Maratha Confederacy

The term Maratha referred broadly to all the speakers of the Marathi language. The Maratha caste are a Marathi clan originally formed in the earlier centuries from the amalgamation of families from the peasant (Kunbi), shepherd (Dhangar), pastoral (Gawli), blacksmith (Lohar), Sutar (carpenter), Bhandari, Thakar and Koli castes in Maharashtra. Many of them took to military service in the 16th century for the Deccan sultanates or the Mughals. Later in the 17th and 18th centuries, they served in the armies of the Maratha empire, founded by Shivaji, a Maratha by caste. Many Marathas were granted hereditary fiefs by the Sultanates, and Moghuls for their service.

King Shivaji was trapped in the fort of Panhala, under siege and vastly outnumbered by an Adilshahi army led by an Abyssinian named Siddi Masud. Baji Prabhu Deshpande managed to engage a large Adilshahi army with 300 soldiers, while Shivaji managed to escape the siege. Battle of Pävankhind was a rearguard last stand that took place on 13 July 1660 at a mountain pass in the vicinity of fort Vishalgad, near the city of Kolhapur, Maharashtra, India between the Maratha Warrior Baji Prabhu Deshpande and Siddi Masud of Adilshah Sultanate. The engagement ending with the destruction of the Maratha forces, and a tactical victory for the Bijapur Sultanate, but failing to achieve a strategic victory.

In 1652, the Surat Council of the British Empire urged the British East India Company to purchase Bombay from the Portuguese. In 1654, the British East India Company drew the attention of Oliver Cromwell, the Lord protector of the short lived Commonwealth, to this suggestion by the Surat Council, laying great stress upon its excellent harbour and its natural isolation from land-attacks. By the middle of the seventeenth century the growing power of the Dutch Empire forced the English to acquire a station in western India. By the middle of the seventeenth century the growing power of the Dutch Empire forced the English to acquire a station in western India. On 11 May 1661, the marriage treaty of Charles II of England and Catherine of Braganza, daughter of King John IV of Portugal, placed Bombay in the possession of the British Empire, as part of Catherine's dowry to Charles.

In 1666, Aurangzeb summoned Shivaji to Agra (though some sources instead state Delhi), along with his nine-year-old son Sambhaji. Aurangzeb's plan was to send Shivaji to Kandahar, now in Afghanistan, to consolidate the Mughal empire's northwestern frontier. However, in the court, on 12 May 1666, Aurangzeb made Shivaji stand behind mansabdārs (military commanders) of his court. Shivaji took offence and stormed out of court, and was promptly placed under house arrest under the watch of Faulad Khan, Kotwal of Agra. Shivaji managed to escape from Agra, likely by bribing the guards, though the emperor was never able to ascertain how he escaped despite an investigation. A popular legend says that Shivaji smuggled himself and his son out of the house in large baskets, claimed to be sweets to be gifted to religious figures in the city.

Shivaji had acquired extensive lands and wealth through his campaigns, but lacking a formal title, he was still technically a Mughal zamindar or the son of a Bijapuri jagirdar, with no legal basis to rule his de facto domain. A kingly title could address this and also prevent any challenges by other Maratha leaders, to whom he was technically equal. It would also provide the Hindu Marathas with a fellow Hindu sovereign in a region otherwise ruled by Muslims. Shivaji was crowned king of Maratha Swaraj in a lavish ceremony on 6 June 1674 at Raigad fort.

There existed a power vacuum in the Mughal empire, caused by the death of Aurangzeb in 1707, and that of his successor Bahadur Shah, leading to continual internecine conflict within the imperial family and the leading Mughal grandees. While the Mughals were intriguing in the civil war between the factions of Shahu and Tarabai, the Marathas themselves became a major factor in the quarrels between the Emperor and the Sayyids.

Shahu Bhosale I was the fifth Chhatrapati of the Maratha Empire created by his grandfather, Shivaji Maharaj. Shahu, as a child, was taken prisoner along with his mother in 1689 by Mughal sardar, Zulfikar Khan Nusrat Jang after the Battle of Raigarh ( 1689 ). After the death of Aurangzeb in 1707, Shahu was released by Bahadur Shah I, the new Mughal emperor. The Mughals released Shahu with a force of fifty men, thinking that a friendly Maratha leader would be a useful ally and also to incite civil war amongst the Marathas. This ploy did work as Shahu fought a brief war with his aunt Tarabai in an internecine conflict to gain the Maratha throne in 1708. However, the Mughals found themselves with a more powerful enemy in Shahu Maharaj. Under Shahu's reign, Maratha power and influence extended to all corners of the Indian subcontinent. During Shahu's reign, Raghoji Bhosale expanded the empire Eastwards, reaching present-day Bengal. Khanderao Dabhade and later his son, Triambakrao, expanded it Westwards into Gujarat. Peshwa Bajirao and his three chiefs, Pawar (Dhar), Holkar (Indore), and Scindia (Gwalior), expanded it Northwards up to Attock. However, after his death, power moved from the ruling Chhatrapati to his ministers (the Peshwas) and the generals who had carved out their own fiefdoms such as Bhonsle of Nagpur, Gaekwad of Baroda, Sindhia of Gwalior and Holkar of Indore.

During this era, Peshwas belonging to the Bhat family controlled the Maratha Army and later became de facto rulers of the Maratha Empire till 1772. In due course of time, the Maratha Empire dominated most of the Indian subcontinent. Shahu appointed Peshwa Balaji Vishwanath in 1713. From his time, the office of Peshwa became supreme while Shahu became a figurehead. In 1719, an army of Marathas marched to Delhi after defeating Sayyid Hussain Ali, the Mughal governor of Deccan, and deposed the Mughal emperor. The Mughal Emperors became puppets in the hands of their Maratha overlords from this point on. The Mughals became a puppet government of Marathas and gave a quarter of their total revenue as Chauth and additional 10% for their protection.

Baji Rao was appointed Peshwa, succeeding his father, by Shahu on 17 April 1720. In his 20-year military career, he never lost a battle and is widely considered as the greatest Indian cavalry general. Baji Rao is the most celebrated personality after Shivaji in the history of the Maratha Empire. His achievements are establishing Maratha supremacy in South and political hegemony in North. During his 20-year career as Peshwa, he defeated Nizam-ul-Mulk at the Battle of Palkhed and responsible for establishment of Maratha power in Malwa, Bundelkhand, Gujarat, as redeemer of Konkan from Siddis of Janjira and liberator of western coast from the rule of Portuguese.

The Battle of Vasai or the Battle of Bassein was fought between the Marathas and the Portuguese rulers of Vasai, a town lying near Mumbai (Bombay) in the present-day state of Maharashtra, India. The Marathas were led by Chimaji Appa, a brother of Peshwa Baji Rao I. Maratha victory in this war was a major achievement of Baji Rao I's reign.

The Battle of Plassey was a decisive victory of the British East India Company over a much larger force of the Nawab of Bengal and his French allies on 23 June 1757, under the leadership of Robert Clive. The battle helped the Company seize control of Bengal. Over the next hundred years, they seized control of most of the Indian subcontinent, Myanmar, and Afghanistan.

Ahmad Shah Durrani raided India for the fifth time in 1759. The Pashtuns began to organize themselves for armed struggle against the Marathas. The Pashtuns had no time to pass information to Kabul for help. General Jahan Khan advanced and captured a Maratha garrison at Peshawar. Then, the invaders overran Attock. Meanwhile, Sabaji Patil retreated and reached Lahore with fresh troops and a large number of local Sikh fighters of the Sukerchakia and Ahluwalia Misls. In the fierce battle, the Afghans were defeated by the combined forces of the Marathas and the Sukerchakia and Ahluwalia Misls.

When Madhavrao died, there was a power struggle between the brother of Madhavrao (who became Pesha) and Raghunathrao, who wanted to become Peshwa of the empire. The British East India Company, from its base in Bombay, intervened in a succession struggle in Pune, on behalf of Raghunathrao.

The Doji bara famine (also Skull famine) of 1791–92 in the Indian subcontinent was brought on by a major El Niño event lasting from 1789–1795 and producing prolonged droughts. Recorded by William Roxburgh, a surgeon with the British East India Company, in a series of pioneering meteorological observations, the El Niño event caused the failure of the South Asian monsoon for four consecutive years starting in 1789. The resulting famine, which was severe, caused widespread mortality in Hyderabad, Southern Maratha Kingdom, Deccan, Gujarat, and Marwar (then all ruled by Indian rulers).

The Maratha Empire at that time consisted of a confederacy of five major chiefs. The Maratha chiefs were engaged in internal quarrels among themselves. Baji Rao fled to British protection, and in December the same Year concluded the Treaty of Bassein with the British East India Company, ceding territory for the maintenance of a subsidiary force and agreeing to treaty with no other power. The treaty would become the "death knell of the Maratha Empire". The war resulted in a British victory.

On 17 December 1803, Raghoji II Bhonsale of Nagpur signed the Treaty of Deogaon. He gave up the province of Cuttack (which included Mughal and the coastal part of Odisha, Garjat/the princely states of Odisha, Balasore Port, parts of Midnapore district of West Bengal).

On 30 December 1803, the Daulat Scindia signed the Treaty of Surji-Anjangaon with the British after the Battle of Assaye and Battle of Laswari and ceded to the British Rohtak, Gurgaon, Ganges-Jumna Doab, the Delhi-Agra region, parts of Bundelkhand, Broach, some districts of Gujarat and the fort of Ahmmadnagar. The Treaty of Rajghat, signed on 24 December 1805, forced Holkar to give up Tonk, Rampura, and Bundi. Territories ceded to the British were Rohtak, Gurgaon, Ganges-Jumna Doab, the Delhi-Agra region, parts of Bundelkhand, Broach, some districts of Gujarat and the fort of Ahmmadnagar.

The Battle of Assaye was a major battle of the Second Anglo-Maratha War fought between the Maratha Empire and the British East India Company. It occurred on 23 September 1803 near Assaye in western India where an outnumbered Indian and British force under the command of Major General Arthur Wellesley (who later became the Duke of Wellington) defeated a combined Maratha army of Daulatrao Scindia and the Bhonsle Raja of Berar. The battle was the Duke of Wellington's first major victory and the one he later described as his finest accomplishment on the battlefield, even more so than his more famous victories in the Peninsular War, and his defeat of Napoleon Bonaparte at the Battle of Waterloo.

The Third Anglo-Maratha War (1817–1819) was the final and decisive conflict between the British East India Company (EIC) and the Maratha Empire in India. The war left the Company in control of most of India. It began with an invasion of Maratha territory by British East India Company troops, and although the British were outnumbered, the Maratha army was decimated. The war left the British, under the auspices of the British East India Company, in control of virtually all of present-day India south of the Sutlej River. The famed Nassak Diamond was seized by the Company as part of the spoils of the war. The Peshwa's territories were absorbed into the Bombay Presidency and the territory seized from the Pindaris became the Central Provinces of British India. The princes of Rajputana became symbolic feudal lords who accepted the British as the paramount power.

Key Findings:

• Some historians have credited the Maratha Navy for laying the foundation of the Indian Navy and bringing significant changes in naval warfare.
• Nearly all the hill forts, which dot the landscape of present-day western Maharashtra were built by the Marathas.
• During the 18th century, the Peshwas of Pune brought significant changes to the town of Pune, building dams, bridges, and an underground water supply system.
• Queen Ahilyabai Holkar has been noted as a just ruler and an avid patron of religion. She has been credited for building, repairing and numerous temples in the town of Maheshwar in Madhya Pradesh and across North India.
• The Maratha rulers of Tanjore (present-day Tamil Nadu) were patrons of fine arts and their reign has been considered as the golden period of Tanjore history. Art and culture reached new heights during their rule
• Several majestic palaces were built by Maratha principalities which include the Shaniwar Wada (built by the Peshwas of Pune).