Thanjavur Maratha Kingdom

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

2. The Thanjavur Maratha kingdom ruled
by the Bhonsle dynasty was a principality
of Tamilnadu between the 17th and 19th
centuries. Their native language
was Thanjavur Marathi. Venkoji was the
founder of the dynasty.

3. Pandyanadu very quickly reasserted their
independence and added Thanjavur to their
domain. Soon afterwards, however, they were
conquered by the Vijayanagara Empire. The
Emperor appointed his trusted Kin, who belonged
to the Telugu Balija caste as Governors (Nayakas)
of Madurai and Thanjavur.
An internal family squabble
between Chokkanatha Nayak of Madurai Nayak
Dynasty and his uncle Vijayaraghava Nayak of
Thanjavur led to a war and eventually ended in
the defeat of Thanjavur. The rule of the Thanjavur
Nayak lasted until 1673, when Chokkanatha
Nayak, the ruler of Madurai, invaded Thanjavur
and killed its ruler, Vijayaraghava.

4. Chokkanatha placed his brother Alagiri on the
throne of Thanjavur, but within a year the latter threw
off his allegiance, and Chokkanatha was forced to
recognise the independence of Thanjavur. A son of
Vijaya Raghava induced the Bijapur Sultan to help him
get back the Thanjavur throne.
In 1675, the Sultan of Bijapur sent a force
commanded by the Maratha general Venkoji (alias
Ekoji) to recapture the kingdom from the new invader.
Venkoji defeated Alagiri, and occupied Thanjavur. He
did not, however, place his protege on the throne as
instructed by the Bijapur Sultan, but seized the
kingdom and made himself king. Thus began the rule
of the Marathas over Thanjavur.

6. Maratha kings
Venkoji
Venkoji, a half-brother of the Maratha
king Shivaji, was the first Raja of Thanjavur from
the Bhosale dynasty. It is believed that he took
over the administration of Thanjavur in April
1674 and ruled until 1684. During his reign,
Shivaji invaded Gingee and Thanjavur in 1676-
1677 and made his brother Santaji the ruler of all
lands to the north of the Coleroon. During the
last years of his reign, Vyankoji also allied with
Chokkanatha of Madurai to repulse an invasion
from Mysore.

7. Serfoji I
• Serfoji I was a younger son of Venkoji and he
ruled from 1712 to 1728. His rule was marked
by regular warfare and disputes with the
Madurai Nayaks.
Tukhoji
• Tukhojia younger brother of Serfoji I, ruled
Thanjavur from 1728 to 1736. His reign
witnessed the invasion of Chanda Sahib and
he is credited with having repulsed a Muslim
invasion of Madurai.

8. Pratapsingh
A period of anarchy followed the death of Tukkoji
and came to an end when Pratapsingh came to the
throne in 1739. He ruled until 1763. He allied with
Muhammad Ali, the Nawab of Carnatic, and aided
the British East India Company against the French East
India Company in the Carnatic Wars and the Seven
Year’s War. He was the last king to be addressed by the
Directors of the British East India Company as "His
Majesty". In 1762, a tripartite treaty was signed
between Thanjavur, Carnatic and the British East India
Company by which he became a vassal of the Nawab of
the Carnatic.

9. Thuljaji
• Thuljaji was a very weak ruler and the last independent
ruler of Thanjavur. In 1773, Thanjavur was annexed by the
Nawab of the Carnatic who ruled till 1776. The throne was
restored to him by the Directors of the British East India
Company but that restoration came at a heavy price as it
deprived him of his independence.
Serfoji II
• Thuljaji was succeeded by his teenage son Serfoji II in
1787. Soon afterwards, he was deposed by his uncle and
regent Amarsingh who seized the throne for himself. With the
help of the British, Serfoji II recovered the throne in 1798. A
subsequent treaty forced him to hand over the reins of the
kingdom to the British East India Company, becoming part of
the Thanjavur ( Madras Presidency. The district collectorate
system was installed thereafter to manage the public
revenues. Serfoji II was however left in control of the Fort and
the surrounding areas. He reigned till 1832. His reign is noted
for the literary, scientific and technological accomplishments
of the Tanjore country.

