From the Mughal empire to Maratha swarajya: The mahzar nama of 1733

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Certain documents presented on this website capture major moments of historic change, such as the decline of the Mughal empire and the rise of the Maratha empire in South Asia. Unlike court chronicles (official histories) these documents offer a glimpse of the experiences of ordinary people. Unlike literary sources, they also present very real, direct concerns, in plain language.

For an introduction to the Mughal empire, click here.

For an introduction to the Maratha empire, click here.

The people, the place, and the quarrel

One such document is a record of collective testimony, written in the year 1733 CE in the city of Dhar in central India. Dhar was an ancient city, a district headquarters, and part of the Mughal province called Malwa. It records how wealthy people of the area, especially those that held Mughal grants, were forced to negotiate with the invading Maratha army.

This document brings together a variety of people related to the Mughal and Maratha empires. This involves the obscure Mughal official and revenue rights-holder, Shaikh Alimullah, the complainant himself, obviously hard-pressed by the broader change in circumstances. There are the Maratha sardars (warlords) - Mahadji Shinde, Malhar Rao Holkar, Anand Rao Puwar - jointly invading Malwa. They would eventually set up semi-autonomous kingdoms headquartered at Gwalior, Indore and Dhar, respectively. There is a cryptic reference to the great Mughal Rajput noble Raja Jai Singh II, sometime governor of Malwa province, who was known to have been sympathetic to the incoming Marathas, or at least, pragmatic about the need to compromise with them. And then there are a host of local notables making their appearance as witnesses, including Muslim sheikhs who were probably associated with the Kamal Maula shrine, members of local landlord families, and hereditary village officials. As such, it is a snapshot of Malwa society as affected by the passing of empires.

Click here for a map of the Mughal empire in 1733.

Petitioning and protest

This document is of a type that is known as a mahzar nama. It is typically a document of collective testimony, prepared during a dispute, similar to affidavits in common law systems. A mahzar nama usually consists of a plain description of events leading up to the dispute, then the claims, followed by an appeal for attestation to a wide audience. Those attesting to the veracity of the document's claims usually add their names, and sometimes personal seals around the margins of the document, as they have done in this case.

In the Indian subcontinent during Mughal rule (1526-1700s) the official language of administration was Persian, although at lower levels and in villages, records were often kept in local languages and scripts. In documents that were produced by people of their own initiative, such as mahzar namas, people often chose to do so add their comments and signatures in languages that they felt some personal affinity towards. In this document, we see that people had added their attestation in Persian, Arabic, and Hindi.

Most, if not all, mahzar namas were sealed by the local judge. Under the Mughal empire, that local judge would be an Islamic judge, or qazi (called qadi in Arabic). The qazi's jurisdiction was not limited to Muslims, nor to religious matters alone. In this case, given the political and monetary importance of the matters under dispute, three qazis sealed the document.

To learn more about law courts and legal practices in the Mughal empire, see the Legal Authorities essays.

Change and continuity between regimes

This document shows that despite the dislocation of war and military invasion, the people of Dhar believed in legal contracts based on Mughal law. Despite the odds, they tried to negotiate with the invading Marathas on the basis of agreements, and surprisingly, the victorious Maratha generals engaged in negotiations on this basis.

Next steps

Further readings

Nandini Chatterjee, "Mahzar-namas in the Mughal and British Empires: The Uses of an Indo-Islamic Legal Form", Comparative Studies in Society and History, 58/2 (2016): 379-406. Pre-print version available here.

Stewart Gordon, "The Slow Conquest: Administrative Integration of Malwa into the Maratha Empire, 1720-1760," Modern Asian Studies, 11: 1 (1977), 1-40.

Modern Asian Studies, special issue on Petitioning and Political Cultures in South Asia, 53: 1 (2019)

Suggested questions for discussion:

How do you think people involved use this mahzar nama?

Evaluate the language used to make the claims this document does.

How are peasants represented in the claims?

How does this document show how people experienced conquest?

Should we think of the Maratha empire as Hindu rebellion against Muslim oppression?

Look at this document or other document clusters by shared features or theme:

Documents with attestations

Documents related to the Maratha empire

Documents addressing the themes of agriculture; desertion and depopulation; taxation and tribute; and war