UNIT 3 THE, MARATHA STATE SYSTEM

Structure
Objectives
Introduction
Historians on the nature of Maratha Polity
The Maratha Confederacy
3.3.1 The King and the Peshwa
3.3.2 Bhonsle of Nagpur
3.3.3 Gaikwad of Baroda
3.3.4 Holkar of Indore
3.3.5 Sindia of Gwalior
Institutional Developments
3.4.1 The Administrative Structure
3.4.2 Long Tenn Trends
Society and Economy
3.5.1 Agrarian Society
3.5.2 Monetization
Maratha Relations
3.6.1 Bengal
3.6.2 Hyderabad
3.6.3 Mysore
3.6.4 Rajasthan
3.6.5 Mughals
3.6.6 East India Company
Let us Sum Up
Key words
Answers to Check Your Progress Exercises

3.0 OBJECTIVES

This Unit forms part of a Block that aims at reconstructing an integrated picture of
the Indian polity in the mid-18th century. In this Unit, you will be introduced to:
some views about the nature of the Maratha political system,
the Maratha confederacy and its territorial expansion in the eighteenth century, ,
the political and administrative structure evolved by the Marathas, details of which
will correct the conventional view of Marathas as marauders,
society and economy in the region under study, and
an outline of Marathas relations with the Mughal empire, other regional powers
and the English East India Company.

3.1 INTRODUCTION

The small Maratha Kingdom constituted in the seventeenth century in the Western
Deccan became a nucleus of what has been described as the second much wider
Maratha swarajya (sovereign state) which spread to the north, east and south in the
18th century.
After the Mughal retreat from the Deccan the Marathas expanded and evolved as a
loose association or confederacy of military leaders who were denoted as d a r s .
Formally the sardars held temporary assignments of land revenue. But in practice
they tended to become hereditary once they established themselves. The new and
powerful polity that was established by the Marathas by conquest in the western
Deccan is in a focus in this Unit.
We survey the transformation of society and economy that was taking place in this
region through the process of state building and the force of commerce.
~ i s ed ~ e g ~ o d
powera These ciraumstances set the context in which the East India Company found the
Marathaslposing a challenge till the early 19th century.

3.2 HRSTORIANS ON NATURE OF MARATHA POLITY

Imperialist historiography generally characterised the 18th century Maratha
dominatian as chaotic and anarchic. On the other hand, in attempt to develop
Nationalist historiography, several Maratha scholars saw the Maratha state as the last
reincarnat$on of the Hindu empire.
Irfan Habib's thesis is that the Maratha movement was essentially a zamindar uprising
of the imperial ruling class (mansabdars and jagirdars) of the Mughal Empire. It is
the zamindar context of the Maratha state that he underlines.
Satish Chandra locates the successful bid for regional independence by the Marathas
in the crisis of the Mughal jagirdari system which failed to balance income and
consumpti~nC.A. Bayly notes the emergence of three wamor states-Marathas, ~ i k h s '
and Jats and argues that they reflected popular or peasant insurgency directed in part
against the Indo-Muslim aristocracy. The Marathas, he elaborates, drew their
strength frpm the ordinary peasant pastorialist castes. The Brahmin administrators
who were On the ascendant pictured the Marathas state a classic "Brahmin" kingdom,
protecting the holy places and sacred cattle.
In Andre Wink's analysis the processes of fitnas were central to social and political
life in the Maratha state system. Characteristically this implied making use of existing
political canflicts through a combination of coercion and conciliation, as opposed to
pure military operations. Fitna then, is regarded as the political mechanism that was
used for t b expansion, consolidation and subsequent institutionalization of Maratha
power. Ensuring the crucial collaboration/acquiescence of the gentry demanded the
political arithmetic of fitna. This was essential both for conquest as well as gaining
access to the agrarian resource base.
It was throbgh fitna that the Marathas penetrated the expanding Mughal Empire in
the late 17th century by aligning themselves with different Deccan Sultans against the
Mughals. Therefore, Wink argues, rather than representing a revolt against the
Mughal empire, Maratha sovereignty emerged as a result of Mughal expansion. In
form the Maratha swardya remained a zamindari tenure and the Marathas never
really shedthe status of zamindars.
Frank Perlin's concern is with broadening the concepts of state and state-formation in
the long t e r n , trans-political, subcontinental and international framework. This is
because (a] the state had a long-term development, covering different regimes
between thkl5th and 19th centuries, (b) there is a need for a comparative perspective
of transition processes affecting India and Europe before industrialization in order to
correct stereotypical views about late pre-colonial societies as being unresponsive to
change.

