Maratha Confederacy: Difference between revisions

{{Short description|Indian political entity (1674–1818)}}

The '''Maratha Confederacy''',{{efn|({{IPAc-en|m|@|'|r|a:|t|@}} {{Respell|muh|RAH|ta}};<ref>{{Cite book |last=Upton |first=Clive |title=The Routledge dictionary of pronunciation for current English |last2=Kretzschmar |first2=William A. |date=2017 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-138-12566-7 |edition=2nd |location=London ; New York |pages=803}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |title=Pronouncing dictionary of proper names: pronunciations for more than 28,000 proper names, selected for currency, frequency, or difficulty of pronunciation |date=1998 |publisher=Omnigraphics |isbn=978-0-7808-0098-4 |editor-last=Bollard |editor-first=John K. |edition=2nd |location=Detroit, Mich |pages=633}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Upton |first=Clive |url=https://www.worldcat.org/title/ocm46433686 |title=The Oxford dictionary of pronunciation for current English |last2=Kretzschmar |first2=William A. |last3=Konopka |first3=Rafal |date=2001 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-863156-9 |location=Oxford |pages=622 |oclc=ocm46433686}}</ref> {{IPA-mr|məˈɾaːʈʰaː}})}} also referred to as the '''Maratha Empire''', was an [[early modern India|early modern]] [[polity]] in the [[Indian subcontinent|Indian subcontinent]] comprising the realms of the [[Peshwa]] and four independent [[List of Maratha dynasties and states|Maratha chiefs]]<ref>{{cite book|title=Western India in the Nineteenth Century: A Study in the Social History of Maharashtra|first=Ravinder|last=Kumar|date=2013|url=https://books.google.co.in/books?id=1djYAQAAQBAJ&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&hl=en&redir_esc=y|quote=Prominent among these chiefs were the Bhonsles who established themselves in Nagpur; the Scindhias who gained control of Gwalior; the Gaekwads who set themselves up in Baroda; and the Holkars who seized hold of Indore. Between the Peshwas and the Maratha chiefs there subsisted a relationship which it is most difficult to define. The chiefs were to all intents and purposes independent, yet they recognised the Peshwa as the head of the Maratha polity}}</ref> who were often subordinate to the former. It was formed in 1674 with the coronation of [[Shivaji]] of the [[House of Bhonsle (Royal House)|House of Bhonsle]] as the [[Chhatrapati of the Marathas]]. The Maratha realm was recognised by [[Bahadur Shah I]], the [[List of Mughal emperors|Shahenshah of Hindustan]] as a [[tributary state]] in 1707 after a [[Deccan wars|prolonged rebellion]].<ref>{{cite book|last1=Haig L|first1=t-Colonel Sir Wolseley|title=The Cambridge History of India. Volume 3 (III). Turks and Afghans|date=1967|publisher=Cambridge University press|location=Cambridge UK|isbn=9781343884571|pages=395|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yoI8AAAAIAAJ&q=%22SAyYID+BROTHERS%22+balaji+vishwanath&pg=PA1|access-date=12 May 2017}}</ref> The Marathas continued to recognise the [[Shahenshah]] as their nominal [[suzerain]] similar to other contemporary Indian entities.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Raj and the Rajas : Money and Coinage in Colonial India|last=Garg|first=Sanjay|date=2022|publisher=Taylor & Francis|url=https://books.google.com/books/about/The_Raj_and_the_Rajas.html?id=0MudEAAAQBAJ|quote=From the Mughal point of view, the hostilities between the Company Bahadur and the Marathas could appear as a troublesome contest for power between the Imperial Diwan of Bengal and the Vakil-i Mutlaq or Imperial Regent. The actual participants of course were considerably more cynical of the position of the Emperor, both the English and Scindia treating their suzerain lord with scant respect..The paramount position of the Mughal within the rituals of supreme and sovereign authority may be amply demonstrated by reference to the coins of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Following the doctrine of khutba and sikka, new claimants to hegemony could be expected to be revealed on the coins of different jurisdictions. Yet for much of India they are not to be found. Reference to the graph at the end of this paper will confirm that both the Marathas and the British coined in the name of the Mughal.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Advanced Study in the History of Modern India 1707-1813|first=Jaswant|last=Mehta|date=2005|url=https://books.google.co.in/books?id=d1wUgKKzawoC&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&hl=en&redir_esc=y|quote=Vishwanath consolidated the Maratha power in the Deccan and led an expeditionary force to Delhi (1718-19) as an ally of the Sayyad brothers. He made the Maratha presence felt at the metropolis for the first time, secured the release of Shahu's family members from Mughal captivity, and obtained the confirmation of the Mughal-Maratha Treaty of 1718 from the Emperor. This treaty, by which Shahu accepted the nominal suzerainty of the Mughal Crown in return for his right to collect chauth and sardeshmukhi from all the six provinces of 'the Mughal Deccan'...Delhi became the hub of Maratha political and military activities with effect from 1752, and they used the Mughal emperor as a mere tool in their hands to wield the imperial powers in his name and under his nominal suzerainty.}}</ref>

