Thanjavur Maratha Kingdom.ppt

Thanjavur Maratha Kingdom

1. Thanjavur Maratha Kingdom
Dr.B.Athmanathan
Research Coordinator
Centre for Historical Research
Mannar Thirumalai Naicker College
Pasumalai
Madurai -4

2. TheThanjavurMarathakingdomruled
bytheBhonsledynastywasaprincipality
ofTamilnadubetweenthe17thand19th
centuries.Theirnativelanguage
wasThanjavurMarathi.Venkojiwasthe
founderofthedynasty.

3. Pandyanaduveryquicklyreassertedtheir
independenceandaddedThanjavurtotheir
domain.Soonafterwards,however,theywere
conqueredbytheVijayanagaraEmpire.The
EmperorappointedhistrustedKin,whobelonged
totheTeluguBalijacasteasGovernors(Nayakas)
ofMaduraiandThanjavur.
An internalfamily squabble
betweenChokkanathaNayakofMaduraiNayak
DynastyandhisuncleVijayaraghavaNayakof
Thanjavurledtoawarandeventuallyendedin
thedefeatofThanjavur.TheruleoftheThanjavur
Nayaklasteduntil1673,whenChokkanatha
Nayak,therulerofMadurai,invadedThanjavur
andkilleditsruler,Vijayaraghava.

4. ChokkanathaplacedhisbrotherAlagirionthe
throneofThanjavur,butwithinayearthelatterthrew
offhisallegiance,andChokkanathawasforcedto
recognisetheindependenceofThanjavur.Asonof
VijayaRaghavainducedtheBijapurSultantohelphim
getbacktheThanjavurthrone.
In1675,theSultanofBijapursentaforce
commandedbytheMarathageneralVenkoji(alias
Ekoji)torecapturethekingdomfromthenewinvader.
VenkojidefeatedAlagiri,andoccupiedThanjavur.He
didnot,however,placehisprotegeonthethroneas
instructedbytheBijapurSultan,butseizedthe
kingdomandmadehimselfking.Thusbegantherule
oftheMarathasoverThanjavur.

6. Maratha kings
Venkoji
Venkoji,ahalf-brotheroftheMaratha
kingShivaji,wasthefirstRajaofThanjavurfrom
theBhosaledynasty.Itisbelievedthathetook
overtheadministrationofThanjavurinApril
1674andruleduntil1684.Duringhisreign,
ShivajiinvadedGingeeandThanjavurin1676-
1677andmadehisbrotherSantajitherulerofall
landstothenorthoftheColeroon.Duringthe
lastyearsofhisreign,Vyankojialsoalliedwith
ChokkanathaofMaduraitorepulseaninvasion
fromMysore.

7. Serfoji I
•SerfojiIwasayoungersonofVenkojiandhe
ruledfrom1712to1728.Hisrulewasmarked
byregularwarfareanddisputeswiththe
MaduraiNayaks.
Tukhoji
•TukhojiayoungerbrotherofSerfojiI,ruled
Thanjavurfrom1728to1736.Hisreign
witnessedtheinvasionofChandaSahiband
heiscreditedwithhavingrepulsedaMuslim
invasionofMadurai.

8. Pratapsingh
AperiodofanarchyfollowedthedeathofTukkoji
andcametoanendwhenPratapsinghcametothe
thronein1739.Heruleduntil1763.Healliedwith
MuhammadAli,theNawabofCarnatic,andaided
theBritishEastIndiaCompanyagainsttheFrenchEast
IndiaCompanyintheCarnaticWarsandtheSeven
Year’sWar.Hewasthelastkingtobeaddressedbythe
DirectorsoftheBritishEastIndiaCompanyas"His
Majesty".In1762,atripartitetreatywassigned
betweenThanjavur,CarnaticandtheBritishEastIndia
CompanybywhichhebecameavassaloftheNawabof
theCarnatic.

9. Thuljaji
•Thuljajiwasaveryweakrulerandthelastindependent
rulerofThanjavur.In1773,Thanjavurwasannexedbythe
NawaboftheCarnaticwhoruledtill1776.Thethronewas
restoredtohimbytheDirectorsoftheBritishEastIndia
Companybutthatrestorationcameataheavypriceasit
deprivedhimofhisindependence.
SerfojiII
•ThuljajiwassucceededbyhisteenagesonSerfojiIIin
1787.Soonafterwards,hewasdeposedbyhisuncleand
regentAmarsinghwhoseizedthethroneforhimself.Withthe
helpoftheBritish,SerfojiIIrecoveredthethronein1798.A
subsequenttreatyforcedhimtohandoverthereinsofthe
kingdomtotheBritishEastIndiaCompany,becomingpartof
theThanjavur(MadrasPresidency.Thedistrictcollectorate
systemwasinstalledthereaftertomanagethepublic
revenues.SerfojiIIwashoweverleftincontroloftheFortand
thesurroundingareas.Hereignedtill1832.Hisreignisnoted
fortheliterary,scientificandtechnologicalaccomplishments
oftheTanjorecountry.

