1
Summary
Modern Indian History Class 06

Maratha administration (5:07 PM)

  • Maratha's empire was divided into Swarajya and Samrajya.
  • After Shau, Peshwa became the effective ruler as Sahu delegated too much power to the Peshwa.
  • Shau had an adopted son.
  • A treaty formally gave effective power to Peshwa.
  • Peshwas' capital was in Poona and his secretariate was called Hazur Daftar.
  • There existed a system of checks and balances on the governor as Deshmukh/revenue collectors had dual reporting to the governor as well the Peshwa.
  • Therefore enabling Peshwa to verify Books of accounts submitted by the governor.
  • Samrajya was territory outside Maharastra brought into the Maratha empire by Maratha Sardars.
  • Therefore was controlled by Maratha Sardars who ruled Samrajya autonomously.
  • However, they did not set up effective rules on the ground in the whole of Samarajya.
  • Peshwa had a council of 12 ministers.
  • Swaraj was divided into Sarkars/provinces and the office of governor was auctioned.
  • Patil/ village headman and Deshmukh/Revenue collectors had Vatan rights.
  • Patils were responsible for executive, Police, judicial, and revenue functions at the village level.
  • Therefore the concentration of power in Patil.
  • Sources of revenue were Land revenue and taxes on trade, license fees, and Judicial proceeds in form of Nazrana from the Victorious party and Jurmana from the losing party.
  • Further to increase revenue and peasant welfare, dams and canals were built and loans were given at cheap interest rates.
  • Also, there was effective supervision of revenue collectors so they do not oppress peasants.
  • Maratha Judiciary:
  • A clear hierarchy existed from the village panchayat up to the Peshwa and the final decision was of Peshwa.
  • However, as far as possible he respected the decision of village panchayats.
  • Ancient religious texts acted as laws example Dharmashastra.
  • There was a rule of law as even the highest authorities and men of money were punished.
  • Policing was as effective as the London police with a very good network of information collection and existed a rule of law:
  • Maratha Military:
  • The major force was horse mounted army with a focus on light cavalry, which was important for Maratha's guerrilla warfare tactics.
  • Which was a highly effective strategy of surprising the enemy with a swift attack, therefore creating shock and awe.
  • The navy was modernized with the help of the french(in exchange for money and Britain-France rivalry).
  • Why Marathas could not establish an all-Indian empire?
  • The rise of the Peshwa at expense of Chhatrapati increased the chances of fractionation in Martha Polity as strong Maratha Sardars asserted their autonomy more against the Peshwa.
  • The 3rd Battle of Panipat weakened the central authority of Peshwa as Marathas lost important leaders and now young and inexperienced Peshwas came to power, therefore increasing factionalism 
  • Succession disputes increased factionalism. 
  • Raghunath Rao got Narayan Rao killed in a conspiracy and then he was himself overthrown in Barbhai Conspiracy by Nana Fadnavis(an important minister in Peshwa's council).
  • Fractionalsim led to British interference in Martha's polity, for example:
  • the 1st Anglo-Maratha war began when Raghunath Rao went to EIC in Bombay for military help to regain Peshwaship.
  • Later the 2nd Anglo-Maratha war began when Baji Rao-II signed a Subsidiary alliance with EIC to regain Peshwaship after he was defeated and removed by Holkar of Indore in 1802.
  • Power could not be properly centralized as Maratha Sardars always stayed autonomous within the Maratha empire.
  • With Swarajya also local assemblies of Vatan right holders exerted influence and pressure on Peshwa, therefore Maratha empire was a confederacy where power was shared between Peshwa and Maratha Sardars and proper centralized rule didn't exist.
  • In Samrajya, not all areas were brought under effective rule by Maratha Sardars and the focus outside Maharathra was limited to extracting Chaut and Sardeshmukhi.
  • Therefore Marathas establishing central rule over the whole of India was a distant milestone, especially after the 3rd Battle of Panipat.

Sikh state (7:06 PM)

  • Guru Nanak dev Ji set up a Sikh Panth around the 16th century and was a contemporary of Babur.
  • Mughals began having problems with the Sikh community and they demanded political autonomy.
  • 9th Guru Teg bahadur was executed in Delhi in 1685.
  • Sikhs wanted to establish their state in and around Anantpur in Shivalik Foothills which was under the Shivalik hill chief.
  • After this 10th Guru Govind Singh set up a brotherhood of Khalsa in 1699, A military organization to defend Sikh Panth from the Mughals and to achieve the goal of the Sikh state.
  • The Sikh community was dominated by Khatris(traders and Sikh gurus who came from this community) and Jats(peasants who had a military culture and dominated the Khalsa army whose influence increased).
  • Thus it was decided there won't be an 11th Guru and authority would lay in Guru Granth Saheb to bring parity between the two communities.
  • In 1707 after the death of Aurangzeb, Bhadur Shah agreed to give Anantpur but then again allied with Shivalik hill chiefs.
  • In 1708 Guru Govind Singh was murdered in a conspiracy
  • Now Banda Bahadur continued the rebellion and was able to set up his rule in and around Patiala.
  • By 1715, he got defeated as Khatri traders turned against him as trade was getting hurt due to law and order instability due to war, some Hindu Jat Zamindars like Churaman Jat switched sides and allied with Mughals.
  • Jahandar Shah and Farruksiyar deployed divide-and-rule tactics.
  • Jahandar Shah introduced the Izaradari system in Punjab and this attracted Khatri traders as being an Izaradatr was financially lucrative.
  • Jahandar Shah and Farruksiyar gave Mansabs to Khatri traders who were now allied with the Mughals.
  • By 1715, Banda Bahadur was defeated and executed in 1716.
  • Rule of Misls:
  • After 1715, the Sikh state did not come to an end as the Mughal empire was weak.
  • Now power got decentralized among misls and a horizontal structure of polity/ confederation came into existence.
  • Misls were kinship-based clans headed by misls chief.
  • In 1770, there were 60 misls in Punjab with Dal Khalsa at the head with a chosen leader.
  • Misls got united at the time of war, for example during the 1st afghan, 2nd Afghan, and 3rd Afghan invasions.
  • After defeating the 3rd Afgan invasion of Jaman shah, there was the rise of Rajit Singh of Sukerchakia Misl, who established dominance over other misls and set himself as maharaja of the Sikh state in 1801.
  • In 1801, he conquered Lahore, and in 1809 conquered 5 doabs and later conquered Multan and Kashmir by removing Afghans.
  • Even EIC recognized him as a sovereign ruler of Punjab Under the Treaty of Amritsar and a military alliance under the treaty.
  • Features of the rule of Ranjit Singh:
  • Trade got boosted and there was law and order stability.
  • Financial power state as 60 % of the land was royal land.
  • Ranjit Singh maintained the balance of power in court between the Khalsa army commander and Khatri traders, misls chiefs, and Dogras of Jammu.
  • He had an inclusive attitude towards non-Khalsa Sikhs, therefore was culturally magnanimous 
  • The autonomy of villages was respected.

The topic of the next class: Jat kingdom