Maritime supremacy, justice and trade

Shivaji created the navy to secure the west coast. In the 18th century, Kanhoji Angre led it to victory in many sea battles.

The chapter is honest about the odds: Maratha ships were not as technologically advanced as European ones. Angre won through clever use of geography and battle tactics instead.

To see what he was up against, look at the cartaz. The Europeans' main strength in India was their navies, and they forced Indians to buy their sea trade passes. Any ship without a pass was seized.

Think what that meant: Indian merchants had to pay Europeans for permission to sail in Indian waters.

The Marathas challenged this, then went further: they began demanding passes from the Europeans. The Europeans responded by calling Kanhoji Angre a 'pirate', which shows how effective he was.

One episode shows the navy's reputation. In 1665 four of Shivaji's ships reached Muscat, and the ruler of Oman seized them and got ships ready to attack Shivaji's coast. When he heard Shivaji's navy had more than a hundred ships, he retreated into his harbour.

On land, the Marathas had an efficient justice system, notable for being sparing with the death penalty. The panchāyat (a local gathering of officials and important men, not today's government Panchayat) gave justice, with appeal to a Maratha chief, and the kotwāl (police) kept order in towns like Pune and Indore.

Shivaji encouraged trade and took part himself: he and his officials owned ships that sailed to Mocha in Yemen, Muscat in Oman and Malacca in Malaysia, carrying goods such as gold and textiles. Roads were built and kept up, bridges crossed rivers and streams, and in places like 18th-century Odisha a network of ferries carried river traffic.