Which were the revenue department in shivaji's period?
Answers
Provincial administration:
Shivaji divided his kingdom into four provinces. Each province was under the head called Mamlatdar or Viceroy. Each province was divided into several districts and villages. The village was an organised institution.
The chief of the village was called Deshpande or Patel. The head used to run the affairs of the village with the help of the Village Panchayat.
Like the centre, there was a committee or council of eight ministers with Sar-i- ‘Karkun’ or the ‘prantpati’ (Head of the province)
Revenue system :
Important features were:
(1) Land in every village was measured and the produce was roughly assessed.
(2) On the basis of assessment, the cultivators were asked to pay 40 per cent of their produce as land revenue.
(3) The Ryotwari system was introduced in which the revenue was directly collected from the farmers.
(4) Wherever possible, Shivaji abolished the jagirdari system.
(5) The farmers had the option to pay land revenue in cash or kind.
(6) The peasants could pay the revenue in installments.
(7) The accounts of the revenue officers began to be thoroughly checked.
(8) In the event of famine of natural calamity, the state offered loans to the peasants.
(9) Shivaji introduced the collection of two taxes called the Chauth and ‘Sardeshmukhi’.
‘Chauth’ and ‘Sardeshmukhi’:
Historians differ as to the exact nature of these two taxies levied by Shivaji. According to Ranade, ‘Chauth’ was not merely a military contribution without any moral or legal obligation but a payment in lieu of protection against the invasion of a third power and he compares it with Wellesley’s Subsidiary Alliance System. Sardesai holds that it was a tribute exacted from hostile or conquered territories.
J.N. Sarkar is of the opinion that Chauth was only a means of buying off one robber and not a subsidiary system for the maintenance of peace and order against all enemies. Thus ‘Chauth’ was a military contribution paid toward off any attack of the Marhatas. It was, in theory, ¼ of revenues of the district invaded but in practice it was sometimes much more than that. Sardeshmukhi was an additional tax of 10% which Shivaji claimed as the hereditary Sardeshmukhi or overlord of Maharashtra.
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