Complete Medieval History | Maratha Administration | LEC 40 | Indian History | StudyIQ IAS English

Hello everyone. Hi, this is Alok Ojha. Welcome to Study IQIS English. By now, we have seen different aspects of the Maratha Empire. How did Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj ji come to power? How was Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj ji being succeeded by his son, Chhatrapati Shambhaji Maharaj, also referred as Shambhuraje or Chhava. Chhava, which is a Marathi word, which basically means a lion's cub. We had also seen how Shambhuraje or Shambhaji Maharaj was being executed by Aurangzeb, which is also referred in the books of history as Battle of Sangameshwar. In today's short video, we are going to throw light on the administration of the Marathas. Who were Ashtapradhan? What was the role played by Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj ji in creating, specifically the Ashtapradhan? What was the role of different ministers, precisely the Peshwas, who are also referred as the Prime Ministers in the coming Maratha years? So, in this short video, we are going to focus upon the administration of Shivaji Maharaj and precisely about the administration of the Marathas. Like we had discussed in quite depth and detail about Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj ji's coronation. As I have told you, Chhatrapati Shivaji Raje, he had killed Afzal Khan. After that, Aurangzeb, who is also referred as Alamgir, started taking him seriously. And he had dispatched Shahistakhan, who was also maternal uncle of Alamgir Aurangzeb, to contain Shivaji in the region of Deccan. Shahistakhan arrived with Kartalab Khan, one of the able military commanders. But in that case, he was also unsuccessful and again went back. Finally, Aurangzeb dispatched Mirza Raje Jai Singh, who was successful in coming to treaty with Shivaji Maharaj. And the treaty was Treaty of Purandar. As per the treaty, Shivaji Raje had to submit approximately 23 out of 35 forts to Aurangzeb. Apart from this, he also had to pay 4 lakh gold Hunas. Then specifically, Shivaji Maharaj ji and Shambhaji Maharaj was taken into captivation, precisely taken into house arrest in the region of Agra. And this was nothing but a planned move by Aurangzeb. After this, there was escape of Shivaji Maharaj and Shambhaji Maharaj from the region of Agra. He escaped to the region of Mathura, then to the region of Prayagraj, that is Allahabad. And finally, he started regaining the lost forts by conquering them. Finally, Shivaji Maharaj ji was coronated in 1674 and was referred as Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj and Hindui Dharmodharak, protector of Hinduism. The coronation took place at the fort of Raigad. And finally, it is believed that a Brahmin from Banaras, he held the coronation ceremony, whose name was Vishweshwar Ganga Rao Bhatt. Unfortunately, Shivaji Maharaj ji died at the age of 52 to 53 in 1680. And at that time, there was a different political situation. As discussed previously, Shivaji Maharaj ji had two wives, Saibai and Soerabai. I will explain that again in short, so that the aspirants, those who are listening to my video for the first time, they can easily correlate the things that we have studied previously. And secondly, it would be a kind of revision for the aspirants, those who have already watched the video of Chhava. Okay. So, just listen to me. Just give me a second. Okay. So, my friends, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj ji had two wives, Saibai and Soerabai. Shambhaji Raje, also referred as Shambhu Raje, was the son of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj and Saibai. On the other hand, Raja Ram was the son of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj ji and Soerabai. In very simple words, Soerabai, she was the stepmother of Shambhu Raje, also referred as Chhatrapati Shambhaji Maharaj. Now, it is said that Chhatrapati Shambhaji Maharaj, specifically, his mother passed away approximately around 1650-1660. 1659-1660. And he was being nurtured and raised by his grandmother Chizabai, mother of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. Now, in 1680, when Shivaji Raje passed away, what happened? In the fort of Panhala, like specifically, which is also referred as the fort of snakes, because of its zigzag nature, Shambhaji Maharaj was taken into captivation by whom? Soerabai and Annaji Datto, who was one of the ministers. And they put on the throne Raja Ram, who was a minor, just 10 years old. Somehow, Shambhu Raje, also referred as Chhatrapati Shambhaji Maharaj, he escaped from the fort and he imprisoned all of them. Finally, it is said that Annaji Datto was being executed. We have studied in depth and detail about the different battles, that is siege of Burhanpur, the siege of Konkan, the siege or battle of Vai, in which Hambirao Mohiteji, one of the trusted and the loyal aides of Shambhaji Maharaj, passed away. And finally, battle of Sangameshwar, wherein the Chhava or the lion took his last breath. Correct? So, here our focus point specifically is the administration of the Marathas. In past 5 to 7 minutes, I have discussed about what we have discussed previously. Clear? Now, Shivaji