Administrative System of the Marathas c8.s1: 1. Disorder and anarchy a heritage
Administrative System of the Marathas c8.s1
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1. Disorder and anarchy a heritage
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"Shivaji Raja was famous for his forts," says Lokahitavadi.¹ He had captured and built no less than two hundred and forty forts and strongholds.² He used to prize them highly and large sums were usually granted for their upkeep and repair.³ The importance of these forts in a defensive war had been amply demonstrated in his lifelong struggle against the Mughals, yet no one will concede for a moment that fortification of inaccessible hills and rocky isles formed Shivaji's best claim to the reverence of posterity. His greatness as a military leader has never been contested, but his greatness as a civil administrator is perhaps still more undoubted. The Marathas have been well known for their military prowess from time immemorial. The old Rashtrikas, their ancestors, were soldiers of no mean reputation. They had fought under the banner of the Chalukya prince Pulakeshin and beaten back the victorious army of the great Harshavardhan. Ferishta tells us how difficult the Bahmani kings found it to tackle the mountain chiefs of Maharashtra. They had again won fresh laurels under the celebrated Malik Ambar, when the Mughal forces of the great Akbar had to beat an ignominious retreat before them. Shivaji, therefore, found the materials for an efficient army ready made. The rocks and hills, the mountain passes of his native land, offered him suitable sites for impregnable forts. But neither the nature of the country nor the character of its inhabitants was in favour of the establishment of an orderly government.
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¹ Lokahitavadi, Aitihasik Goahti.
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² Sabhasad, pp. 98-101 and Sen, Sivachhatrapati, pp. 140-148
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³ Rajwade, M. I. S., Vol. VIII, pp. 17-19.
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Shivaji
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Shivaji had to evolve order out of chaos. The Nizamshahi dynasty had been overthrown by the Mughal arms while Shivaji was still a little child. The Bijapur government was not strong enough to maintain peace and order. The country was devastated by war, and even the neighbourhood of Poona was depopulated. Dadaji Konddev had to offer rewards for killing wolves* that infested the uncultivated fields and deserted homesteads and the people who lived in the Mawal valley were in many respects worse than wild beasts. Blood feud was the order of the day, and plunder and rapine formed the normal state of things. Almost every watan had two or more claimants and they fought to the bitter end. In his blind fury the Maratha watandar felt no pity for his rival's widow and orphan children. But even the apparent destruction of the family would not bring the feud to an end. The loyalty of an old adherent would often save a pregnant lady or an infant heir in some village or mountain fastness far away from their native hamlet. The child would never be allowed to forget the wrongs of his family. When grown up he was sure to avenge his dead relations, and plundered house.⁵ The anarchy of the time has left its marks on the family papers of the old Deshmukhs, and nowhere do we get a more terrible account of these feuds in all their horrors and bloodshed than in the papers of the Jagdales of Masur and the Jedhes of Rohidkhore. The Jagdales could not even count on the fidelity of their own servants. Their family history runs as follows:
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∗ See Bombay Gazetteer.
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⁵ He would often seek the assistance of a powerful neighbour, generally at the price of a portion of the disputed watan, and this man would take up the quarrel as if it was his own. See Rajwade, M.I.S., Vol. XV, pp. 117-118.
