BharatNotes Chauth
nounUsage in a UPSC answer
By institutionalising the collection of chauth and sardeshmukhi, Shivaji and his successors converted military pressure into a structured fiscal claim, financing the Maratha confederacy while steadily eroding the revenue base and sovereignty of the declining Mughal empire.
Synonyms
Antonyms
Word Family
chauth (n), chauthai (Sanskrit/Hindi adj — of a fourth part), chaturtha (Sanskrit ordinal — fourth)
Root
Sanskrit chaturtha (चतुर्थ) = one-fourth; reflects the exact 25% proportion of revenue demanded by the Marathas
Etymology
From Sanskrit chaturtha (चतुर्थ, "one-fourth"), reflecting the exact proportion of revenue demanded; the tax became a major source of Maratha income from the early 18th century and was formalised through a Mughal farman in 1719.
Memory Hook
"Chauth" echoes "fourth" — and that is exactly what it was: one-fourth of the revenue. Think CHAUTH = quarter cut taken by the Marathas.
How This Word Works in UPSC Writing
A levy of one-fourth of the revenue of territories outside direct Maratha administration. Its significance lies in what it was not: not a land tax on Maratha subjects but a claim on other rulers' revenues, so it functioned as a fiscal instrument of expansion, allowing the Marathas to draw income from regions they had not conquered or had no wish to administer. That kept the cost of empire low while steadily hollowing out the resources of the states paying it. It moved from an extraction backed by the threat of raids to a recognised legal right in 1719, when the emperor Rafi-ud-Darajat, placed on the throne by the Sayyid brothers, granted Chhatrapati Shahu the right to collect chauth across the six Deccan subas, the Marathas undertaking in return to maintain a contingent for the emperor. Richard Temple later called that settlement the Magna Carta of the Maratha Empire.
Don’t Confuse It With
Chauth was one-fourth of the assessed revenue and sardeshmukhi a further one-tenth, so the two were separate claims levied together rather than one tax. Chauth was a claim on the revenue of other rulers, unlike a land revenue levied on one's own cultivators. Tribute is paid by a subordinate ruler as acknowledgement of overlordship, which is close to what chauth became after 1719. A protection payment describes what it was before that, since it purchased freedom from raids rather than any service.
Hindi Meaning
चौथ (chauth); सरदेशमुखी (sardeshmukhī) for the companion levy.
Common Questions
- What was chauth?
- A levy of one-fourth of the revenue of territories the Marathas did not directly administer, originally purchasing immunity from raids and later recognised as a legal right.
- How did chauth become legitimate?
- By the Mughal farmans of 1719, under which the emperor granted Shahu the right to collect it across the six Deccan subas in return for Maratha military service and the keeping of order.
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