Check Your Progress 1

1) Sum up the fitna-based interpretation of the rise of the Maratha state.

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8

2) Why is it important to examine the Maratha state system in a widened framework?

 ........................................................................................................... The Mnrstha State System
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3.3 THE MARATHA CONFEDERACY

By the second decade of the 18th century the Maratha powers under Peshwa Baji
Rao I were striking out against the Mughals in the Deccan and in central India. Yet, even
in the 1780s treaties between the Mughals and the Marathas, the Mughal emperor
continued to be recognised as the first among all the kings and chiefs of India.
Significantlyit was the levying of chauth under the sanction, or the pretended sanction
ef the Mughal Emperor that was the usual prelude for establishment of Maratha
sbvereignty (as for example Gujarat, Malwa and Berar).

3.3.1 The King and the Peshwa

In 1719 Balaji Vishwanath returned from Delhi with firmans for chauth and
sardeshmukhi. The Maratha king became the sardeshmukh of the entire Deccan
(Aurangabad, Berar, Bidar, Bijapur, Hyderabad and Khandesh) and Karnataka.
In 1719 Balaji Vishwanath made a complex division of the collection of chauth and
sardeshmukh between Shahu and his sardars. Out of these collections a fixed share
was to be paid to the Raja (sardeshmukhi + 34% of chauth). The Raja thus became
largely dependent on his ssrdars for his finances.
Originally the Peshwa was only a mukhyapradhan or prime minister and his post was
not hereditary. When Baji Rao, Balaji Vishwanath's son, became Peshwa in 1720, the
office became hereditary. In 1740 Balaji Baji Ra'o (Nana Saheb) became Peshwa. Till
Shahu's death in 1749 he was still under the restraint of the Raja of Satra. Thereafter
he virtually dislodged the Raja from sovereign power.

6 A Maratha P g b r a with bls miaistns

~ i s eor ~egionnlpowers The expanbion of the Marathas had from an early date predominantly been the work
of the Peshwas and their sardars. In the 1740s the Marathas conquered Malwa,
Gujarat, Btundelkhand and penetrated, as far as Attock in the north, Rajasthan,
Doab, Awadh, Bihar and Orissa. Andra Wink's study shows that all these conquests
started as fitha (conquests on invitation).
It may be pointed out that in the 1740s Maratha sovereignty was not yet decisively
established in the north and that it was even more fragile and limited in the south.

3.3.2 Bhonsle of Nagpur

The first chrluth levies, made in the north-east, independent of the Peshwa, were those
made by Parsoji Bhonsle, a descendant of a family of village beadmen from Poona
district. One of the first sardars to join Shahu when he returned from the Mughal court
in 1707, Shabu recognised his Berar conquests and Balaji Vishwanath too sanctioned
his exclusive right to Berar, Godwana and Cuttack. In 1743 Shahu assigned the rights
of chauth and sardeshmukhi in Bihar, Orissa, Berar and Awadh to Raghuji Bhonsle.
However, when Raghuji died in 1755, the Peshwa decided to curtail the Bhonsles by
dividing the saranjam in three parts and thus weakened them considerably.

