The Military System of the Marathas, with a Brief Account of Their Maritime Activities c6.46.1

c6.46.1

rest of his life without any reference to the Mughal Government but he had spent his boyhood in the Mughal camp and had learnt to regard the Emperor of Delhi as the rightful sovereign of the whole of India. Moreover, both he and his cousin of Kolhapur were eager to strengthen his cause by enlisting on his side the moral support of the Mughal power, the visible sign of which was to be an imperial *farman* for the *chauth* and *sardeshmukhi* of the six *subhas* (provinces) of the Deccan, which the Maratha prince might then regard and cherish as his *watan*. The ministers at Delhi were eager to take full advantage of the internal dissension prevailing among the Marathas by procrastinating and postponing the issue of the *farman* sought by the rival parties; but the men on the spot found it difficult to maintain peace and order and to protect the peasant on whose labours the state revenues mainly depended, without coming to some sort of understanding with the Marathas. Daud Khan, therefore, consented to pay *chauth* to the Maratha Chhatrapati with one important proviso—the *chauth* was to be collected for the Marathas by the Mughal revenue officers. By this arrangement the Marathas would be unable to interfere with the peasantry or the internal administration of Mughal territory.