The Military System of the Marathas, with a Brief Account of Their Maritime Activities c6.36

c6.36

The *chauth* that Shivaji demanded from his enemies and neighbours was quite different from a pension paid by a superior power in consideration of his services. Yet it is not difficult to see how the practice prevailing in the Portuguese province of the North must have suggested to the quick mind of the great Maratha leader the idea of exacting a regular contribution from his wealthy enemies to replenish his war chest. He often passed through the principalities of Jawhar and Ramnagar on his way to Surat, the richest emporium of trade in the east, and he was served by a very efficient intelligence department. When he learnt how a petty chief like the Raja of Ramnagar had succeeded in securing a permanent and certain income, he decided to try an experiment on similar lines for his own advantage. But until he had conquered and annexed Ramnagar, he could not claim this impost as his 'grasso' or *watan*; and even that conquest afforded little validity to his claim in the eyes of his Muhammadan neighbours. But he realised that similar evils demanded similar remedies, and that if the Chauthia could by his robberies and depredations compel the Portuguese to make financial concessions to his power, he might also extort similar tribute from the harassed villagers and townsmen of Mughal India. He in no way acknowledged the supremacy of the Emperor of Delhi when he demanded *chauth* from his subjects of Surat, nor did he undertake to render any service whatever to the Rajas of Sunda and Bednore, when they were compelled at the point of sword to pay *chauth* which in this instance may be styled a tribute, or more accurately, satisfaction for refraining from plundering their territories.