Peshwas

Peshwas were the prime ministers during the Marathas Empire and a successor of the Shivaji. Peshwas were the faithful ministers during the Marathas Empire that helped the king in the political as well as in the social affairs. Moreover, there were administrators in the king’s cabinet and acted as the advisory council to the king. The first pesewa during the Marathas Empire were Moropanti pingli and was appointed by Shivaji. Moropanti Pingli was the head of the Astra pradhan later on Balaji Biswanath Bhat was appointed as the second Peshwa. The Shivaji grandson appointed the second Peshwa after the death of the Shivaji. 

Details on Peshwa Bajirao

Bajirao was one of the seven peshwas that extended the Marathas Empire and never lost any battle during the fight. Peshwa Bajirao won several battles such as the Battle of Palkhed in the year 1728 he defeated the Nizam of Hyderabad Asaf Jah 1.  This was the first battle won by the Peshwa Bajirao. In the same year 1728 in the battle of Azmer he defeated “Giridhar Bahadur” and “Daya Bahadur”.

Specific achievements of Peshwa Bajirao

Peshwa’s achievement can easily be in the north and south parts of India, in the south the dominance of the Marathas is high. The most important achievement of the Peshwa Bajirao is to transform the Marathas dynasty into an empire. Peshwas Bajirao was a great militant as he knew the tactics to win the battlefield.

Background of Peshwa

Peshwas was the chief minister of the head of the state and was appointed by the Marathas Empire Sahu. The first three pesewas during the Marathas Empire were Balaji Vishwanath, Baji Rao and Balaji Bajirao. The Peshwas Empire ruled from 1713 to 1857, during this period several peshwas came and ruled.  

Contribution of the Peshwa

Peshwas were the top administrative officers during the Marathas Empire and made rules for their empire. They work for the recruitment of the army and provide them training during the battle. The administration was divided into central and local, in central administration finance, account-related issues were solved by the peshwas. Central administration is divided into eight departments: checkers, regional affairs, social justice, foreign issues, finance and accounts. In the local administration, the issues were at the local level such as village or subedar. 

Revenue system, geographical condition and administration during the Peshwa Empire

They used to collect taxes for the growth and development of their empire and 10 % taxes on land. The geographical condition of Peshwas starts from Maharashtra that gives rise to the Peshwa Empire. The secretariat name of the Peshwas was Huzur Daftar that was established in Poona. The farmer in the empire needs to pay via the crop for agricultural products after the harvesting, to the considered government. One of the biggest administrators in this period is Taraf and Pargana that were assisted by the kamavisdar. 

Income source during the Peshwa empire

In the Peshwa empire taxes from the land, trade tax and the currency were the main sources of income, farmers growing crops in their land needed to give agricultural tax to this empire for the growth of their empire. Several trades were done during this period as one of the ways to collect the taxes by this empire. In the period currency was used to buy products that helped the empire in its growth. These taxes were used for the development of the empire such as for the construction of roads, use in military training etc. The government of this empire uses these taxes for their militia however they can get good training skills, this helps within the battle. There were two types of taxes that needed to be collected in south India that were Chauth and sardeshmukhi. These two sources were the major sources during the Marathas Empire to collect the taxes. Chauth means one by one-fourth of taxes needs to be given to the government from the income. The farmer cultivated the crops in their land then from that one-fourth of the crops needs to be given to the government. Sardeshmuhi is the additional 10% tax on agricultural products. 

Conclusion

The role of the Peshwa during the Marathas Empire was to make the policies for the growth and development of the empire. In this empire, two methods were used to collect the taxes that were Chauth and Sardeshmukhi. In the Chauth tax, the farmer needs to pay one-fourth of the products in the form of the tax to their government.