10. Shivaji
•ShivajiwasthelastMaratharulerofThanjavur
andreignedfrom1832to1855.Ashisfirst
wifedidnothaveanymaleheir,theQueen
adoptedhernephew,andtheadoptiontook
placeaftertheMaharaja's(ShivajiI)deathin
1855.TheBritishdidnotacceptthisadoption
andThanjavurwasannexedbythemasper
theprovisionsoftheDoctrineofLapse.

11. Literature
•TheThanjavurMaratharulerspatronizedproductionof
literatureinfourlanguages:
•Telugu(thelanguageoftheprecedingNayakrulers),
•Tamil(thepopularlanguageoftheThanjavurregion),
•Marathi(thelanguageofthecourtelite),and
•Sanskrit(theliturgicallanguageoftheVedicScriptures).
•Ekoji,thefounderofthekingdom,continuedtheuseof
Teluguasacourtlanguage.However,comparedtothe
Nayaka-eraworks,theTelugulanguageworkscomposed
undertheThanjavurMarathapatronageareofinferior
quality.TheTamillanguageworksproducedduringthis
periodarenotofthehighestqualityeither.Themost
notableliteraryworkscomposedundertheirpatronage
werewritteninSanskritandMarathilanguages.

12. •ThenotableMarathiauthorsfromtheThanjavur
MarathakingdomincludeRaghunathaPandita,
Ananda-tanaya,Gosavi-nandanaandSubhanRao.They
mainlywroteshortworksonPuranicorotherreligious
subjects,ontheroyalfamilymembers,oronthe
splendoursofThanjavur.
•In1693,Shahajirenamedthevillage
ofThiruvisanallurasShahaji-raja-puramand
establishedanassemmblyof45scholarsandpoets
there.ThesescholarsincludedRamabhadraDikshita,
BhaskaraDikshita,Veda-kavi,Mahadeva-kavi,and
ShridharaVenkatesvara.Shahaji'sministerTryambaga
Yajvanharmakuta(acommentaryonRamayana)
andStriDharmaPaddathi.Othermembersofhis
familyalsocomposedvariousworks.

13. •HisgrandsonNarayana-rayawroteVikrama-sena-
champu.HisbrotherBhagavanta-rayawroteMukunda-
vilasa,Uttara-champu,andRaghavabhyudaya.His
nephewAnanda-rayawroteAshvala-yana-grhya-sutra-
vritti,Jivananda-nataka,andVidya-parinaya-
nataka(withacommentary).Hisgrand-nephew
Nrsimha-rayawroteTripura-vijaya-champu.Dhundiraja
,anotherwriterpatronizedbyShahaji,wrotethe
Sanskrit-languagetextsShaha-vilasa-gitaandMudra-
rakshasa-vyakhya.
•SerfojibuilttheSaraswathiMahalLibrarywithinthe
precinctsofthepalacetohousehisenormousbook
andmanuscriptcollection.ApartfromIndian
languages,SerfojiIIwasproficientinEnglish,French,
Dutch,GreekandLatinaswell.

14. Administration
•Thekingwasassistedintheadministrationof
hiscountrybyacouncilofministers.The
supremeheadofthiscouncilofministerswas
aMantriorDalavoy.TheDalavoywasalsothe
Commander-in-chiefoftheArmy.Nextin
importanceatthecourtwas
aPradhaniorDewanalsocalledDabirPandit.
Thecountrywasdividedintosubahs,seemais
andmaganamsinthedecreasingorderofsize
andimportance.Thefivesubahsofthe
countrywerePattukkottai,Mayavaram,
Kumbakonam,MannarkudiandTiruvadi.

15. Economy
•Therulercollectedhistaxesfromthepeoplethrough
hismirasdarsorputtackdars.Theywerecollectedright
fromthevillagelevelonwardsandwerebasedonthe
agriculturalproduceofthevillage.Ricewasoneofthe
primarycropsintheregionandthelandusedfor
cultivationwasownedbybiglandlords.ItwasAnatharama
Sashtrywhoproposedcollectingtaxestoimprove
conditionsforthepoor.
•Noforeigntradewascarriedout.Theonlyforeigntradein
thecountrywascarriedoutbyEuropeantraderswhopaid
aparticularamountofmoneyasrenttotheRaja.The
currencysystemusedwasthatofachakramorpon(1
chakram=oneandthree-fourthsofaBritishEastIndia
Companyrupee).Othersystemsofcoinageusedwerethat
ofpagoda(1pagoda=threeandahalfCompanyrupees),a
bigpanam(one-sixthofaCompanyrupee)anda
smallpanam(one-thirteenthofaCompanyrupee).