Empire of Shivaji Maharaj

The Empire of Shivaji Maharaj was huge from Ramnagar (modern Dharampur) in the north to Karwar in the south, in the east it included Baglan, half of the Nasik and the Poona districts, the whole of Satara and much of Kolhapur district. These territories formed his Swaraj. In addition to the above, he had conquered the Western Karnataka extending from Belgaum to the bank of the river Tungabhadra. All this territory was divided into three provinces, each under a governor. Besides the above, Shivaji had conquered and annexed the country extending from the Tungabhadra opposite Koppal to Vellore and Jinji. This included the northern, central and eastern parts of the modern state of Mysore, and parts of the districts of Bellary, Chittur and Arcot in Madras. In addition to these, he had imperfectly conquered the Kanara region which included the principalities of Sunda and Bednur and southern part of Dharwad.

Outside the above regions, a large area in the Dakhin was under his sphere of influence, though it did not recognize his sovereignty. This area consisted of a large part of the Mughal Dakhin from where Shivaji levied chauth or one-fourth of the standard assessment of the land revenue.

Shivaji’s kingdom contained two hundred and forty forts and yielded good revenue.

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