For purposes of revenue collection and administration, Shivaji’a kingdom was divided into a number of prants or provinces. Each prant was subdivided into paraganas and tarfs, and the village formed the lowest unit. Sh Shvaji abandoned the existing practice of farming out land revenue and substituted for it direct collection from the ryots through State officials, who had “no right to exercise the powers of a political superior (overlord ) or harass the ryots “. The assessment was made after a careful survey of lands, for which purpose a uniform unit of measurement was introduced. The State dues were fixed at 30 per cent of the expected produce, which was after some time raised by Shivaji to 40 per cent after be bad abolished other kinds of taxes or . The cultivators knew definitely the amount of their dues, which they could pay without an oppression. They were given the choice of payment either in cash or in kind. The State encouraged agriculture by granting advance loans from the treasury to the ryots for the purchase of seed and cattle, and the latter repaid these by easy annual installments. It is wrong to say, as Fryer has done, that the State officers practised extortions and oppression on the cultivators, though it might have been that Shivaji, with a view to making his kingdom financially sound, was strict in the matter of revenue collection. Modem researches have amply proved that the revenue administration of Shivaji was humane, efficient, and conducive to the interests of his subjects, as even Grant Duff admitted many years ago.
As the hilly regions of Maharashtra did not yield much in land revenue, Shivaji often levied chauth and sardeshmukhi on the neighbouring tracts, which were completely at his mercy, and also on the Mughul provinces as well as some districts of the Bijapur kingdom. The practice of levying chauth had already been in vogue in western India, as we find that the Raja, of Ramnagar exacted it from the Portuguese subjects of Daman. Scholars differ in their opinions regarding the nature of the chauth contribution. Ranade, who compares it with Wellesley’s subsidiary system, -,votes that it was “not a mere military contribution without any moral or legal obligation, but a payment in lieu of protection against the invasion of a third power”. Sir J. N. Sarkar expresses a different opinion when he writes: “The payment of the chauth merely saved a place from the unwelcome presence of the Maratha soldiers and civil underlings, but did not impose on Shivaji any corresponding obligation to guard the district from foreign invasion or internal disorder. The Marathas looked only to their own gain and not to the fate of their prey after they had left. The chauth was only a means of buying off one robber; and not a subsidiary system for the maintenance of peace and order against all enemies. The lands subject to the chauth cannot, therefore, be rightly called spheres of influence.” According to Mr. Sardesai, it was a tribute realized from hostile or conquered territories. Dr. Sen writes that the chauth was a contribution exacted by a military leader, which was justified by the exigencies of the situation. Whatever might be the theory of this burdensome imposition, which amounted to one-fourth of the government revenue, in practice it was nothing but a military contribution. The sardeshmukhi was an additional levy of 10 per cent, which Shivaji demanded on the basis of his claim as the hereditary Sardeshmukh (chief headman) of Maharishtra. But this was a legal fiction. The exaction of chauth and sardeshmukhi gave to the ‘Marathas influence over the districts which lay beyond their jurisdiction and -was followed by their easy annexation.
The Organisation of the Maratha army by Shivaji on a new model is a brilliant proof of his military genius. Previously the Maratha fighting forces consisted mostly of cavalry’ who had been in the habit of working half the year upon their fields, and engaged themselves during the dry season in active service. Shivaji, however, introduced a regular standing army. His soldiers had to be always ready for duty, and were provided with pay and quarters during the rainy season. The strength of this force rose from thirty to forty thousand cavalry and ten thousand infantry. Shivaji built a considerable fleet, the crews for which were recruited from among the low-caste Hindus of the Bombay coast. Although the achievements of the Maratha navy under Shivaji were not very remarkable, yet in later times the Maratha fleet under the Angrias gave considerable trouble to the English, the Portuguese, and the Dutch. According to the Sabhasad Bakhar, he maintained an elephant corps numbering about 1,260 and a camel corps numbering 3,000 or 1,500. We do not know definitely what was the strength of his artillery, but Orme writes that “he had previously purchased eighty pieces of cannon and lead sufficient for his matchlocks from the French Director at Surat”.
There was a regular gradation of officers both in the cavalry and the infantry. The cavalry had two branches-the bargis or soldiers provided with pay and equipment by the State, and the silahdars, who equipped themselves at their own cost and supplied the pay and equipment of the soldiers whom they brought to the service of the State, but were paid a stipulated sum by the State to defray the expense of service in the field. In the cavalry, 25 troopers formed a unit; over twenty-five men was placed a havaldar, over five then havaldars one jumladar, and over ten jumladars one hazari, who received 1,000 huns a year. Higher ranks over hazars were panjhazaris and the sarnobat or supreme commander of the cavalry. in the infantry, nine privates (paiks) formed the lowest unit under a naik. Over five naik there was one havaladar, over two or three havaladars one.jumaladar, and over ten jumladars one hazari. Instead of five havaladars as in the cavalry, there were seven hazaris in the infantry under the command of the sarnobat of the infantry. Although Shivaji in most cases led the army in persons it was formally under a senapati, or commander-in-chief, who was a member of the council of ministers. Since fort played an important part in the history of the Marathas, ample precaution was taken to maintain the garrisons there in an in efficient condition. Every fort was under three officers of equal status, viz. the havaladar, the havaldar, and the rabnis, who were to act together and thus to serve as a check on one another. Further, to prevent treachery on the part of the fort-officers, Shivaji arranged “that in each garrison there should be a mixture of castes”
Though regular and generous in making payments and giving rewards to the soldiers, Shivaji did not forget to enforce strict discipline on them. He drew up a set of regulations for their conduct so that their morals might not be lowered. The more important of these regulations laid down: “No woman, female slave, or dancing girl, was to be allowed to accompany the army A soldier keeping any of these was to be beheaded. Cows were exempt from seizure, but bullocks might be taken for transport exempt from seizure, but to be molested, nor taken as hostages misconduct himself (during a campaign) As regards spoils of war, Shivaji ordered that “when the goods of poor people, pulaiyah copper, money and vessels of brass and copper should belong to the man who found them; but other articles, gold and silver, coined or Uacoined, gems, valuable stuffs or jewels, were not to belong to the finder but were to be given up without the smallest deduction to the officers and to be by them’paid over to Shivaji’s government.
