Page 61 - Journeys Through Society-7

The Marathas and put him under house arrest. He was able to escape
The Marathas’ Empire also referred to as the Maratha
confederacy was an early modern Indian empire and
later a confederation that rose to dominate much of
the Indian subcontinent in the 18th century. An
important chieftain of the Bhonsle clan was Shahji, a
high official in the Bijapur kingdom. He brought the
Marathas into prominence by establishing their hold
over the Deccan region.
Shivaji
The Marathas became prominent under the rule of
Shivaji. Though Shahji can be termed as the founder of
the confederacy, the credit of carving out a separate
empire for the Marathas goes to his son, Shivaji. Born
in 1627, Shivaji grew up to be fearless warrior under
the influence of his mother Jijabai, who brought him
up by narrating stories of brave men and encouraged
him to take pride in the Maratha culture.
Shivaji wanted to make the
Maratha empire powerful.
He is known for the
guerilla warfare by which
surprise attacks were
made on the enemy. This
unique technique gave
them considerable
advantage over their
adversaries, the Mughals
and the Sultans of Bijapur,
with whom he was to fight Shivaji
a long innings.
Very soon Shivaji started attacking the territories of
Aurangzeb. Shaista Khan, the governor of Bengal, was
sent by Aurangzeb. The Marathaas attacked Shaista
Khan at night and killed him.
In 1664, Shivaji attacked Surat which was a part of the
Mughal empire. Raja jai Singh was sent to attack
Shivaji, and in this battle Shivaji was defeated and
signed the treaty of Purandar in 1665.
According to the treaty, Shivaji was to accept Mughal
overlordship. He was to surrender 23 forts to
Aurangzeb and meet the emperor at his court. When
Shivaji went to meet Aurangzeb to honour the
agreement, but the Mughal emperor humiliated him
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secretly.
Shivaji crowned himself Chhatrapati or the sovereign
ruler in Raigad in 1674. He overran the Deccan,
capturing Ginjee and Vellore in southern India, the
Kopal and Bellary below Kaveri in Karnataka. He died
in 1680 leaving behind a powerful kingdom.
Shivaji’s Administration
Shivaji developed a fairly effective, political, military
and financial administrative system. Shivaji ruled his
kingdom with the help of a council of ministers called
the Ashtapradhan, or the important eight. The most
important of them were the Peshwa or the prime
minister and the Senapati, the commander-in-chief of
the army.
The main source of revenue for the Maratha
administration was the land revenue. The revenue
collected was divided into two categories. One, the
revenue collected from the territories directly ruled by
him which amounted to 2/5 of the land’s produce.
Two, Shivaji also charged taxes, chauth and
sardeshmukhi, from other rulers of south India.
Chauth was 1/4 of the land revenue to be paid by the
rulers and was paid to ensure that the Marathas would
not raid their territories.
Sardeshmukhi was another additional tax which
amounted to 1/10 of the produce.
Shivaji’s Army
Shivaji’s army comprised infantry, cavalry and also a
navy. The army was well-disciplined and well-trained.
Shivaji greatly motivated his army and salaries were
paid in cash. Shivaji followed a guerilla mode of
warfare which meant attacking the enemy suddenly at
lightning speed.
Sikhs
The relations between the Sikhs and the Mughals
started becoming sour when the former supported
the rebellion of Khusrau. In retaliation, Jahangir put
Guru Arjun Dev to death. Later, during Aurzngzeb’s
reign, Guru Tegh Bahadur was executed. This
antagonised the Sikhs who now organised themselves
into a military group called Khalsa under Guru Gobind
Singh in 1699. He led the Sikhs into many fierce
battles.