Page 94 - SST Class 07

effective administrative system. The ruler was the was sardeshmukhi which was charged from other
head of the army and administration. He enjoyed kings on the promise of assistance in times of
absolute powers. He ruled with the help of emergency and protection from other states. It was
Ashtapradhan , a council of eight ministers. The one-tenth of the revenue charged by the ruler.
important ministers were the Peshwa or the Prime
Minister, the Senapati or the army commander, Quiz Time
Pandit Rao or chief priest. All ministers, officers Answer the following questions :
and soldiers were appointed on merit. They were 1. What tactics did Shivaji use to defeat the
given salaries in cash. The kingdom was divided Mughals in battle? ___________
into prants or states, further divided into parganas
or districts and villages. The Patel or village 2. By whom was Shivaji succeeded? ___________
headman looked after the village administration. 3. Who defeated the Marathas in the third battle
They delegated powers to the Maratha chiefs to of Panipat? ___________
raise armies, such as the Sindhia of Gwalior, 4. What was the income called which the Marathas
Gaekwad of Baroda and Bhonsle of Nagpur, who charged from other kings on the promise of
accounted for the development of their areas.
their protection? ___________
Trade and Agriculture
Army
The Marathas encouraged trade and agriculture. The Marathas looked after the army well. They
They levied taxes, but looked after well the people maintained artillery and cavalry besides infantry.
who obeyed them. This was the reason that trade They also had a small navy. They paid attention for
expanded in the entire region under their control.
the advancement of tactics. They paid attention to
Revenue the forts which were well fortified. Shivaji had over
250 forts under his control.
The Marathas levied two-fifth of land revenue from
the territory directly under their control. The other
important source of revenue was chauth . It was Activity
one-fourth of the land revenue charged from the Shivaji is considered a very important Hindu ruler
people outside the territories not under their during the medieval period. Due to his guerilla
control. It was charged on the promise that they tactics, he was called the Mountain Rat. Find out
would not attack them. Another source of income more about him.

v After the death of Aurangzeb, the Mughal empire began to decline.

v Religious discrimination, wars of succession and invasions weakened the Mughals.
v The state of Mysore flourished under Hyder Ali and Tipu Sultan.
v Bengal was ruled well by the nawabs until their defeat at the hands of the British in 1756.
v Avadh, Bharatpur, Ambar and Sikhs were regional political formations with limited area of influence.
v The Satnamis were a small group of peasants and traders who fought with the Mughals.

v The Marathas offered stiff resistance to the Mughals and were eventually successful in carving out a large
empire under the leadership of Chhatrapati Shivaji.

v The Marathas expanded their area of influence under Shivaji and Peshwas until they were finally defeated
by the Afghans in 1761.

v The Marathas had an efficient revenue and army administration.

Contemporary Social Science-7
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