Maharaj's dominion was divided into two parts. One was Swaraj, the own kingdom, also referred as Mulk-e-Qadim. These are the territories of the Marathas. If you remember, the Mughal administration, if you remember specifically the administration of the Delhi Sultanate, what we had discussed? At the apex of the administration was a Sultan. At the apex of the administration was the Emperor. And he was assisted in performance of his duties by Council of Ministers, referred as Majlis-e-Khalwat. Let me give a small example about the Mughals. Like there was something called as Mir Bakshi, then Diwan-e-Kul, Qazi, and so on. These were the ministers who assisted, who, what we say, helped the king in performance of his duties. True? Now, further, the entire administration was divided into smaller provinces, referred as Suba, headed by Subedar. It was further divided into districts. Correct? Referred as Sarkar, headed by specifically Amalguzar. Okay? Amalguzar and specifically Kanungod, he used to take care, sorry, Shikadar and Amalguzar. Then comes specifically Pargana, sub-district. And finally comes the grassroot level administration, Mawza, village. Same thing here. Like specifically, if you observe the Maratha administration, the Ashtapradhan system probably might be the brainchild of Shivaji Maharaj. The genesis of the Ashtapradhan goes back to Malik Ambar and his reforms. So, this was a system that was being adopted from the Deccan Sultanate. So, although in a modified format, but majorly the genesis of Ashtapradhan goes back to the reforms of Malik Ambar and the Deccan Sultans. Okay? Now, king was assisted in performance of his duties by eight important ministers. Okay? Important means Pradhan. Eight means Asht. So, eight important ministers. The first one being Peshwa. Peshwa, he was in general head of all the ministers in very simple words. If you remember the ancient India, we had studied about the Mauryan Empire. We had studied about the Gupta administration. In Mauryas, what did we see? The king was assisted in performance of his duties by council of ministers referred as Mantri Parishad. The entire Mantri Parishad was being headed by Pradhan Mantri or Mantri Parishad Adhyaksha. True? Same in the Delhi Sultanate. Sultan was assisted in performance of his duties by council of ministers referred as Majlis-e-Khalwat. And Majlis-e-Khalwat was being headed by a prime minister referred as Naib. In similar fashion, similar manner, Peshwa also called as Pant Pradhan. Okay? He looked after the in general administration and one can assume him as the head of Asht Pradhan. He was quite close to the king. And in the coming years, Peshwa became a very important office. Precisely from the time of Chhatrapati Shahu Maharaj. Okay? And one of the finest Peshwa was Peshwa Bajirao. You might have heard about the movie Bajirao Mastani. Correct? It is believed that Peshwa Bajirao ji, he had fought more than 118 battles in his life. And he was successful in every battle that he fought. Why? He focused on a technique which is referred as Blitzkrieg technique. Fast moving cavalry, attack, destroy and come back. And hence Peshwa Bajirao was successful. So Peshwa became a very important office of the Marathas in the coming years. Now, after Peshwas, another important one are Sar-e-Nawbat or Senapati, the head of military department or the head of the defense department. Amatya or Mazumdar, he was the accountant general who took care of the finances. Similarly, we have studied about the Mughal administration. We have studied about the post of Diwan. So here it was Amatya or Mazumdar who took care of the finances. So he was accountant general. Surnavis, he was a general secretary also referred as Sachiv or Chitnis. Then Sumant or Dabir, he was considered as the master of ceremonies and foreign affairs. My friends, you have to remember these names. Sometimes there could be a question in the UPSC examination in the form of match the following. On one hand would be the designation of the Maratha officers. On the other hand would be their post specific. These are related too. So you have to remember them. So it is Dabir who is master of ceremonies. Nyayadheesh or Mahadanda Nayak was chief justice and Pandit Rao who was responsible for holding the religious ceremonies. Every one of them participated in the battles except two. Nyayadheesh, the chief justice and Pandit Rao who was concerned with the religious affairs. Hope you understood the system of Ashtapradhan. Clear? Let's move forward. Now before I explain the provincial administration, let me come to this chart for easier understanding of the concept. Same thing my friends. Mughals we had at the top, Suba. Suba into Sarkar. Sarkar into Pargana. Pargana into Mausa. Same thing here. At the apex of the administration was Chhatrapati. He was assisted in performance of his duties by eight important ministers referred as Ashtapradhan. Now the entire Maratha administration was divided into different provinces. And these provinces were referred as Pranth. And Pranth were headed by Subedar. Supervised by Sar Subedar. It was further divided into district which is referred as Tarf. And Tarf was headed by Havaldar. His important duty was to maintain law and order. Further divided into sub-district also referred as Pargana. And the two important officers at the level of Pargana were Deshmukh and Deshpande. The responsibility of Deshmukh was to maintain law and order. And the responsibility of Deshpande was revenue collection. Maintenance of the accounts. Remember Mughal administration, Kanungo. Same here. Mausa or village was a grassroot, like it was a basic unit of the administration. And the two important officers responsible for maintaining revenue collection and law and order were Patil and Kulkarni. Patil, maintenance of law and order. Kulkarni, revenue collection. Clear? My friends, please do not get confused. These are the terminologies which are important from the perspective of examination. Everything has been explained as a part of PDF or PPT, which I will be uploading on my telegram channel history underscore alok ojha. Okay. So, I will repeat the points again in short for easier understanding of the concept. Apex of the administration, King, Chhatrapati, assisted in performance of his duties by Ashtapradhan, headed by Peshwa, also referred as Pantapradhan. Administration was further divided into different aspects, like provinces were referred as Pranth, headed by Subedar, inspected by Sir Subedar. There was also the post of, yes, there was also the post of Kamvisdhar. And Kamvisdhar were equivalent to modern-day district collector. Okay. Coming back, it was further divided into Tarf. Tarf means district. And Havaldar was responsible for maintaining the law and order in the district. He was also assisted by another important officer, referred as Kotwal. Okay. Further, sub-district, taluka, town, or tehsil, referred as Pargana. Two important officers, Deshmukh and Deshpande. Responsibility of Deshmukh was maintenance of law and order. Responsibility of Deshpande was revenue collection. Coming back to the cross-route level administration, basic unit of the administration was village. Village was referred as Moza. Moza, there were two important officers, Patil and Kulkarni. Responsibility of Patil was maintenance of law and order. On the other hand, the responsibility of the Kulkarni was maintaining, what we say, accounts. Okay. Or revenue collection. Clear? Let's move ahead. Everything I have mentioned as a part of the flowchart, as a part of the PDF or PPT, every role has been mentioned. Kulkarni, Patil, Deshpande, Deshmukh, Havaldar, and Karkoon. Okay. Now, who are Karkoon? Karkoons, like sometimes what happens? Sometimes the Patils, the Deshpande, Deshmukh, they can fall prey to corruption. In such cases, at the grassroot level, the accounts was being managed by Karkoon. That is the account in general. During the time of Shirshasuri as well, there were Karkoons. Karkoons actually used to maintain the accounts. Okay. Everything I have mentioned here. Now, let's speak about the defence system in short. Marathas, they maintained proper defence system. Like there was infantry, cavalry, and the navy. Okay. Like specifically speaking, infantry was referred as Pag. And there were marvellous soldiers who were majorly expert in guerrilla warfare techniques. As soon as the word marvellous soldiers comes into picture, one story strikes my mind. And the story is related to Tanhaji the fort of Kondhana. You might have seen the movie that is Tanhaji. I will tell you a short story about this. Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Ji, he had approximately around more than 200 forts, more than 200 forts. And the Maratha flag, it rose on the every fort, except one, the fort of Kondhana. Even after Raji's, simple words, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj's coronation, there was still the flag of Mughal Sultanate on the Kondhana fort. Every other fort had been conquered except the Kondhana. So, once upon a time, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Ji was sitting in the Raigad fort along with his Ashtapradhan, 8 important ministers and discussing an issue of quite importance. Immediately, a person came running to Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Ji and said, Raji, mother Jeezabai is calling you. He goes there. And mother Jeezabai, she says that, let's play Chauras. It's kind of a game like Ludo. So, Shivaji Maharaj Ji was like, I was busy with some important work. But let's see, my mother is trying to say me something. He started playing. He purposely lost the game. And he said, yes, mother, please let me know what you want. She said, I want the fort that you can see. Still on that fort, I am seeing the Mughal flag, the flag of Mughal Sultanate. I want the flag of Marathas on that fort. Shivaji Maharaj thought for a while. He immediately called one of his messengers and told him, please go and call Tanaji Malusare. He goes running. And he also instructed him, ask Tanaji Malusare to come with few soldiers. Tanaji Malusare, at that time, the engagement or the wedding ceremony of his son was taking place. Rather than saying wedding ceremony, it was an engagement ceremony. Immediately with approximately 200 to 300 soldiers, Tanaji Malusare, who was also a marvellous soldier, expert in guerrilla warfare technique, he started marching towards Raigad. Because his friend, childhood friend, Shivaji Raji had called him. He was accompanied by his maternal uncle, whose name was Shailar Mama. So at that time, when all of them were going, Shailar Mama, he saw a bird, which is referred as copper smith. In Marathi, it is referred as Tambat Pakshi. Okay. As soon as he saw that bird, that bird is considered as a bird of a bad omen. So he said, we'll drop the plan. But Tanaji Malusare was like, my friend has called me. And probably he might be in certain need, hence he has called me. So it's my duty, it's my responsibility to assist my friend now. Tanaji Malusare reaches the fort of Raigad. He meets Shivaji Maharaj. He meets Jejabai and pays respect to her. Finally, he was being told about the goal of capturing the fort of Kumbh Dhana. At that time, Shivaji Maharaj, he comes to know about one thing, that Tanaji Malusare, he has left though, he has left the engagement of his son and he has come. Okay. So he has asked, what about the engagement of your son? So he gave a very simple reply. First thing that is important for me is Swarajya. He along with 300 to 400 soldiers start moving towards the Kumbh Dhana fort. At that time, it is said that, like he took the attire of a local villagers and he just came at the bottom of the fort and said specifically to the palace guards and the guards at the fort that we are villagers and we are going to a distant place. A tiger has attacked our, what we say, fellow men and he had got severely injured. We want a rest place for two to three days and after that we will move on. So initially he denied, but he was given opium, aphene and he was given a lot of gold coins. He allowed. The fort of Kumbh Dhana was being guarded by a beast. Beast means, it is not the actual beast, but the personality who was guarding the, what we say, the fort. He had a personality like a beast. His name was, yes, Uday Bhan Singh. Now Uday Bhan Singh, like he met Tanaji Malusare and he did not knew that he is a marvellous soldier. He just knew that he is a nearby villager. So both of them developed cordial relations. One fine day, it was the birthday of Aurangzeb and how did Tanaji Malusare come to know about this? Tanaji Malusare come to know about this because lot of opium and alcohol was coming into the fort. This was the best opportunity to strike against the Mughal army and acquire the fort of Kumbh Dhana. But the problem was, if you observe the structure of the fort of Kumbh Dhana, here majorly you will find a sloping structure and it's a steep slope. Obviously, Uday Bhan Singh, he knew that if enemy will attack, majorly he will try from this reason because this is nothing but a steep slope and enemy won't try. Tanaji Malusare chose this path. It is said that they had a lizard also referred as Bengal monitor lizard, which was referred as Yashwanti. It can stick to any surface and it can carry weight approximately two to three quintals on its back. With the help of Yashwanti, Bengal monitor lizard, three to four hundred soldiers, Mablin soldiers, they reached the fort of Kumbh Dhana and they started fighting with the Mughals. By that time, Uday Bhan Singh was heavily intoxicated. He sent his military commanders, all of them died. The military commander sent his six sons, all of them died. Uday Bhan Singh sent his few sons, all of them died. Finally, Uday Bhan Singh had to come on the battlefield in a completely intoxicated state. Uday Bhan Singh came and Uday Bhan Singh directly hit on the left hand of Tanaji, which got ripped, which got cut. But Tanaji Malusare fought bravely. Finally, Uday Bhan Singh passed away. The next morning, from the fort, there were cries of Har Har Mahadev. And at that time, it is believed that Kshatrapati Shivaji Maharaj came and certain words fell from his mouth. And the words were like in Marathi, in very simple language, we have got the fort, but we have lost the lion. So this was a story of the fort of Kumbh Dhana and the bravery of the Mablin soldiers, precisely Tanaji Malusare. Coming back to the cavalry part, it is divided into two parts, Bargir and Silhadars. Hope the story was interesting, guys. We will move a bit faster now. Bargir and Silhadar. Bargirs are the cavalrymen who are maintained and equipped by the state. Majority of the soldiers were paid in cash. Some of them were given jagirs. Precisely, the higher ranking officers were given jagirs. Lowest officer of the cavalry was Naik. So, head of five Naik was Havaldar. So, Bargir maintained and equipped by the state. Silhadar are the number of cavalrymen maintained by the nobles. Clear? Let's speak about the navy. Like the Cholas, Marathas also had a very efficient naval system. Like we had studied about the Cholas in the short video, if you remember. I have talked about the Cholas navy. Precisely, we have spoken about the ships such as Dharni which are referred as destroyers. Then frigates such as Vajra, Thirisadai, Lula. These are the kinds of ships that were being deployed by the Cholas. Similarly, here as a part of the navels, there were gunboats which were referred as Ghorab. And Galivati or Galivat. These were the boats which had two masts and 40 to 50 and driven by 40 to 50 oars. And the naval system was