The MARATHA Imperialism

Background 

The states that arose in India during the phase of Mughal decline and the following century varied in terms of resources, longevity, and characters. In particular many of the post Mughal states were based on ethnic or sectarian groupings – the Maraths, Jats and the Sikhs and Hyderabad Nizams. 

Each of the contenders in the regions, in proportion to its strengths, looked for and seized opportunities to establish its dominance over the others in the neighbourhood. They all needed a kind of legitimacy which was so conveniently available in the long accepted authority of the Mughal Emperor. They had no fear in collectively accepting the symbolic hegemony of the Mughal centre, which had come to co-exist with their ambitions.

So, the gradual weakening of the central authority of the Mughals set in motion new types of provincial kingdoms. The Wazir Chin Qilich Khan himself showed the passage. Having failed to reform the administration of the central Mughal authority, he relinquished office in 1723 and next year marched to establish the first independent kingdom belonging to the erstwhile Mughal territory, the Hyderabad. 

At this stage, the main concern for the Mughal king was to ensure the flow of necessary revenue from the provinces, so the independence of Hyderabad was not given any importance. Rather it was accepted as an act of maintenance of at least the semblance of imperial unity.

Seizing upon the disintegration of the Empire, the Marathas now began their northward expansion and overran Malwa, Gujarat and Bundelkhand.

The Maratha Imperials 

There is no doubt that the single most important power that emerged in the long twilight of the Mughal dynasty was the Marathas. The most important Maratha warrior clan was of the Bhonsles, Sivaji Bhonsle, emerged as the most powerful figure in the southern politics.

However, the good fortune of Sivaji did not fall on his sons and successors, Sambhaji and Rajaran. For a time it appeared that the Maratha power was on the decline. But a recovery was affected in the early eighteenth century. A particularly important phase in this respect is the reign of Sahu, successor of Rajaram. He ruled for the next 40 years and changed the fortunes of the Maratha imperialism.

His reign was marked by the ascendancy of a lineage of Chitpavan Brahmin ministers, who virtually came to control central authority in the Maratha state. The Bhonsles or the Chatrapti (Kings) were reduced to only figureheads. In theory the office of the Pratinidhi was higher than that of the Peshwa, but by virtue of superior talents and abilities Balaji Vishvanath made the Peshwa the real head of the Maratha Empire.

Peshwa 

Holdiing the title of Peshwa (chief minster), the first truly prominent figure of this line is Balaji Visvanath, who had helped Sahu to rise in power. Viswanath and his successor, Baj Rao I (peshwa between 1720 and 1740) managed to bureaucratize the Maratha state to a far greater extent than had been the case under the early Bhonsles.

The Marathas did not fail to utilize the distractions of the tottering Mughal Empire to their advantage. Balaji Viswanath obtained important concessions on Deccan polity from the titular Mughals. 

A treaty was signed between the Mughals and the Marathas in 1714 which was very remarkable and a landmark in the history of the Marathas, as by it the Marathas were recognized as co-partners in the revenues of the Mughal Imperial provinces. It also gave them back all the territories that were once belonged to Sivaji, but had been conquered by the Mughals. Not only this they also got some new provinces of Berar, Khandesh, Gondowana, and some districts in Karnataka and Hyderabad. Also the revenue of the 6 Mughal provinces of the Deccan were assigned to the Marathas.

After the death of Balaji Viswanath in 1720, his son and successor Baji Rao I formulated the policy of Maratha imperialism by launching a policy of expansion beyond the Narmada with a view to striking at the center of the crumbling Mughal imperialism. He invaded Gujarat and Malwa and reached up to Delhi but did not enter the city in order to give some sort of legitimacy to the Mughal king which he thought would help him in legitimising his imperialist power.

Then in 1739 came the great invasion of Nadir Shah, the Persian ruler. This made all warring powers in India come to an understanding and presented a combined front. But suddenly Baji Rao I died in 1740 and was succeeded by Balaji Baji Rao II or Nana Saheb.

Balaji Baji Rao was determined to further the cause of Maratha imperialism; but he unwisely departed from the policy of his father in two respects – the army was changed in character, many foreign mercenaries were introduced, and the process of uniting all Hindu chief and making Hindu sentiments the main factor of Maratha imperialism and expansion was abandoned.

The Third Battle of Panipat proved to be disastrous for the Marathas imperialism. It terribly damaged the position of the Peshwas.

Maratha Polity 

The rise of the Maratha power was a significant phenomenon in the history of the Deccan. The administrative system of the Marathas was very much influenced by the administrative system of the Mughals and the Deccan states. The Maratha polity did not have unified civilian cum military rank. Under the Marathas performance based Brahmin elites manned the central bureaucracy and the local administration. They enjoyed vast power of tax assessment and collection.

The king was at the helm of the affairs. The administration was divided into eight departments headed by ministers who were called Ashta Pradhan. The eight minsters were – Peshwa or the chief minister who looked after the general administration and finance; Sar-i-Naubat, the Senapati in charge of the military; Majumdar in charge of the accounts; Waqai Navis, who looked after the intelligence; Sarnavis who looked after the official correspondence; Dabir who looked after foreign affairs; Nyayadhish who looked after the justice; and Pandit Rao, the religious leader who looked after the stars and fixed timings for occasions. All of these except the Pandit Rao had existed during the rules of Deccan Sultans, and were incorporated into Shivaji’s administration and continued after him also.

The provincial administration was also organized on the Deccani and Mughal system. All the provincial units already existed under the Deccani rulers. Shivaji reorganized and in certain cases renamed them. The provinces were known as Prant under the charge of Subedar. Each Prant was subdivided into Tarfs each under Havaldar. Mauzas or the villages were the lowest unit of administration. At the village level, Kulkarni used to keep accounts and maintained records while Patil had legal and policing power. At the level of Tarf, Deshpande used to keep account and maintain records while Deshmukh had legal and policing powers. The police officer in rural area was called Fauzdar and in the urban area was called Kotwal.

The Marathas systematized the practice of tribute gathering from Mughal territories, under the heads Sardeshmukhi and Chauth. They seemed to have consolidated methods of assessment and collection of land revenue and other taxes on the lines of the Mughals. There was a great continuity between Mughal and Maratha revenue practices. The period saw the development of sophisticated networks of trade, banking and finance.