The Military System of the Marathas, with a Brief Account of Their Maritime Activities c7.6

c7.6

The decline of the monarchy continued steadily after Rajaram’s death, for the long minority of his two sons offered excellent opportunities to the fief-holders of consolidating their power and extending their prerogatives. The advent of Shahu improved their chances still further. Shahu’s claim to the throne of Satara was hotly contested by Tara Bai and her partisans, and this led to a long civil war by which the Mughals alone profited. The feudal chiefs made the best use of the monarchy’s need and weakness, and Damaji Thorat, Udaji Chauhan and Kanhoji Angria began to ravage Shahu’s territories and to exact *chauth* from his partisans. These powerful chiefs have been described as robbers and miscreants by Grant Duff, for he derived his information from the Satara records. But in theory they regarded themselves as vassals of the rival house of Kolhapur and considered the persons and property of Shahu’s followers as their rightful prize, Ultimately Shahu’s party emerged victorious and the power of his Kolhapur cousin was limited to a small principality, with option to extend towards the south and with free communication with the sea through the old naval port at Malwan. Shahu’s success, however, far from restoring the power of the royal house of Satara, was merely symptomatic of the complete revival of feudalism.