Consequently, it is extremely difficult either to accept or to reject the views of Jervis. The writer of the \*Bombay Gazetteer\*, however, has accepted Jervis as the sole authority on the subject.¹⁴ ### [c7.s6.8](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sen-1923.c7.s6.8) ¹³ Rajwade, M. I. S., Vol. XV, pp. 369-70. ### [c7.s6.9](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sen-1923.c7.s6.9) ¹⁴ Since this was written my attention has been drawn to a Marathi document published in Rajwade, Vol. XXI, which, substantially corroborates some of Jervis's figures. ### [c7.s6.10](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sen-1923.c7.s6.10) From these old authors we turn to Ranade with a sense of relief. Born in Maharashtra, and educated in western method, Ranade combined in him the three qualities so indispensable for a historian of the Marathas. He knew the language and traditions of his country, was well conversant with the historical method of the west and had ready access to all papers then available. With true historical instinct he made a deliberate departure from the beaten track and selected a course of his own. His fame to-day does not rest on the discovery of a new document or an unknown event, but on the surer basis of the right interpretation of the history of his people. He did not confine himself to dry details of battles and sieges, but tried to discover the real cause, remote and immediate, of the rise, progress, and downfall of the Marathas. This made him study the civil institutions of Shivaji very carefully, for they were, according to him, not only the outcome of Shivaji's genius but also an expression of Maratha aspirations. It is beyond doubt that Ranade was the first scholar to guide us properly to the real sources of Maratha history, as he was the first to perceive the real importance of the administrative system of Shivaji. It is a matter of regret that the many-sided activities of the great savant did not permit him to devote his leisure solely to the study of his country's past. Modern researches have made some of his conclusions untenable to-day, but the credit of pointing out a new angle of vision belongs entirely to him. He might have erred in minor details, but while dealing with the broad principles, his judgment never failed him. It is true that we do not get in his work as much information as we wish for, but that is because many papers, now published, had not yet seen light when Ranade lived and wrote. ### [c7.s6.11](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sen-1923.c7.s6.11) Scott-Waring was the first writer to attempt a comprehensive history of the Marathas in English. His work was published in 1811. But we get little more than a narrative of political events in Scott-Waring's History. In the third decade of the 19th Century, another scholar, destined to be famous as the historian of the Marathas, undertook to write out a more satisfactory history. Captain Grant Duff was more fortunate than his predecessor in the attempt in more than one way. As Political Agent, he had ready access to all papers in the Satara archives. The descendant of Shivaji was ever ready to assist him in all possible ways. Perhaps many of the later spurious bakhars owed their origin to the zeal of Chhatrapati Pratap Singh to gratify the Agent Saheb. Above all Grant Duff had the great advantage of working under the guidance of Elphinstone.¹⁵ But Grant Duff had not sufficient materials for sketching out a graphic account of the administrative system of Shivaji. Prof. H. G. Rawlinson's \*Shivaji the Maratha\* is a very recent publication, but it does not aim at dealing in detail with the civil institutions of Shivaji. Another recent work dealing with Shivaji is the first volume of the \*History of the Maratha People\* by Messrs. Kincaid and Parasnis. From the great mass of published materials and the still greater mass of unpublished documents in the possession of Rao Bahadur Dʳ B. Parasnis, it was expected that the long felt want would at last be removed. But we have again been disappointed. Far from giving us a comprehensive account of Shivaji's administrative system, the joint authors have not even made any serious attempt to supplement our knowledge in that direction. Prof. Takkhav and Mr. Keluskar have devoted one long chapter to the administrative institutions in their voluminous \*Life of Shivaji Maharaj\*. ### [c7.s6.12](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sen-1923.c7.s6.12) ¹⁵ See Elphinstone's letter quoted in Colebrooke's Life of Elphinstone, Vol. II, pp. 136-39. ### [c7.s6.13](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sen-1923.c7.s6.13) Sydney Owen of Oxford has drawn a brilliant sketch of Shivaji in his \*India on the Eve of the British Conquest\*; but it is only a study of Shivaji's political career. Pringle Kennedy has also given us a charming picture of Shivaji and Maharashtra in his \*History of the Great Moghuls\*. But neither of these scholars studied the original documents. They relied mainly on such secondary authorities, as Khafi Khan, Orme and Grant Duff, and their aim has been to write a readable and sensible summary for the general run of readers. From them, therefore, we should not expect anything that we do not get elsewhere. Maratha history has for them only a relative interest. ### [c7.s6.14](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sen-1923.c7.s6.14) Prof. Jadunath Sarkar's \*Shivaji and His Times\* is important and interesting in its own way. He has utilised many sources of Maratha history hitherto unexplored. The chapter on Shivaji's navy is of special interest to us. ### [c7.s6.15](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sen-1923.c7.s6.15) A few articles on Maratha history were published in the \*Journal of the Bombay Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society\*. The following are the most useful for our purpose: ### [c7.s6.16](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sen-1923.c7.s6.16) 1. Ranade—\*Currencies and Mints under Maharatta Rule\*. ### [c7.s6.17](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sen-1923.c7.s6.17) 2. J. E. Abbott—\*A preliminary study of the Shivarai or Chhatrapati Coins\*. ### [c7.s6.18](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sen-1923.c7.s6.18) 3. P. V. Mawji—\*Shivaji's Swarajya\*. ### [c7.s6.19](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sen-1923.c7.s6.19) 4. Codrington—\*Seals of Satara Kingdom\*. ### [c7.s6.20](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sen-1923.c7.s6.20) So far as my information goes, no attempt has yet been made of sifting and examining these scattered materials on scientific lines and of presenting the results in a handy and intelligible form to the ordinary student. No one will contest that such an endeavour is worth making. In the following pages, it has been my aim to present a fairly accurate sketch of the Maratha government, its principle and working. I have, for the sake of convenient treatment, divided the history of the Maratha administrative system into two periods. The first period opens with the rise of Shivaji and closes with the accession of Shahu. The second period begins with the accession of Shahu and ends in 1818, when the Peshwa's territories were finally annexed to the British dominions. The administrative system of Shivaji practically continued unchanged till the death of Rajaram, and the Peshwas also found it convenient to leave the old system intact with a few changes in the central government. Otherwise, the administrative system of Shivaji was, for all essential purposes, identical with that of the Peshwas. It will, therefore, be my duty to indicate the few differences that existed in theory and practice between the governments of the two periods. But there is another interesting enquiry to be made. Shivaji was not the creator of a new system. He modified and reformed what he had inherited from his Hindu and Muhammadan predecessors. Every administrative system has its roots in the past and the Maratha system was by no means an exception. I have made an attempt to trace the growth and development of the Maratha institutions from their old Hindu prototypes. But my account does not claim to be complete and should not be treated as the last word on this comprehensive subject. ## Linked texts (5) - [Tārīkh-i Firishta](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.general.tarikh-i-firishta) — Muḥammad Qāsim Hindū Shāh Firishta 1606, Persian - [Tibetan translation ('Chi med mdzod)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.art.kosa.paryaya.amarakosa*bo) — Classical Tibetan - [Śivabhārata](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.historical.uttarakalina.sivabharata) — Paramānanda, Sanskrit - [Rājakośanighaṇṭu](https://indike.org/pramana/in.art.kosa.bhasantara.rajakosanighantu) — Raghunātha Paṇḍita 1639, Sanskrit - [Chatraprakāś](https://indike.org/pramana/in.vernacular.hindi.itihasa.chatraprakas) — Lāl Kavi, Hindi --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sen-1923.c7](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sen-1923.c7) · Pramāṇa