Chauth (from
Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...
, meaning ''one fourth'') was a regular tax or tribute imposed from the early 18th century by the
Maratha Empire
The Maratha Empire, also referred to as the Maratha Confederacy, was an early modern Indian confederation that came to dominate much of the Indian subcontinent in the 18th century. Maratha rule formally began in 1674 with the coronation of Shi ...
in the
Indian subcontinent
The Indian subcontinent is a list of the physiographic regions of the world, physiographical region in United Nations geoscheme for Asia#Southern Asia, Southern Asia. It is situated on the Indian Plate, projecting southwards into the Indian O ...
. It was an annual tax nominally levied at 25% on revenue or produce, hence the name, on lands that were under nominal Mughal rule. The sardeshmukhi was an additional 10% levy on top of the ''chauth''. A tribute paid to the king, it was started by
Koli
Koli may refer to:
Places
* Koli, Finland, a hill in Finland
* Koli National Park, a national park in Finland
* Koli, Iran (disambiguation), several places in Iran
* Koli Airfield, a former airfield in the South Pacific
Other uses
* Koli peopl ...
Maharaja Som Shah of Ramnagar.
Opinions on the function of the chauth vary. According to
M G Ranade
M, or m, is the thirteenth Letter (alphabet), letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the English alphabet, modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is English alphabe ...
, the chauth was charged to provide armed security for a state by the Marathas and is thus comparable to the system of subsidiary alliances that was used by
Lord Wellesley
Richard Colley Wellesley, 1st Marquess Wellesley, (20 June 1760 – 26 September 1842) was an Anglo-Irish politician and colonial administrator. He was styled as Viscount Wellesley until 1781, when he succeeded his father as 2nd Earl of M ...
to bring
Indian states
India is a federal union comprising 28 states and 8 union territories, with a total of 36 entities. The states and union territories are further subdivided into districts and smaller administrative divisions.
History
Pre-indepen ...
under
British control.
The historian
Jadunath Sarkar
Sir Jadunath Sarkar (10 December 1870 – 19 May 1958) was a prominent Indian historian and a specialist on the Mughal dynasty.
Academic career
Sarkar was born in Karachmaria village in Natore, Bengal to Rajkumar Sarkar, the local Zamindar ...
has argued that the chauth was essentially a tax paid by those states that did not want the Marathas to enter into their realm. The chauth thus served as
protection money
A protection racket is a type of racket and a scheme of organized crime perpetrated by a potentially hazardous organized crime group that generally guarantees protection outside the sanction of the law to another entity or individual from viol ...
against Maratha invasions of the chauth paying state. The tax was levied at the rate of one fourth the annual revenues of the state and was levied at the cost of the revenue paid by the state to the
Mughals
The Mughal Empire was an early-modern empire that controlled much of South Asia between the 16th and 19th centuries. Quote: "Although the first two Timurid emperors and many of their noblemen were recent migrants to the subcontinent, the d ...
or the Deccan kingdoms.
Chhatrapati Shivaji Raje Bhonsale first demanded chauth in 1665 and the
Deccan sultanates
The Deccan sultanates were five Islamic late-medieval Indian kingdoms—on the Deccan Plateau between the Krishna River and the Vindhya Range—that were ruled by Muslim dynasties: namely Ahmadnagar, Berar, Bidar, Bijapur, and Golconda. Th ...
of
Bijapur
Bijapur, officially known as Vijayapura, is the district headquarters of Bijapur district of the Karnataka state of India. It is also the headquarters for Bijapur Taluk. Bijapur city is well known for its historical monuments of architectural ...
and
Golconda
Fort (Telugu: గోల్కొండ, romanized: ''Gōlkōnḍa'') is a historic fortress and ruined city located in Hyderabad, Telangana, India. It was originally called Mankal. The fort was originally built by Kakatiya ruler Pratāparu ...
began to pay him a combined sum of 800,000 after he became a
raja
''Raja'' (; from , IAST ') is a royal title used for South Asian monarchs. The title is equivalent to king or princely ruler in South Asia and Southeast Asia.