3.3.3 Gailkwad of Baroda

Bande, Pawaa and Dabhade were among the major Maratha sardars who led raids in
the Mughal province of Gujarat in the early 18th century. The Gaikwads who started
out as lieuteaants of the Dabhades, rose to predominance around 1730.
In 1727 the Mughal subedar of Gujarat assigned to Shahu sardeshmukhi to 10% of the
land revenue Of the whole of Gujarat and chauth of the south of Gujarat in saranjam,
in return for punishing marauders.
After Shahu's death, the Peshwa divided the chauth and sardeshmukhi of Gujarat
between himself and Dabhade in 1749. In 1751 Gaikwad forced his way in, in place
of Dabhade and made Baroda his capital in 1752.
Like the Bhonsles of Nagpur, the Gaikwad dynasty formally enjoyed merely the status
of saranjamdars, i.e., assignment holders, not kings.

The Mughal prbvince of Malwa which formed the political and commercial nexus
between Hindustan and the Deccan had been invaded by the Marathas since 1699.
The first Maratha outposts were established on the Narmada in 1716 and claims of
chauth made soon after. After the victory at Daroha Sarai in 1738 the Peshwa was
made fvlalwa's deputy governor in 1741. Meanwhile in the 1730s itself the Peshwa had
distributed the collections of chauth and sardeshmukhi between himself and Sindia,
Holkar and Pawar. While the Peshwa administered the eastern half of Malwa, the
hereditary saraqjams of Holkar, Sindia and Pawar were located in the western half.
Like the Sifidias and Gaikwads, the Holkars were village vatandars of recent origin.
In 1733 they wete assigned the district of Indore which subsequently grew into their
dominion or dadlat. Technically, however, it remained a saranjam.
The Holkars remained loyal to the Peshwa even at the height of their power. Between
1788and 1793 there were constant clashes between Holkar and Sindia with the former
lagging behind in terms of territorial expansion.

3.3.5 Sindia bf Gwalior

Though associated with the nature of the Sindias, actually Gwalior did not belong to
the Sindias till the last quarter of 18th century. This family, which had risen to
prominence ih Malwa, had Ujjain as its headquarters. Sindia, too, was directly under
the Peshwa as a hereditary saranjamdar.
Mahadaji Sindia escaped from Panipat in 1761, after his father's contingent was
annihilated and reestablished his family's hold over Malwa. After Malhar Rao
Holkar's death, he became de facto sovereign of Iimdustan (see 3.6.4 and 3.6.5).
Rise of R e n a l Powers

7 A Slndii chief

Check Your Progress 2

1) What was the position of the Marathas in relation with the Mughal emperor in
1780s.

2) To what extent did the Peshwa and the Maratha saranjamdars extend the
Maratha dominion?

3.4 INSTPTUTIONAL DEVELOPMENTS

The Mughals never properly controlled the heartland of Maharashtra and its
administrative and property system can be seen evolving well into the 18th century.

3.4.1 The Admihistrative Structure

Maratha dominion can be broadly divided into what have been called non-regulation
and regulation areas.
 In the former, zamindars, autonomous and semi-autonomous chiefs were left with Tbc Marnth0 State system
internal administrative autonomy. The king's tribute demand from these areas, in
contrast with the land revenue demand from regulation areas, was not based on an
assessment of the chiefs resources but more in proportion to their power of resistance,
the weaker ones paying more than the stronger.
In regulation areas or the area of direct administration, there was a system of revenue
assessment, management and accountancy.
Such areas were divided among vatandars (see key words). Each unit of about 10 to
200 villages was under a deshmukh-deshpande combination. Under vatandar system
the rights vested not in an individual incumbent but in a brotherhood of patrilineal
relatives. Vatandars were co-sharers of the land produce with rights like dues from
cultivators as salary, customary share in the government's land-revenue exempt land.
The division of shares of a vatan did not imply partition of the land but of the
i
proceeds. The right to sell any hereditary estate was recognised in principle.
During periods of agrarian or financial or administrative crisis the regulation could be
relaxed and zamindars could acquire a temporary authority under a system of revenue
farming.
I
Among the tenants, there were two types (a) resident cultivators with hereditary
rights of occupancy (mirasdars) and (b) temporary cultivators (uparis). The tenancy
system of south Maharashtra and Gujarat was more complicated.

In most of the regulation territories the standard assessment rates of the previous
period were maintained in the 18th century. Under the Peshwas the tankha- a
permanent standard assessment for each village -was the baseline of revenue
!
settlements.
In the late 1750s and 1760s the kamal (or 'completion') settlement was made. This
settlement completed the tankha settlement by taking into consideration newly
cultivated lands. It was based on measurement and classification of the qualities of
land, and the king's share came to one-sixth of the produce.
The internal distribution of the village assessment (tankha or kamal), once arrived at,
was almdst entirely left to the Datil (village headman) or the village itself.
In addition to the regular land revenue, the government also imposed a number of
extra collections (under the head of village expenses), which were intricately recorded
by village and district officials. The revenue collectors were commonly designated as
kamavisdars or mamlatdars.
In the 18th century, everywhere in the Deccan, southern Maratha country, Gujarat,
I Central India and Nagpur, the village settlements were made annually.
In the 1790sand 1810swhen the Peshwa needed more revenue to pay for armies and
obligations to the British there was an expansion of revenue farming and an increase
1 in the state's demands.
In Maharashtra no more than a quarter of revenue was paid in cash. Most often, it
was remitted from villages, through the districts, to Poona through bills of exchange.
The administrative systems in the northern saranjam states (Holkar, Sindia, Gwalior
and Bhonsle) were in principle copies of Peshwa, except that they had Diwans and
I
1
supervisory officials imposed on their administration from Poona. The bureaucracy in
I the Deccan and the north was dominated by different grades of Brahmins.

3.4.2 Long Term Trends

From the 14th and 15th centuries, throughout the north and western Deccan, the
Central Provinces, Gujarat and Rajasthan certain families were emerging into
powerful positions by accumulating offices and rights and veritably establishing the
infrastructure of their later influence and state building.
I

I It is in the administrative forms adopted by the great Houses of 17th century

Maharashtra (example the. Bhonsles), attended on fiscal and military offices,
purchases and commercial dealing that saw significant experiments in administrative
forms (such as land survey, cash revenue, accounting and record keeping).
There were also tensions between the centralizing forces of the state and the
comparatively equalitarian usages of the local peasantry. Vatandar assemblies (qota)
were often held to protect themselves from state demands. While such assemblies
were probably the focus of 17th century popular resistance, it appears that in the 18th
century, the authority and powers of regional and village headmen were progressively
bypassed through new administrative procedures.
The great Houses or magnates referred to above,through their economic power based
on control of land, labour and capital provided the link between the royal court and
the local peqsantry.

Check Your Progress 3

1) What is the difference between regulation and non-regulation areas?
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2) Briefly describe (a) the office of the vatandar, (b) the kamal system of revenue
assessment.

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3) Compare the administrative systems of the Peshwa and the saranjam states.
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3.5 SOCIETY AND ECONOMY

In the earlier section we have discussed the institutional developments during the
formation-of the Maratha polity. Here we will discuss the society and economy of the
Maratha state system.

3.5.1 Agrarian Society

By the 18th century the establishment of villages in the heartlands of the Maratha
polity was complete. This implied the spread of population and agrarian settlement
However, the heartland around Poona was poorly irrigated and relatively sparsely
populated. By mid-18th century, given the state of its technology, this area was at the
limits of its development. This explains the persistent outward pressure of the
Maratha into ateas of stable agriculture like Tanjore in the south, Gujarat and the
Ganges valley in the north.
The elaboration of taxation and other obligation stimulated the need for increased TaMuatlmSbteSy~tem
production.
The Maratha rulers adopted two kinds of measures here. The first measure entailed
concessional assessment (istava), remission of revenues and loans. These measures
helped to bring new land under cultivation. The second measure encouraged initiative
of the people to build agricultural facilities. For example & inam of gift land was given
to the headman of a village during Shivaji's period to repair or build new dams.
Fukuzawa has noted that such measures of the Maratha rulers i.e. state promotion of
agriculture, revcnue system etc. had led to a considerable economic differentiation
among the peasantry. This varied from holders of 18 acres of land to 108 acres of land
in his study. He has also noted that over the years 1790 to 1803 the smaller land
holdings completely disappeared. While on the other hand the large land holders
increased in number.
By the late 18th century the exploitability of peasantry was significantly increased due
to increase in population, taxation, and prices of food grains.
There is abundant evidence of a strengthening hold on peasantry by non-cultivating
privileged class (state ministers, deshmukhs, military officers with saranjam,
financiers and traders), many of whom combined more than one function. This
perhaps explains the subsequent social differentiation that emerged in the countryside.
There were in the main three forms of control over rural resources -tax, gift of land
and hereditary offices.

