The Military System of the Marathas, with a Brief Account of Their Maritime Activities c6.76

c6.76

We have now examined at some length the origin and character of *chauth* and *sardeshmukhi*. The first grew out of a precedent found in the Portuguese province of the North, and the second was based on a legal fiction suggested by the prevailing revenue system of the country. Shivaji needed a strong army for his wars, and a strong army demands a long purse. To meet this demand he adopted these ingenious methods for raising funds. His aim was twofold. While he was fighting for his race and religion, he was also fighting to subdue the disruptive forces of feudalism. That was the reason why he could not follow his neighbours’ custom of paying his men by grants of land or *jahgirs*, and was obliged to find ready money by other means. Unfortunately for the future of the Maratha empire, the system which he devised for replenishing the exchequer of a militant national monarchy was subsequently employed to revive and extend that very feudalism, against which he had so wisely set his face, and which ultimately wrecked the Maratha empire.