Indian Antiquary Vol 50

SR No.: 032542
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Richard Carnac Temple, Devadatta Ramkrishna Bhandarkar
Publisher: Swati Publications
Publication Year: 1985
Total Pages: 468
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 19 MB

Page 67

Feb., 1921 ]
ADMINISTRATIVE SYSTEM OF SHIVAJI
57
From these old authors we turn to Ranade with a sense of relief. Born in Maharashtra
educated in the western method, for several years record keeper of the Ranade's Rise of the
Bombay Government, Ranade combined in himself the three qualities Maratha Power, Vol. I. bombay
So indispensable for a historian of the Marathas. He knew the language and traditions of his country, was well conversant with the historical method of the west and had ready access to all the papers then available. With true historical instinct, he made a deliberate departure from the beaten track and selected a course of his own. His fame to-day does not rest on the discovery of a new document or an unknown event, but on the surer basis of the right interpretation of the history of his people. He did not confine himself to dry details of battles and sieges but tried to discover the real causes
-remote and immediate-of the rise, progress, and downfall of the Marathas. This made him study the civil institutions of Shivaji, very carefully, for they were, according to him, not only the outcome of Shivaji's genius but also an expression of Maratha aspirations. It is beyond doubt that Ranade was the first scholar to guide us properly to the real sources of Maratha history, as he was the first to perceive the real importance of the administrative system of Shivaji. It is a matter of regret that the many sided activities of the great savant did not permit him to devote his leisure solely to the study of his country's past. Modern researches have made some of his conclusions untenable to-day, but the credit of pointing out a new angle of vision belongs entirely to him. He might have erred in minor details, but while dealing with broad principles, his judgment never failed him. It is true that we do not get in his work as much information as we wish for, but that is because many papers, now published, had not seen the light when Ranade lived and wrote. Scott Waring was the first Englishman to attempt a comprehensive history of the
Marathas. His work was published in 1811. But we get little more Scott-Waring, Grant Duff, Rawlinson, and
than a narrative of political events in Scott-Waring's History. Kincaid.
In the third decade of the 19th century, another scholar, destined to become famous as the historian of the Marathas, undertook to write & more satisfactory history. Captain Grant Duff was more fortunate than his predecessor in the attempt, in more than one way. As political agent, he had ready access to all the papers in the Satara Archives. The descendant of Shivaji was ever ready to assist him in all possible ways. Perhaps many of the later spurious Bakhars owed their origin to the zeal of Chhatrapati Pratap Singh to gratify the Agent Saheb. Above all, Grant Duff had the great advantage of working under the guidance of Elphinstone. But Grant Duff had not sufficient materials for sketching a graphic account of the administrative system of Shivaji. Prof. H. G. Rawlinson's Shivaji the Maratha is a very recent publication, but it does not aim at dealing in detail with the civil institutions of Shivaji. Only a few months ago was published the first volume of the History of the Maratha People by Mr. Kincaid and Parasnis. From the great mass of published materials and the still greater mass of unpublished documents in the possession of Rao Bahadur D. B. Parasnis, it was expected that the long-felt want would at last be removed. But we have again been disappointed. Far from giving us a comprehensive account of Shivaji's administrative system, the joint authors have not even made any serious attempt to supplement our knowledge in that direction.
? Seo Elphinstone's letters quoted in Colebrooke's Life of Elphinstone