3.5.2 Monetization
In the period of our study manufacturing and cash cropping for distant markets
formed part of the economy in Maharashtra, just as it did in the southern Deccan,
Bengal, Bihar and Gujarat.
By the 17th and 18th centuries credit institutions were operating in town and
countryside, financing indebted nobility and peasants, as well as daily economic life.
The import of copper and cowries in the 18th century western Deccan was indicative
of vigorous, highly monetized local market centres.
Villagers in western Deccan were not only engaged in local market transaction in
money, but were also paid daily and monthly wages for agricultural labour, craft
production and household service.
Large and small scale mints producing a variety of coins were found in small market
towns, the residential houses of important lords as well as in major cities.
In fact there is a wide range of records dealing with rural exchanges during the late
18th century. In Maharashtra there is copious evidence of loans in cash and kind,
among persons involved in landholding, peasants, agricultural labourers, craftsman
and soldiers. Written contractsspecifyingexact terms of repayment are also available.
All this indicates a knowledge of quantity and calculation among common people.

Check Your Progress 4

1) How did the peasantry become increasingly exploitable in the late 18th century?

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2) What are the indications of monetized local markets?
3.6 MARATHA RELATIONS
Let us now discuss the nature of Maratha relations with other powers. Here we look
at the relatiions with Bengal, Hyderabad, Mysore, Rajasthan, the Mughals and the
East b d i a Company.

Shortly aftar Nadir Shah's invasion in 1740 the Mughal province of Bengal, Bihar and
Orissa not long after Alivardi Khan sought the help of the Peshwa against his rival
who sought the backing of Raghuji Bhonsle. In 1743 the Peshwa was promised chauth
over the provinces in return for his help. Later, however, on Raghuji's appeal Shahu
assigned chautb and sardeshmukhi in Bengal, Bihar and Onisa to Raghuji Bhonsle.
In 1751 the Nawab concluded a treaty to pay 12 lakhs of rupees in lieu of the chautb
of Bengal amd Bihar and a stipulated part of the revenue of Orissa to the Bhonsle of
Nagpur.

3.6.2 Hyderabad
As vicerroy af the Deccan from 1715 to 1717 the Nizam resisted the Maratha claims
for chautb abd sardeshmukhi of the Deccan and was constantly at war with them.
Around 172q he encouraged agrarian and revenue officials to obstruct collection by
the Marathas. However, in 1724 he agreed to such collection in return for the
Peshwa'~help against a rival. The entente fell through in 1725-26 when the Peshwa
invaded Ka*ataka. The Nizam therefore replaced Sambhaji of Kolhapur as the
collector of the Deccan subm. Only after the Peshwa defeated him at Palkhed in 1728
did he agree fiot to back Kolhapur.
I

At the height of the Poona-Hyderabad clashes in 1752, the Marathas extracted the
western half Of Berar between Godavari and Tapti.

The Marathas]who expanded up to the Tungabhadra, were in constant conflict with

Haidar Ali an4 Tipu Sultan of Mysore and exacted tribute from Mysore in 1726. The
Peshwa m ~ d huccessful
e expeditions against Haidar Ali in 1764-65 and 1769-72and by
the peace of 1772 Haidar lost temtory south of the Tungabhadra.
After 1776, hdwever, Haidar Ali made incursions into the Maratha temtories in the
Krishna-Tungdbhadra Doab. Only in 1780 was Mysore allied briefly with the
Marathas agairpst the British.
I

3.6.4 Rajasthan
Here the Marathas did not establish any regular direct administration. However,
occasionally in ithe second quarter of the 18th century they interfered in internal
disputes amon4 the Rajputs, in particular in Bundi, Jaipur and Marwar.
Before Baji Rao's visit in 1735 only the smaller states paid chautb but therefore even
Udaipur and Mewar fell in line.
Collections were neglected in the aftermath after Panipat but were taken up again by
Holkar and after his death by Sindia on behalf of the Peshwa and the Mughal
Emperor.

