Administrative System of the Marathas c8.s1.6

c8.s1.6

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: