463 
For having thus emerged from obscurity, and the rustic habits 
of pastoral and agricultural society, to the dominion of vast and 
opulent regions, the Mahrattas are indebted to the two preceding 
heroes: from them the nation assumed a military character, prid- 
ing themselves more on their proficiency in arms than in letters; 
leaving the revenue-department and management of the exchequer 
to the brahmins, who have since become so powerful in the empire. 
Although descended from a rural race, a spirit of enterprize, plun- 
der, and usurpation, is now the prevailing characteristic of this 
reslless nation, ever ready to engage in a desultory kind of war- 
fare, which they conduct with great ease and profit to themselves, 
to the dreadful annoyance of their neighbours. This enterprising 
spirit keeps them in almost perpetual actions, either with foreign 
enemies, domestic rivals, or in military expeditions to collect their 
choute in different and distinct parts of Hindostan. 
The Mahratta army made a rapid increase under the unfortu- 
nate Sambajee: the number of their cavalry and infantry, either 
at that period, or the present day, cannot be exactly ascertained: 
in the middle of the eighteenth century their united forces 
amounted to at least two hundred thousand horse, and fifty thou- 
sand foot, which they can at any time increase considerably with- 
out the least coercion: that indeed forms no part of their system: 
voluntary levies supply ample recruits to an army where no rigour 
of discipline or subordination obstructs the general taste for war 
and predatory excursions. 
Rajee Ram succeeded to the government on the death of his 
brother Sambajee, and the captivity of his nephew Suojee, who 
had been made a prisoner with his father. He maintained his 
