The Military System of the Marathas, with a Brief Account of Their Maritime Activities c7.63

c7.63

It is needless to remark that although the bulk of the Maratha army consisted of feudal levies, the Peshwa had an additional force of his own. The composition of this personal force was naturally affected by the change of political ideal and political outlook. Shivaji aimed at the foundation of a Maratha empire, and his army was mainly, if not wholly, composed of Marathas. The Pathan regiment, he enlisted, probably consisted of Deccani Musulmans, who were for all practical purposes children of the soil and were by no means favourably inclined towards the Mughal empire. It is noteworthy that on one occasion Shivaji politely rejected the services of a Bundela chief. Baji Rao’s proclaimed ambition was the restoration of Hindu supremacy in India and he naturally tried his best to win the moral and material support of Hindus all over the country for military purposes; but we have no documentary evidence that the non-Maratha elements formed by any means a predominating proportion of his army. Balaji’s sole aim was to cause the two rivers of gold from the north and the south to unite and flow into the reservoir of Poona, and this policy connoted constant fighting and a vast army. The Marathas were not very eager to spend the whole year away from their home provinces and Balaji enlisted mercenaries from all parts of India and outside India. Sikhs, Rajputs, Sindhis and Karnatakis on the one hand, and Rohillas, Arabs, Abyssynians and Portuguese of pure or mixed birth and even the so called Portuguese,¹ or the native converts from Goa were welcomed in his army. They were by no means better soldiers, and were certainly more unscrupulous and less faithful. Yet they obtained from the Peshwa and his feudal chiefs better pay and better treatment than the Marathas proper. Consequently the Maratha army was now gradually, but completely, denationalised. In the Peshwa’s personal force² the Arabs and other foreigners outnumbered the Marathas;