majorly led by the seafearers such as the Koli community. So, this was majorly the part of the defence system. Apart from this, as I have told you, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj focused majorly on forts. Correct? Recently, I guess in the month of July, there were many forts which were brought under UNESCO World Heritage Site list. I will give you some of the examples of them. Maratha military landscapes were divided into 3 to 4 parts. See, 12 forts were there in Maharashtra majorly which have been brought under the UNESCO. And one fort is located in Tamil Nadu. That is the fort of Jinji. Now, these forts are particularly divided into different parts such as first is hill fort which includes Salher which is located in Nasik, Shivneri, Lohagad, Rajgad, Raigad and Jinji which is located in Tamil Nadu. Then comes hill forest fort, the fort of Pratapgarh. Then hill plateau fort, the fort of Panhala. Just I gave the example of Panhala which is also called as the fort of snakes because of its zigzag character. Okay? Coastal forts, Vijaydurga, island fort Khanderi located near Alibaug, Suvarnadurg and Sindhudurg. Okay? So, these are the important Maratha military landscapes which have been brought under UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Secondly, 4 of them are managed by Directorate of Archaeology and Museums Government of Maharashtra. This includes the Salher, Rajgad, Pratapgarh and Khanderi. The rest are managed by ESI, Archaeological Survey of India. Clear? Hope you understood the defence system of the Marathas. Hope the points are clear my friends. Moving ahead, everything I have mentioned as a part of the PDF or the PPT. Now, let's speak about all the offices. See, Galiwat, rowing boats, 40 to 50 rowers, pike, the foot soldiers. Okay? Senapati, also referred as Sarnobat. Okay? Havaldar, head of the five naiks, as I have told you. Naik, the smallest unit of the infantry. Every terminology has been mentioned here. Now, let's speak about the revenue system. If I speak about the judicial administration, as I have told you, the final source of justice was the king. Although there was a position of Nyayadhish, the chief justice or Mahadand Nayak, but still the final source of justice was the Maratha chief or the, specifically whom? The Chhatrapati. Revenue administration, you might have heard about two important systems and that is Chhoth and Sardeshmukhi. Chhoth basically means these were the, like for example, these, specifically these, if they wanted to avoid the Maratha raid and Sardeshmukhi was additional levy of 10% on the lands on which Marathas claimed hereditary rights. Okay. Small example. Suppose my kingdom is located in southern part of Deccan, which is not the part of Marathas. And if I want to protect my kingdom from the Maratha raids, I need to pay 25%, one fourth of my revenue as an annual tax to the Marathas. Very simple words. Okay. So Chhoth means if I have to protect my kingdom from the Maratha raids, I have to pay annual tax. Secondly, Sardeshmukhi additional levy of 10% on which, on the lands on which Marathas claimed hereditary rights. Like the script that was being deployed by Marathas on their coins, such as Shivarai hone coins were referred as Modi script. Hope the point is clear. This was nothing but the basic administration of the Marathas, wherein I have tried to cover the important forts, the Asht Pradhan, the provincial administration and the administration at the grassroots level. So this was just the basic part of the Marathas administration. Hope so, my friends, the point is quite clear. From 12th of September 2025, okay, there would be prize hike on all the courses of studyIQ. It's not just about the UPSC, all the courses, rather it'd be UPSC, the optional, the GS papers, the state PSC or the judiciary. There would be prize hike from 12th of September. So you can visit the website of studyIQ and there in the English section, you can go through all the courses. Okay, the batches for 2026, 27 and 28. In that case, specifically, what are the features of these batches? 1000 plus live and recorded classes, focus on answer writing skills. And the most important one, all the batches are completely in English medium, which will cater to the needs of students from Northeastern India and Southern India. And in such a case, if you're interested in any of the courses, you can use the code that is flashing on your screen. I repeat, the code is ALOKLIVE. Okay, so this code is again flashing on your screen ALOKLIVE. Please do not forget to use this code if you want the benefits of these batches. Okay, my friends. So hope you understood the Maratha administration. In the coming sessions, I'll be planning with the Sikhism, the rise of Sikhism. And we'll speak about the 10 Sikh gurus and also about the Sikh empire. Hope you are enjoying the Medieval Indian History series. Hope you're getting to learn something new. And hope you like the story of the Fort of Kondhana that is Tanaji Malusre. Did you love the story? Answer in the comment section. And please do not forget to use the code ALOKLIVE that is flashing on your screen. With this, I'll stop my words for the day. Thank you and have a wonderful day. Bye bye.