Chauth and sardeshmukhi

Topic: The Marathas · NCERT: Class 8, Ch 3 "The Marathas"

Meaning

Chauth and sardeshmukhi were two Maratha levies (taxes). They were collected from provinces in the Deccan and north India that the Marathas did not rule directly. Chauth was one-fourth (25%) of a district's revenue demand or actual collection. Sardeshmukhi was an extra 10% charged on top of chauth. In return, the Marathas protected these provinces and left their internal government alone.

These levies matter because they let the Marathas draw money and power from lands far beyond their own kingdom. Over time, some of the paying provinces merged into the Maratha Empire.

Explanation

Background: why the Marathas needed these levies

• The Marathas ruled one area directly. A much larger area around it was ruled by Mughal governors and by other Hindu and Muslim rulers.
• Chauth and sardeshmukhi let the Marathas earn from these outside lands without conquering and governing them.
• The Marathas often claimed these levies as agents of Delhi. This means they said they were collecting as officers acting for the Mughal emperor [3].
• The Mughals approved this arrangement through treaties. So it was a legal claim, not just raiding.
• The names explain the levies:
• Chauth comes from the word for "a fourth", which matches its 25% rate.
• Sardeshmukhi comes from sardeshmukh, meaning "head deshmukh". A deshmukh was the hereditary head of a revenue district. The Maratha king claimed this senior title, and the extra 10% went with it.

Main features: how the two levies differed

Levy	Rate	Taken from	Basis of the claim
Chauth	25% (one-fourth) of the revenue demand or actual collection of a district [4]	Provinces not directly ruled by the Marathas, in the Deccan and north India	Maratha claims to rights of passage or overlordship over that district [4]
Sardeshmukhi	An extra 10%, on top of chauth	The same provinces	The Maratha claim to be the head deshmukh

• What the payer got in return:
• Maratha protection for the province.
• No interference in internal administration. The local ruler kept running his own government.

How it worked in practice

• On paper, it was a deal: tribute (regular payment) in exchange for protection, approved by Mughal treaty.
• In real life, chauth often worked as a fee paid by a Hindu or Muslim ruler for one of two things [4]:
• to make the Marathas stay away from his land, or

• to make them leave a district they had already entered.

• So for many payers, chauth was the price of avoiding a Maratha attack.

• The practice of collecting tribute was systematised (organised into a regular system) by the Peshwas Balaji Vishwanath and Baji Rao I [3].
• The Peshwa was the 'prime minister'. The word is Persian [2].
• Under the later Marathas, the Peshwa became more powerful than the Chhatrapati (the Maratha king). The office passed to the Bhat family, and Pune became the Peshwas' capital [3].

Results

• Steady income from lands the Marathas did not have to govern.
• Growing influence: once a province paid, the Marathas had a recognised claim over it.
• Territorial expansion: over time some of these provinces merged into the Maratha Empire. A payment that began as tribute ended as Maratha rule.
• A lasting reputation problem: because chauth was often a fee to avoid attack, the Marathas' opponents described them as raiders rather than state-builders.

Time, place and evidence

• Period: the Maratha era (c. 1630–1818). Collection was organised most fully under the Peshwas Balaji Vishwanath and Baji Rao I [3].
• Region: provinces in the Deccan and north India that lay outside direct Maratha rule.
• Key people and offices:
• the Chhatrapati (Maratha king)
• the Peshwas Balaji Vishwanath and Baji Rao I [3]

• the Mughal emperor, whose treaties gave the levies legal approval, and in whose name the Marathas claimed to collect [3]

• How we know:

• NCERT Class 8, Ch 3 "The Marathas" describes the rates, the protection given in return, and the Mughal treaty approval.
• Peshwa-era administrative papers survive. One printed collection is Decisions from the Shahu and Peshwa Daftar. It contains watan-patras (grant deeds) and nivad-patras (judgment deeds) [5].
• The revenue words in the Peshwas' documents are mostly Persian, the language of Mughal administration. This shows the Maratha revenue office worked much like the Mughal one [3].

Don't confuse with

• Chauth vs Sardeshmukhi: chauth was 25%. Sardeshmukhi was an additional 10% on top of chauth. Don't swap the rates, and don't read sardeshmukhi as a separate 10% of the whole revenue that replaced chauth.
• Land revenue inside Maratha territory: inside their own kingdom, the Marathas used assessment and collection methods taken over from the Mughals [3]. Chauth and sardeshmukhi applied only to lands outside direct Maratha rule.
• Land assignments (paying officers with land revenue): Shivaji abolished hereditary posts and land assignments and paid officials cash salaries. Chauth was a levy on other rulers' lands. It was not a way of paying Maratha officers.
• The British Subsidiary Alliance: both involved "protection". But under the Subsidiary Alliance, the Indian ruler had to keep British troops and accept a British Resident at his court. Under chauth, the Marathas did not interfere in internal administration.

Prelims Hooks

• Chauth = 25% (one-fourth) of a district's revenue demand or actual collection [4]. Sardeshmukhi = an additional 10% on top of chauth.
• Both were taken from provinces not directly ruled by the Marathas, in the Deccan and north India.
• In return, the Marathas gave protection and did not interfere in internal administration.
• The Mughals approved the levies through treaties. The Marathas often collected as agents of Delhi [3].
• Tribute collection was systematised by Balaji Vishwanath and Baji Rao I [3].
• Trap: chauth was often a fee to make the Marathas stay away or withdraw [4]. It was not a tax on the Marathas' own subjects.

Mains Points

• State-building or plunder? A historians' debate.
• State-building view: chauth was a fixed share (one-fourth of revenue demand [4]), approved by Mughal treaty, with protection given and local government left alone. Over time, paying provinces merged into the empire, so tribute became territory.
• Plunder view: the same source says chauth was often just a fee to buy off invasion [4]. This supports the old charge that the Marathas were raiders.

• A balanced answer: chauth began as pressure backed by force, but it was gradually turned into a regular, rule-based claim.

• Both a break from and an heir to the Mughals.

• The Marathas fought the Mughals, yet they used Mughal treaties to make their levies legal, and claimed to collect as agents of Delhi [3].
• Their revenue papers use Persian terms inherited from Mughal administration [3].

• So the Maratha state used Mughal authority and methods even while it took over Mughal lands.

• A tool of expansion that changed the balance of power.

• When the Peshwas Balaji Vishwanath and Baji Rao I systematised the levies [3], power moved towards the Peshwa's office.
• The Peshwa's office became hereditary in the Bhat family and grew stronger than the Chhatrapati, with Pune as its capital [3].
• This shows how revenue from outside lands shaped power inside the Maratha state.

Related concepts

• Maratha administration
• Ashtapradhan
• Peshwa
• Amatya
• Sachiv
• Sumant
• Nyayadhish
• Panditrao
• Deshmukh
• Saranjam

Read more

• Civilian administration, revenue, justice and trade