After Emperor Aurangzeb's death in 1707, Shivaji's grandson [[Shahu I|Shahu]] under the leadership of Peshwa Bajirao revived Maratha power and confided a great deal of authority to the Bhat family, who became hereditary [[peshwa]]s ([[prime minister]]s). After he died in 1749, they became the effective rulers. The leading Maratha families—Scindia, Holkar, Bhonsle, and Gaekwad—extended their conquests in northern and central India and became more independent and difficult to control. The Marathas' rapid expansion was halted with the great [[Third Battle of Panipat|defeat of Panipat]] in 1761, at the hands of the Afghans however within a decade they recovered most of their territories under their new Peshwa [[Madhavrao I]] but his death in 1772 ended{{Quotation needed|date=May 2024}} the power of the Peshwas.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Nandakumar |first=Sanish |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8AbPDwAAQBAJ&dq=maratha+resurrection&pg=PT41 |title=Rise and Fall of The Maratha Empire 1750-1818 |date=2020-02-07 |publisher=Notion Press |isbn=978-1-64783-961-1 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Ghosh |first=D. K. Ed |url=http://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.149767 |title=A Comprehensive History Of India Vol. 9 |pages=512–523}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=New Cambridge History of India |url=http://archive.org/details/the-marathas-1600-1818-cambridge-history-of-india-vol.-2-part-4 |title=The Marathas - Cambridge History of India (Vol. 2, Part 4)}}</ref>

The Maratha state was a confederacy of four Rajas under the leadership of the Peshwa at [[Poona]] (now Pune) in [[western India]] from 1721 till 1818. These were the [[Baroda State|Raja of Baroda]] of the [[Gaekwad dynasty|House of Gaekwad]], the [[Indore State|Raja of Indore]] of the [[Holkars|House of Holkar]], the [[House of Scindia]], and the [[Nagpur kingdom|Raja of Nagpur]] of the [[Bhonsles of Nagpur|House of Bhonsle]], while the Peshwa's dominions included the territories that later became the [[Bombay Province]]{{efn|(excluding Sind)}} and [[Central Provinces]]. After he was defeated by the Holkar dynasty in 1802, the Peshwa [[Baji Rao II]] sought protection from the Company, whose intervention destroyed the confederacy by 1818 after the [[Second Anglo-Maratha War|Second]] and [[Third Anglo-Maratha War]]s.{{Citation needed|date=February 2024}} The confederacy after 1737 extended from modern-day [[Maharashtra]]{{sfnp|Mehta|2005|p=204}} in the south to [[Gwalior]] in the north after the [[Battle of Bhopal]] (1737), to [[Orissa]] in the east{{sfnp|Sen|2010|p=16}} or about a third of the subcontinent. A large portion of the Maratha realm was coastline, which had been secured by the potent [[Maratha Navy]] under commanders such as [[Kanhoji Angre]]. He successfully kept foreign naval ships at bay, particularly those of the Portuguese and British.{{sfnp|Pagdi|1993|p=21}}