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"The Desai of Karhad was Jagde Rau Rajgardal Deshmukh. He had two wives, they had four sons; Babaji Rau was the son of the first wife. The sons of the second were three, the eldest Ramaji Rau, the second Vithoji Rau, and the youngest, Dayaji Rau. Such were the four (sons). Then the father became old, and they began to quarrel. The father said, "You should not quarrel. I shall divide among you what is yours"; so he said. Then he gave to the eldest Babaji Rau the Patilship and the Deshmukhi of Masur and the villages under its jurisdiction. To Ramaji Rau (and others) he gave four villages, Karhad, Aud and two other villages under the jurisdiction of Karhad. Then Ramaji Rau stationed two barbers of Aud as his agents at Karhad and two clerks, Raghunath Pant and another, for the work of management. * * *
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At that time the barber, the clerk and the Mokasi had united. Then these three decided to murder the three brothers Ramaji Rau, Vithoji Rau and Dayaji Rau. They shut the two brothers Ramaji and Dayaji Rau in a room and murdered (them). Then the remaining brother Vithoji Rau fled and came to Masur. * * * At that time the Patilship of Targaon also was ours. A Brahman was stationed there as an agent. The Brahman engaged two servants Kaligade and Khochre and he and his son proceeded to Benares; on the way they were murdered by Kaligade and Khochre. Then these two began to quarrel about the Patilship. * * * And Babaji Rau became very old. He had two sons—the elder Vithoji and the younger Kumaji. A *mali* (gardener) was in his service. Every day five maunds of flowers were strewn on his bedstead for Babaji Rau's enjoyment. Then he became very old and the *mujavar* (sweepers of the mosque) waxed strong in the village. The sons of his old age (being very young) were 4 and 1½ years of age. So he engaged the *mali* for the management of his household, and for the management of the fields was engaged a *dhangar* who tended (his) sheep. Mangi dhangarin was his mother. The *mujavar*, the *mali* and the *dhangarin* made a common cause and decided to murder Babaji Rau and his children. * * * And then the murderers came. They wrapped the younger son in a rug and threw him below the cot and murdered Babaji Rau in his bed. Then the elder son said, 'I have recognised you. You are the sweepers of the village mosque and you have murdered my father.' Thus he spoke, and they murdered him. Babaji's wife had concealed herself in a corner. She fled to Chitli with the younger son Kumaji." These are by no means the only murders in the bloody annals of the Jagdale family. The *mujavars* did not escape unpunished. Young Kumaji wreaked a terrible vengeance and decapitated three of them.⁶ Shahaji, the father of Shivaji, took the Patilship of Masur with the life of its owner, an uncle of Mahadji Jagdale Deshmukh.⁷ The revenge of those irreconcilable spirits knew no awe or respect for power, and the Jagdales sought a strong ally to assert their claim against Shahaji's son Shivaji. But their connection with the Mughals brought fresh disasters on them and at length these turbulent Deshmukhs had to forget their pride and seek Shivaji's protection and patronage.
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⁶ Rajwade, M.I.S., Vol. XV, p. 9.
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⁷ Rajwade, M.I.S., Vol. XV, p 1.
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If the Jagdale annal is a savage one, no less gruesome is that of the Jedhes. One of the two Jedhe brothers, while returning from the Adilshahi capital with a *farman* for their watan, was waylaid and murdered by one Khopre, a rival claimant. The surviving brother Baji fled to the sea coast, assembled a few adherents, purchased the assistance of twelve good swordsmen at the cost of a portion of his ancestral property, and calmly waited for a suitable opportunity. Such an opportunity came, when Khopre, off his guard, was celebrating his marriage. Hardly were the nuptials over, than Baji Jedhe with his followers fell upon Khopre and murdered him with sixty of his attendants. Kanhoji, a descendant of Baji, became so powerful that he defied the authority of the Adilshahi king. He left seven sons; the youngest of whom Naikji was won over by the Sultan: two of his elder brothers killed him in their anger, and were in their turn murdered by Naikji's widow Ansaba, who afterwards gave birth to a posthumous son. Her infuriated brothers-in-law had no mercy either for the widow or for her baby. Ansaba was soon after murdered, but the devotion of a nurse saved the child who took shelter with Baji Pasalkar. Hardly was the family dissension over than Kanhoji, son of Naikji, began to quarrel with the Bandal Deshmukh and a bloody battle was fought. Their differences were settled when Kanhoji entered the service of Shivaji.⁸ But the Khopres, though humbled, had not been rendered altogether harmless. They joined Afzal Khan against their rivals' master, Shivaji.⁹ Such were the men whom Shivaji had to deal with and the times in which he had to work.
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⁸ Sardesai, pp. 173-174.
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⁹ Rajwade, M.I.S., Vol. XV, p. 394.