In 1752 when Ahmad Shah Abdali annexed Lahore and Multan, the Mughal Emperor
 sought Maratha protections. He entered into' an agreement with Malhar Rao Holkar Tbc mratb State BY-
and Jayappa Sindia in 1752 granting them chautb of Punjab and Sindh and the Doab
in addition to the subadari of Aimer and Agra. All this was in exchange for protection
against external enemies and disloyal subiects.
The Marathas, however, could not match Ahmad Shah Abdali and were defeated at
Panipat in 1761. Punjab and Rajasthan soon slipped out of their control.
In 1784Shah Alam turned over the management of Delhi and Agra to Sindia in return
for a monthly allowance. The Peshwa was given the title of regent and Sindia that of
deputy regent. These titles were renewed in 1788 when Sindia reinstated Shah Alam
who has temporarily been dislodged by the Rohilla chief, Ghulam Kadir Khan.
The Sindia however, derived very little from this power as the area was mostly held
I
by Mughal chiefs who were only nominally under the Emperor. Therefore, Sindia
concentrated on stepping up his demands on the Rajputs.

3.6.6 East India Company

When the Marathas took Basein from the Portuguese in 1739, the Bombay Council of
the Company decided to fortify Bombay and sent envoys to Shahu and negotiated a
Y treaty which conceded to the Company the right to free trade in the Maratha
dominions.
Tensions in the Maratha confederacy (between the Peshwa and the Rajas of Berar and
Satara) and factional disputes between members of the Peshwa's family (in the 1770's)
were used by the Company to intervene in Maratha affairs.
How they did so and ultimately shackled the northern saranjamdars as well as at the
Peshwa forms the subject to Unit 10.

Check Your Progress 5

Comment on Maratha relations with (a) the other regional powers, (b) the East India
Company.
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3.7 LET US SUM UP

In this Unit we have discussed:
some of the recent writings on the history of the Maratha state system,
the evolution of the Marathaconfederacy and the expansion of its domain that took
shape witbin the shell of Mughal rule,
the Maratha state institutions at ground level and indicate that historians are now
researching the evolution of property and administrative systems over a wider time
span, starting from the 15th century and not concentrating only on some regimes
in doing so,
the trends in agrarian society and the monetization of exchange, and
Marathas relations with other regional powels and the E a t India Company.

3.8 KEY WORDS

Chauth: One-fourth of land revenue,
Deshmukh: District zamindar
Deshpande: Hereditary district accountant
Fitna: (warathi): Drawing away from allegiance, (Arabic, Persian) rebellion, sedition
Saranjam: Assignment of land or land-revenue
Swdeshmukh (i): Head-deshmukh (ship) on emolument at the rate of 10-12% of
collection
Vatan (dar): (Holder of) Hereditary vested right.

3.9 ANSWERS TO CHECK YOUR PROGRESS

Check Yaur Progress 1
1) See Sec.3.2. You could say how existing conflicts were used through both coercion
and cmciliation.

1
2) See S ~ L3.2.
. You could say how a) any state has long term development, and b)
a comparative framework helps to correct stereotype notions.
Chech Your Progress 2
1) See Sec. 3.3.
2) See Sub-Sec. 3.3.1 to 3.3.5. Also see Sub-Sec. 3.6.4 and 2.6.5.
Check Your Progress 3
1) See Sub-Sec. 3.4.1
2) (a) & (b) See Sub-Sec. 3.4.1
3) See SuU-Sec. 3.4.1
4) See Sub-Sec. 3.4.2
Check Your Progress 4
1) See SubtSec. 3.5.1
2) (a) & (h) See Sub-Sec. 3.5.2
5
to 3.6.6.