Maratha civilian administration

Shivaji's government made two decisions that set it apart from the Sultanate and Mughal systems.

First, he abolished hereditary posts and land assignments, and paid every government official a salary from the state treasury. (This was about officials, not the throne.)

Remember the alternative. Under the iqta and jagir systems, officials were paid in land and collected their own revenue from it, which made them local powers in their own right.

Second, many officials were regularly transferred, so they would not have enough power to dictate terms to the king.

He also gave pensions to the widows of soldiers killed in battle, and offered military posts to their sons.

His own letters show how far this went. On cutting timber for the navy, he wrote that teak could be cut with permission, but mango and jackfruit trees must not be touched: "such trees take many years to mature, and the people look after them like their children. If you cut them, will their sorrow ever end?" And the principle behind it: "If you accomplish something by oppressing others, it perishes soon, along with the oppressor."

He was helped by the aṣhṭa pradhāna manḍala, a council of eight ministers:

From provinces not directly under them, the Marathas collected chauth (25 per cent) and sardeshmukhi (a further 10 per cent). In return they protected those provinces and did not interfere in how they were run. The Mughals agreed to this through treaties, and over time it drew some provinces into the Maratha Empire.