It was during the last decade of the seventeenth century that the centralised administration of the Maratha kingdom splintered. To obtain the help of various Sardars, Saranjams (benefices, derived from a Persian word meaning any apparatus needed to start an undertaking) were farmed out to them. The Saranjam in the Maratha context was an allotment of land from the revenue based on which, troops were to be maintained and sent whenever needed for a campaign. The Saranjam was obtained on the payment of a Nazar (offering), after which an order was passed allotting it to the Sardar. Once allotted it became exceedingly difficult to enforce the other conditions of payment of revenue and maintenance of an adequate army. Over time, this practice spread through the kingdom, and the weak king became dependent on his Sardars.
The scenario was exactly opposite to old Swarajya at the beginning of the Peshwai reign. Originally, when Shahu arrived in Maharashtra, there was a huge need for funds. For this, he had to bring in Balaji Vishwanath. Shahu’s initial assistants had more moneylenders than soldiers. The Peshwa family too formed matrimonial alliances with moneylending families from the beginning till the end. The primary reason to establish lasting relationships with Brahmendra Swami, Patankars, Hingne, Chaskars etc. was money. In Bajirao’s campaigns, the only Mantra in his and his brother’s mind used to be, repayment of the Swami’s (Shahu) debts. Finally, both Bajirao and Shahu died neck deep in debt. After this, Nanasaheb somehow engineered some flow of funds to be directed from the Carnatic and the north Hindustan towards Pune. However, only through the activities related to earning more money, Jayappa, Jankoji and Dattaji Shinde had to sacrifice their lives. Some funds were indeed gathered. But those too were spent at Panipat and again Madhavrao and Raghunathrao died under a mountain of debt. Haripant (Fadke) and Parashuram Bhau (Patwardhan) used to be constantly nagged by the protests amongst their soldiers. In summary, all of the Maratha bravery and wisdom was wasted in running behind money. People like Gangadhar Yashwant, Chinto Vitthal began a spree of amassing huge amount of personal wealth pushing the Confederacy in perennial debts. Such stewards would raise internal disputes on the strength of their personal wealth. Due to this, senior Madhavrao was never in favour of this practice of allowing them to amass personal wealth. He confiscated all the property of Gangadhar Yashwant under the threat of thrashing. But this minister later became a headache for Bajirao II. Daulatrao Shinde, Yashwantrao Holkar, even Bajirao II himself began such an expansive campaign to prey on the funds amassed by these officials, Seths, moneylenders and common people, that there was no surety of life and property left for anybody. This decline during the reign of Bajirao II was so oppressive, that people began feeling like the foreign rule of the British was a Godsend. Nine-tenths of the whole literature during the reign of Bajirao II is filled with the stories of such plunder. Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj did produce funds, but for that he never denuded his own subjects. He earned money with the aim of welfare of his subjects. But this policy took a back seat during the later Peshwai. The Peshwas never adopted a policy of open debts without extorting money from the subjects through oppression.
Actually, Balaji Vishwanath raised funds through huge efforts and established Shahu’s control everywhere. To repay these debts, he took it upon himself the political moves at Delhi through the Sayyed brothers. Even those political moves did not yield many benefits. But, Bajirao had to adopt a policy of campaigning in the Mughal realms to free that hand from under the mountain of debts. In this act, he was opposed vehemently by the Nizam. Due to that, he had to raise his weapons against the Nizam. This way, this whole enterprise to engage in the second adventure to allay the difficulty arising from the first one, to engage in a third one to remove the problems arising from the second one, continued on like the sliding slope that is similar to the activities of a bankrupt businessman. The Carnatic campaign of 1726 was carried out for funds. Most of the campaigns and activities that Bajirao and Nanasaheb engaged in were taken up only for generating funds. The campaign against Janjira, and the two other affairs of Angre and Vasai, those arose from this initial campaign, had not purely begun only for funds. Balaji Vishwanath’s project was continued further by Bajirao and Chimaji Appa. Nanasaheb further carried on with these policies. Nana got all his Sardars to agree on pledges to take part in the share of the overall debt owed by the kingdom through written agreements. Only Shindes wholeheartedly toiled hard to fulfil their promises. They even laid down their lives in the adventures associated with that effort. The oaths of others mostly remained on paper. Malharrao Holkar alone did not get ensnared in these difficulties associated with the funds. He was very clever and intelligent. He would only take up some adventure which he would be able to bear. Therefore, the money he amassed came in handy for Ahilyabai’s charity. Madhavrao Peshwa was not even able to quit his life due to mounting debts.
To be continued…
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