10. Shivaji
• Shivaji was the last Maratha ruler of Thanjavur
and reigned from 1832 to 1855. As his first
wife did not have any male heir, the Queen
adopted her nephew, and the adoption took
place after the Maharaja's (Shivaji I) death in
1855. The British did not accept this adoption
and Thanjavur was annexed by them as per
the provisions of the Doctrine of Lapse.

11. Literature
• The Thanjavur Maratha rulers patronized production of
literaturein four languages:
• Telugu(the language of the preceding Nayak rulers),
• Tamil (the popular language of the Thanjavur region),
• Marathi (the language of the court elite), and
• Sanskrit (the liturgical language of the Vedic Scriptures).
• Ekoji, the founder of the kingdom, continued the use of
Telugu as a court language. However, compared to the
Nayaka-era works, the Telugu language works composed
under the Thanjavur Maratha patronage are of inferior
quality. The Tamil language works produced during this
period are not of the highest quality either. The most
notable literary works composed under their patronage
were written in Sanskrit and Marathi languages.

12. • The notable Marathi authors from the Thanjavur
Maratha kingdom include Raghunatha Pandita,
Ananda-tanaya, Gosavi-nandana and Subhan Rao. They
mainly wrote short works on Puranic or other religious
subjects, on the royal family members, or on the
splendours of Thanjavur.
• In 1693, Shahaji renamed the village
of Thiruvisanallur as Shahaji-raja-puram and
established an assemmbly of 45 scholars and poets
there. These scholars included Ramabhadra Dikshita,
Bhaskara Dikshita, Veda-kavi, Mahadeva-kavi, and
Shridhara Venkatesvara. Shahaji's minister Tryambaga
Yajvan harmakuta (a commentary on Ramayana)
and Stri Dharma Paddathi. Other members of his
family also composed various works.

13. • His grandson Narayana-raya wrote Vikrama-sena-
champu. His brother Bhagavanta-raya wrote Mukunda-
vilasa, Uttara-champu, and Raghavabhyudaya. His
nephew Ananda-raya wrote Ashvala-yana-grhya-sutra-
vritti, Jivananda-nataka, and Vidya-parinaya-
nataka (with a commentary). His grand-nephew
Nrsimha-raya wrote Tripura-vijaya-champu. Dhundiraja
, another writer patronized by Shahaji, wrote the
Sanskrit-language texts Shaha-vilasa-gita and Mudra-
rakshasa-vyakhya.
• Serfoji built the Saraswathi Mahal Librarywithin the
precincts of the palace to house his enormous book
and manuscript collection. Apart from Indian
languages, Serfoji II was proficient in English, French,
Dutch, Greek and Latin as well.

14. Administration
• The king was assisted in the administration of
his country by a council of ministers. The
supreme head of this council of ministers was
a Mantri or Dalavoy. The Dalavoy was also the
Commander-in-chief of the Army. Next in
importance at the court was
a Pradhani or Dewan also called Dabir Pandit.
The country was divided into subahs, seemais
and maganams in the decreasing order of size
and importance. The five subahs of the
country were Pattukkottai, Mayavaram,
Kumbakonam, Mannarkudi and Tiruvadi.

15. Economy
• The ruler collected his taxes from the people through
his mirasdars or puttackdars. They were collected right
from the village level onwards and were based on the
agricultural produce of the village. Rice was one of the
primary crops in the region and the land used for
cultivation was owned by big landlords. It was Anatharama
Sashtry who proposed collecting taxes to improve
conditions for the poor.
• No foreign trade was carried out. The only foreign trade in
the country was carried out by European traders who paid
a particular amount of money as rent to the Raja. The
currency system used was that of a chakram or pon (1
chakram = one and three-fourths of a British East India
Company rupee). Other systems of coinage used were that
of pagoda (1 pagoda = three and a half Company rupees), a
big panam (one-sixth of a Company rupee) and a
small panam (one-thirteenth of a Company rupee).