Bajirao I

Also called: Peshwa Bajirao · Topic: The Marathas · NCERT: Class 8, Ch 3 "The Marathas"

Meaning

Bajirao I (also called Peshwa Bajirao) was the Peshwa (chief minister) of the Marathas from 1720 to 1740, during the reign of Chhatrapati Shahu (1708–49) [3]. He was a fast-moving cavalry general who took Maratha power out of the Deccan and into north and central India.

He matters because he turned the Peshwa into the real head of the Maratha state. His campaigns started the pan-Indian expansion that his son Nanasaheb Peshwa carried further.

Explanation

Background: why a Peshwa became so powerful

• After Shivaji, the Marathas fought a long war against Aurangzeb. Aurangzeb died (1707) without subduing the Marathas [2].
• Shivaji's state was centralised. The king controlled the forts, the pay and the revenue.
• The long war changed this.
• Local chiefs raised and paid their own troops.
• So real power moved to the chiefs on the ground.

• The Chhatrapati (the Maratha king's title) stayed head of state only in name.

• The Peshwa (a Persian word meaning 'prime minister') became the strongest office. He came to have great influence, even over the Chhatrapati.

• Britannica calls the Peshwa the chief minister of the Maratha confederacy [3][4]. A confederacy is a loose union of chiefs.
• Bajirao I took this office in 1720, under Shahu [3][4]. In settled textbook history he followed his father, Balaji Vishwanath.

His campaigns: from the Deccan to the north

• Strategy: He used light, fast cavalry. His armies raided deep into enemy land and avoided long sieges.
• Against the Nizam: He defeated the Nizam of Hyderabad at the Battle of Palkhed (1728). This is settled textbook history. The Nizam ruled the Deccan for the Mughals but acted on his own. After this defeat he had to accept Maratha claims in the Deccan.
• Malwa and Gujarat: He spread Maratha control into these two rich Mughal provinces. By his death, the Maratha state had already pushed its influence into Malwa and Gujarat [3].
• Bundelkhand: He helped the Bundela ruler Chhatrasal against Mughal forces. This gave the Marathas a foothold in central India.
• Delhi raid (1737): His cavalry rode up to the outskirts of Delhi, the Mughal capital. He did not capture the city. But the raid showed how weak the Mughal emperor had become.

How the new Maratha power worked

• Chauth and sardeshmukhi paid for the expansion.
• Chauth: 25 per cent of the land revenue claimed by the Marathas.

• Sardeshmukhi: a further 9–10 per cent paid to the head revenue collector of the area.

• Areas that paid these were spared Maratha raids.

• Strong commanders became regional chiefs. In settled textbook history, families such as the Shindes (Scindias), Holkars and Gaekwads rose during this period. They later ruled their own lands inside the confederacy.
• Pune grew into the Peshwa's main base.

Results

• Bajirao I died in 1740. His son Balaji Bajirao, popularly called Nana Saheb, became Peshwa [3].
• The decentralised system had two sides.
• Strength: chiefs could act quickly and campaign far away.

• Weakness: some chiefs were undisciplined. The clearest case came later: the ten-year campaign in Bengal brought great cruelty to ordinary people.

• His push north started the march that later reached Lahore, Attock and Peshawar. It also led to the clash with the Afghans at Panipat in 1761 [5].

Time, place and evidence

• Period: 1720–1740, the early 18th century. The Mughal empire was breaking up after Aurangzeb's death in 1707.
• Ruler: Chhatrapati Shahu (1708–49), Sambhaji's son, who grew up in Mughal custody [2][3].
• Regions: the Deccan, Malwa, Gujarat, Bundelkhand and the area around Delhi.
• Key people:
• Shahu, the Chhatrapati.
• Bajirao I, the Peshwa.
• The Nizam, his main Deccan rival.

• His son Balaji Bajirao (Nanasaheb), who came after him [3].

• Rival Maratha line: Tarabai refused to accept Shahu's rule in 1708. The Kolhapur line came from her and Rajaram [2]. So the Peshwas served the Satara (Shahu) branch of the Maratha royal family.

• How we know: this entry relies on the NCERT Class 8, Ch 3 "The Marathas" and Britannica accounts of the Marathas and the Peshwas [3][4].

Don't confuse with

• Balaji Vishwanath: Bajirao I's father, the Peshwa before him (until 1720). He made the Peshwa's office powerful. Bajirao I used that power to expand far beyond Maharashtra.
• Bajirao II: the last Peshwa, who was defeated by the British. The Peshwa's office ended when the Anglo-Maratha wars ended in 1818. Bajirao I belongs to the rise of the Peshwas, not their fall.
• Nanasaheb Peshwa (Balaji Bajirao): Bajirao I's son, Peshwa from 1740 [3]. Panipat (1761) happened in his time, not Bajirao I's. He is a different person from the Nana Saheb of the 1857 revolt, who was the adopted son of Bajirao II.
• Chhatrapati vs Peshwa: the Chhatrapati (Shahu) was the king. The Peshwa (Bajirao I) was the chief minister who held the real power. Bajirao I was never king.

Prelims Hooks

• Bajirao I was Peshwa 1720–1740, under Chhatrapati Shahu (1708–49) [3].
• Peshwa is a Persian word meaning 'prime minister'.
• Battle of Palkhed (1728): Bajirao I defeated the Nizam.
• 1737: Bajirao I's cavalry raided up to Delhi.
• His son Balaji Bajirao = Nanasaheb Peshwa, Peshwa from 1740 [3].
• Order of Peshwas: Balaji Vishwanath → Bajirao I → Balaji Bajirao (Nanasaheb) → Madhavrao I. Trap: the Third Battle of Panipat (14 January 1761) was not fought under Bajirao I [5].

Mains Points

• From survival to empire. Tarabai's raids had already moved the Marathas from defence to attack. Bajirao I turned those raids into a planned northward expansion into Malwa and Gujarat [3]. This filled the gap the Mughals left after 1707 and made the Marathas the leading power in India.
• Peshwa power: a strength and a weakness. The Peshwa ran a chief-driven, decentralised state. That made fast, far-reaching campaigns possible. But it also weakened central control, which showed later in the Bengal campaign and in the split command at Panipat. One good answer line: under Bajirao I the Maratha polity gave up control to gain reach.
• What his raids did to the Mughals. The 1737 raid on Delhi showed that the Mughal emperor could no longer defend his own capital. Bajirao I's career shows how the Mughal empire broke up into regional powers in the 18th century, and how regional states, not the old empire, shaped Indian politics until the British arrived.

Related concepts

• Sambhaji
• Rajaram
• Tarabai
• Shahu
• Balaji Vishwanath
• Balaji Bajirao
• Third battle of Panipat
• Madhavrao I
• Mahadji Shinde

Read more

• After Shivaji: from survival to pan-Indian empire