The Military System of the Marathas, with a Brief Account of Their Maritime Activities c7.20

c7.20

for which they were granted, ranged from one to 'twenty-two thousand sawars or horsemen. A list, drawn up in the year 1811-12, enumerates no less than sixty saranjamdars, exclusive of the powerful Sardars of Central India like the Sindhia, the Holkar, the Pawars and the Bundele.¹ They did not all get equally favourable terms. In the paper, mentioned above, we find that Nilkantha Mahadev Purandare enjoyed a saranjam of 2,00,000 Rupees for a body of 500 horse, while Sadashiv Mankeshwar obtained, for an equal force, a saranjam of 2,50,000 Rupees. Chhatra Sing Toke's saranjam amounted to 20,000 Rupees for a quota of 30 horses; for a similar quota Ananda Rao Thorat got no more than 14,000 Rupees. The saranjam figures of Raghuji Angria (60,000 Rupees for one horseman) and the Panshes (40,000 Rupees for two horsemen) are rather misleading; for Angria was the hereditary Lord High Admiral ('wajarat mav') and the Panshes were in charge of the artillery and were not expected to serve the State at the head of a body of cavalry. The difference in the value of the saranjam is to be attributed to the difference in the personal allowance granted to each chief, which was settled on the merit of each case; and this principle (or want of it) prevailed as much in Central India as in the Deccan. Malar Rao Holkar was granted a saranjam of ninety-five lakhs of Rupees for maintaining a cavalry force of 22,000, but Ananda Rao Pawar received no more than forty-five lakhs for a force of 15,000.²