A History of Agriculture in India v2.c86.s4: Maratha Revolt—Its Cultural and Economic Causes
A History of Agriculture in India v2.c86.s4
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Maratha Revolt—Its Cultural and Economic Causes
v2.c86.s4.1
According to Bhimsen, who was writing his memoirs in 1700, there was an intimate connection between the rise of the Maratha power and the oppression of the peasants. The peasants of the Deccan had suffered for decades before Sivaji's rise to eminence from wars brought about by the steady pressure of the Mughals against the Deccan kingdoms. Vast areas were ravaged by the invading armies; the grain was seized, the people slaughtered or enslaved. Some of the peasants rendered aid to Sivaji. Aurangzeb ordered his officials to give capital punishment to peasants, *deshmukhs* and *patels* of the *parganas* of Imperial territories, who had gone over to the side of Sivaji. 'The oppressed peasants, who were unable to carry on their avocation peacefully joined the army of Sivaji. They were the "naked starved rascals", who formed the core of his army. The military operations of the Marathas did not offer any relief to the cultivating peasants. On the contrary, they suffered grievously from their ravages. As the range of operation of the "Robber State" grew, so too the number of its victims increased. But this seems to have created a still larger number of "naked starved rascals", who themselves plundered, had no alternative left but to join the plunderers in order to survive; and so the unending circle went on.⁷ As the Mughal armies decayed, the Marathas multiplied. Elphinstone observes: 'After reducing the Deccan to a desert, they spread over Malwa, and made a powerful inroad into Gujarat, leaving their traces everywhere in pillaged towns, ravaged fields, and smoking villages.’
v2.c86.s4.2
⁷ Habib, I. *The Agrarian System of Mughal India*, p. 350
v2.c86.s4.3
The main causes of Maratha rebellion against the Mughals were cultural and social. Ramdas, the spiritual preceptor of Sivaji, pointed out to him that the protection of gods, cows, Brahmans and the Faith was his primary duty. ‘When the Faith is dead, death is better than life. Gather the Marathas together, make religion live again.’ Thus the main object before Sivaji was to win freedom of worship and revival of Hinduism, which could only be achieved through military and political power.