Sardeshmukhi was the private Watan-right of the Bhosale family. So, ten percent of the collected revenues were wholly given to the master of the throne. It was decided, that nobody would have a claim upon that part of the revenue. The Maratha kingdom’s revenue was the Swarajya revenue plus the Chauth revenue collections from the Mughal Subas. Out of this total revenue, one-fourth was to be given to the king for ‘Rajbabti’ (imperial expenses). The remaining three-fourths, i.e. seventy-five percent were to be kept separate by the name ‘Mokasa’ for other expenses. Two parts from this Mokasa named, ‘Sahotra’ and ‘Nadgowda’, were kept aside for the king to be dispensed to anybody as per his wishes. Sahotra was six percent of the overall revenue, while Nadgowda was three percent of the same. Of these two finalised items, Shahu granted the ‘Sahotra’ portion of the revenue to the Sachiv official. It was decided that the Sachiv should himself ensure collection of this portion of the revenue from the regions. Shahu would grant the ‘Nadgowda’ item to anybody whom he felt like at different times. Removing nine percent parts of these two items and the initial 25 items pertaining to Rajbabti, amounting together to 34 percent of the total revenue, 66 percent of the total revenue was the remaining Mokasa that was left behind. It was decided, that this portion was to be distributed amongst different Sardars as Jagirs.
Different regions were distributed amongst various Maratha Sardars for such revenue collection campaigns. The king’s chief military contingent used to be under the Peshwa’s and Commander-in-Chief’s control. They had Shahu’s standing orders, to secure the regions by quickly campaigning to wherever needed. Besides, the Peshwa was to roam around in some regions around Khandesh and Balaghat, while the Commander-in-Chief was to collect revenue from the Baglan and Gujarat provinces. Senasahebsuba Kanhoji Bhosale was to live between the Berar-Painghat region and the region to the east of Gondwana, and Sarlashkar was to keep himself engaged in the region on the banks of the Godavari, and around Aurangabad. Fatehsingh Bhosale was to remain around the Carnatic, while the Pratinidhi was to manage the region between the Neera and Warana rivers, and towards Hyderabad and Bidar. Chitnis and Angre were to work in Konkan, and Pantsachiv would manage his own previous Jagir in addition to collection of ‘Sahotra’ from elsewhere. This was the general distribution of responsibilities that Shahu put in place amongst his chief Sardars. At this time itself, there was a strict instruction to everybody, that nobody should act in someone else’s province. The main objective of these campaigns was collection of the Chauth revenues from all the provinces. Of course, it had been decided that every Sardar would present the accounts of their own campaigns in front of the government. Even though, the revenues of the individual Jagirs had to be generated by everyone individually, since most of the Sardars were given the responsibilities pertaining to Rajbabti, Nadgowda, Sahotra etc. in each other’s provinces, their practices did not become disjoint. They had to maintain their own forces for their activities. They would engage in campaigns, would collect the taxes and bring them back, only then they would be able to sustain the expenses of their household and forces. This meant, they sometimes had to spend first, and then the income would arrive later. The remaining 66 percent income which had been awarded to the Jagirdars, would not get deposited in the government treasury, but would have to be collected by the Sardars, and they had to take care of their own expenses from it. However, they had to send the Sardeshmukhi income to the king. Shahu appointed Nayab or Ajahat Sardeshmukhs (representative working on his behalf) at various places to collect that income. But, one single fixed arrangement for the revenue collection did not take shape for permanence. Persons and situations went on changing, based on which, various Peshwas and stewards decided different arrangements as per the situation of the time, and ensured sustainability. Since confirmed information, that such-and-such change was implemented for such-and-such reason, is not available today; due to which, we can only get a high-level summary information about the arrangement. For example, there were agreements in place with many of the Sardars that one fixed amount would be deposited on their behalf in the government treasury.
To be continued…
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