Thanjavur Maratha Kingdom: Map & History

History

Following the end of Chola rule in 1279, the Kaveri delta passed to the Pandyas. The region was subsequently targeted during the 14th-century campaigns of Delhi Sultanate. Regional Pandya authority was restored until the territory was incorporated into the Vijayanagara Empire in the late 14th-century. Vijayanagara Emperors appointed military governors (nayakas) belonging to the Telugu Balija community to govern Madurai and Tanjavur. In 1673, territorial and dynastic friction between Chokkanatha Nayak of Madurai and Vijayaraghava Nayaka of Thanjavur escalated into open war, resulting in the defeat of Thanjavur.

During the 1673 invasion, Vijayaraghava was killed and Chokkanatha installed his foster-brother Alagiri as governor.

Economy

The state revenues were derived principally from agrarian taxation assessed on the region's paddy yield. The tax was collected through village-level intermediaries, known as mirasdars or puttackdars. Cultivable delta lands were largely held by landed proprietors and religious endowments. The revenue was remitted partly in grain and partly in cash.

External trade operated through coastal ports such as Nagapattinam and Nagore, alongside Danish-held Tranquebar. European companies leased trading posts and paid annual customs duties to the court. The circulating coinage included the chakram (or pon), pegged at roughly 1.75 Company rupees. Other coinage included gold pagoda (valued at 3.5 Company rupees) and copper or silver fractional denominations known as panams.

Literature and culture

The Thanjavur Maratha rulers patronized multilingual literary compositions in Marathi, Sanskrit, Telugu, and Tamil.

The notable Marathi authors from the Thanjavur Maratha kingdom include Raghunatha Pandita, Ananda-tanaya, Gosavi-nandana and Subhan Rao. They mainly composed devotional songs, biographical accounts of the ruling family, adapatations of Puranic narratives and the splendours of Thanjavur.

In 1693, Shahuji I granted the village of Thiruvisanallur (renamed Shahaji-raja-puram) as an agraharam to forty-five Sanskrit scholars and poets. These scholars included Ramabhadra Dikshita, Bhaskara Dikshita, Veda-kavi, Mahadeva-kavi, and the polymath Shridhara Venkatesha Ayyaval.