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History Optional PYQ Master Pack · Model answer

Write brief essay on Chauth and Sardeshmukhi of the Maratha rulers.

  • UPSC 2007
  • The Eighteenth Century

Rather than simply describing what Chauth and Sardeshmukhi were, the more analytically interesting question is what these levies reveal about the nature of Maratha political authority — were they instruments of a genuine protective overlordship, or organised extraction dressed in the language of right?

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What the full answer covers

  • Origins and the Logic of the Two Levies
  • The Interpretive Debate Among Historians
  • Political and Fiscal Consequences Across Regions

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