About the Book
The Maratha administration can be studied under three heads- Central Administration; Revenue Administration; and Military Administration. Maratha's system of administration was largely borrowed from the administrative practices of the Deccan states.
Maratha State appointed Hindus on high post and made Marathi as an official language instead of Persian. They prepare their own state craft dictionary i.e. 'Raja Vyakaran Kosh for official use. The Maratha administration can be studied under three heads-Central Administration; Revenue Administration; and Military Administration.
It was founded by Shivaji for the sound system of administration which was greatly inspired from the Deccan style of administration. Most of the administrative reforms were inspired from Malik Amber reforms in Ahmednagar.
The King was the supreme head of state who was assisted by a group of eight ministers known as the 'Ashtapradhan'.
Apart from the departmental duties, three of the ministers-Peshwas, Schiva and the Mantri were also given incharge of extensive provinces.
All ministers, except the Panditrao and the Nyayadish, had to serve in a war whenever necessary.
Shivaji divided entire territory into three provinces, each under a viceroy.
He further divided the provinces into Prants then Pargana and Tarafs. The lowest unit was the village which was headed by its headman or Patel.
Shivaji organised a disciplined and efficient army. The ordinary soldiers were paid in cash, but big chief and military commander were paid through jagir grants (Saranjam or Mokasa).
Preface
A CIVILIAN writing about military matters labours under obvious difficulties, and it is necessary to offer an explanation for undertaking a task for which neither my training nor my profession qualifies me. Nearly ten years ago I began a study of the civil institutions of the Marathas with a view to explore the causes of the rapid expansion of their empire and its speedy collapse. The Maratha empire was primarily a military organisation and its civil institutions were closely connected with its military system. Every state forms an organic unit, and even a cursory examination of its character demands an enquiry into the nature of its component parts. This is the only excuse I can offer for trespassing into domains other than my own, but I am fully conscious of my limitations and I have carefully avoided all technical matters as far as possible and confined myself to those broad questions to which even a layman can do some justice. The need for such a survey was pointed out by Sydney Owen more than fifty years ago.
Introduction
THE MARATHAS were the last indigenous empire builders of India.¹ They leapt into prominence suddenly and swiftly; in the third decade of the seventeenth century the Maratha name was unknown to the world outside; three decades later it had become a terror to the rulers of the land In the second decade of the next century the Emperor of Delhi had to recognise their defacto supremacy in the Deccan by granting them chauth and sardeshmukhi of six provinces of the South. But their activities were not long confined to the immediate neighbourhood of their home. Balaji Vishwanath entered Delhi in the train of Syed Husain Ali, his son appeared in its environs at the head of his victorious army, his grandsons became arbiters of the fate of the Mughal empire and carried the Maratha banner to the banks of the Indus, while their cavalry scoured the country from Lahore to Murshidabad, from Delhi to Seringapatam. The rapid expansion of their empire was once arrested by the defeat of Panipat, but the Marathas quickly recovered from the shock, and Mahıdaji Sindhia founded a new empire in Hindustan. In 1794 they inflicted a crushing defeat on the Nizam at Kharda and compelled him to cede half his territories. Hardly eight years elapsed before the Peshwa became a feudatory of the British Government in India, the grand armies of Daulat Rao Sindhia and Raghuji Bhonsla were defeated and destroyed by Lake and Wellesley, and the Maratha empire collapsed like a house of cards. If their rise was sudden and swift, the fall of the Marathas was no less sudden and spectacular. The Empire was apparently at the zenith of its power, it had reached its greatest extent, its man-power.