The title has a long history in South Asia and Southeast Asia, being attested f ...
in 1674. In 1719, the
Mughal emperor
The Mughal emperors ( fa, , Pādishāhān) were the supreme heads of state of the Mughal Empire on the Indian subcontinent, mainly corresponding to the modern countries of India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh. The Mughal rulers styled t ...
granted
Chhatrapati Shahu Raje Bhonsale the chauth and sardeshmukhi rights over the six Deccan provinces in exchange for his maintaining a contingent of 15,000 troops for the emperor. The revenues from chauth were in turn divided into four parts that went to various functionaries of the Maratha empire.
One fourth of the levy, called ''babti'', went to the
Chhatrapati
Chhatrapati is a royal title from Sanskrit language.The word ‘Chhatrapati’ is a Sanskrit language compound word (tatpurusha in Sanskrit) of ''Chatra (umbrella), chhatra'' (''parasol'' or ''umbrella'') and ''pati'' (''master/lord/ruler''). Th ...
and he also had discretionary grant making authority over the ''nadgaunda'', proceeds which amounted to 3% of the total collection. Also, 6% of the chauth collections was granted to the ''pant sachiv'', the officer in charge of the royal secretariat and was called the ''sahotra'' grant. Two thirds of the collections, however, remained with the Maratha sardars, who collected the taxes and used them for maintaining their troops for the chhatrapati. That part of the levy was called ''mokasa''. The chauth, along with sardeshmukhi levies, ensured a steady and large stream of income for the Marathas and helped them expand their beyond the
swaraj
Swarāj ( sa, स्वराज, translit=Svarāja '' sva-'' "self", '' raj'' "rule") can mean generally self-governance or "self-rule". It was first used by Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj to attain self rule from the Mughal Empire and the Adil ...
ya territories of Shivaji.
The right to assess and collect this tax was asserted first by
Shivaji
Shivaji Bhonsale I (; 19 February 1630 – 3 April 1680), also referred to as Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, was an Indian ruler and a member of the Bhonsle Maratha clan. Shivaji carved out his own independent kingdom from the declining Adils ...
in the later 17th century on the grounds that his family were hereditary tax collectors in
Maharashtra
Maharashtra (; , abbr. MH or Maha) is a states and union territories of India, state in the western India, western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. Maharashtra is the List of states and union te ...
.
Veer
Durgadas Rathore
Durgadas Rathore (13 August 1638 – 22 November 1718) was the Rathore Rajput General of Kingdom of Marwar. He is credited with having preserved the rule of the Rathore dynasty over Marwar, India, following the death of Maharaja Jaswant S ...
harassed Mughal officers through guerrilla warfare and forced them to pay chauth during his war against
Aurangzeb
Muhi al-Din Muhammad (; – 3 March 1707), commonly known as ( fa, , lit=Ornament of the Throne) and by his regnal title Alamgir ( fa, , translit=ʿĀlamgīr, lit=Conqueror of the World), was the sixth emperor of the Mughal Empire, ruling ...
.
[{{Cite book, first=R.C., last=Majumdar, title= An Advanced History of India, publisher=Trinity Press, year=2020, pages=494–497, url=, quote=Under the able leadership of Durgadas, the Rathors ceaselessly carried on a guerrilla warfare and harassed the Mughal outposts so that the Mughal officers were compelled to pay chauth.]
See also
*
Sack of Surat
Battle of Surat, also known as the Sack of Surat, was a land battle that took place on January 5, 1664, near the city of Surat, in present-day Gujarat, India; between Maratha ruler Shivaji and Inayat Khan, a Mughal captain. The Marathas defeat ...
*
Mahratta Sackings of Goa and Bombay-Bassein
Maratha Invasion of Goa (1683) or Sambhaji's Invasion of Goa refers to the invasion of Portuguese controlled portion of Old Goa and the northern areas of Konkan. The battles were fought between the Mahratta confederacy and the Portuguese in Goa a ...
*
Mahratta Invasions of Bengal
The Maratha invasions of Bengal (1741-1751), also known as the Maratha expeditions in Bengal, refers to the frequent invasions by the Maratha forces in the Bengal Subah (Bengal, Bihar, parts of modern Orissa), after their successful campaign i ...
Notes
History of taxation in India
Maratha Empire