The Marathas

1. Who are the Marathas: land, language, bhakti foundation

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• The Marathas are natives of the Deccan plateau, chiefly present-day Maharashtra, identified by their language Marathi — a rich, continuous literary history since the 12th century (literary history = the development of prose/poetry writing in a language).
• Political backdrop: in the 13th century most of Maharashtra was ruled by the Yadava dynasty from Devagiri (present-day Daulatabad); in the early 14th century the Yadavas were overcome by the Khilji Sultanate of Delhi.
• Through these political changes the bhakti tradition (devotion to the divine) continued. Between the 7th and 17th centuries, saints across India from diverse social sections composed devotional songs in the languages of the masses, preferring bhakti to mere external ritualism.
• Maharashtra's saints — Dnyaneshwar, Namdev, Tukaram, Ramdas — translated texts like the Upanishads and the Bhagavad Gita into Marathi, making philosophy accessible; some also worked on social organisation and political awareness (the chapter compares this to the Sikh gurus). Result: a solid cultural foundation that later helped the Marathas organise as a political power.
• By the 17th century some Maratha chiefs attempted sovereignty but failed — until Chhatrapati Shivaji united them.

2. Rise of Chhatrapati Shivaji and the idea of Swarajya

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• Born 1630 in the Bhonsle clan to Shahji and Jijabai. Shahji served the Deccan sultanates and was often away; Shivaji grew up in the family's jagir at Pune under Jijabai and trusted officials.
• Jagir = land given by a ruler as reward for service; the holder collected its taxes to maintain himself and assist the king when needed.
• The Pune region suffered from constant infighting between the Deccan sultans whom Marathas served — hardship for common people shaped Shivaji's outlook.
• At age 16 he launched military campaigns, first consolidating Pune by capturing neglected, unoccupied forts and strengthening their defences.
• Swarajya — his vision of a sovereign kingdom — grew to span political, economic and cultural dimensions.
• Expanding to the west coast, he created a navy to secure coastal resources — a revolutionary step (chapter's assessment): Bijapur (Adil Shahi) kept merchant ships but no full-time protective navy; even the Mughal use of a navy was very limited.

3. Against Bijapur and the Mughals: the famous episodes

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• Guerrilla warfare = small groups using speed, surprise and knowledge of terrain to defeat bigger armies — Shivaji's signature tactic.

Episode	What happened
Afzal Khan (Bijapur general)	Lured to a one-on-one meeting at the foot of Pratapgad fort amid thick forests; Shivaji killed him with the wagh nakh ("tiger's claw", a small claw-shaped weapon); hidden Marathas routed his army with guerrilla attacks
Shaista Khan (Mughal noble)	Invaded Shivaji's territories for three years; Shivaji's night raid on his camp with a few soldiers — Khan lost fingers, fled Maharashtra; the chapter likens it to a modern surgical strike
Sack of Surat (twice)	Retaliation on the wealthy Mughal port (present-day Gujarat); treasure worth almost one crore rupees; religious places untouched; spared the house of the charitable Mohandas Parekh; reported in the London Gazette (Shivaji's demand to European agents for 'immediate presents of money')
Treaty of Purandar	After Surat, Aurangzeb sent the Rajput general Jai Singh; Shivaji conceded defeat at Purandar fort (near Pune), surrendered a sizeable part of the kingdom; son Sambhaji entered Mughal service
Agra escape	Persuaded to visit Agra, insulted in Aurangzeb's court, put under house arrest; escaped with Sambhaji hidden in gift baskets of fruits and sweets (guards had stopped checking); Aurangzeb never captured him again

4. Coronation, southern conquest and Shivaji's legacy

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• 1674: coronation with full Vedic rites at the mountain fortress of Raigad; formal title "Shri Raja Shiva Chhatrapati"; started his own era, the Rajyabhisheka shaka.
• Dakshina-digvijaya — conquest of the South: the ill-defended region of present-day northern Tamil Nadu and parts of Karnataka; this southern extension later gave the Marathas strategic depth against the Mughal invasion.
• While in the South he forbade the Dutch from trading slaves — Europeans were then capturing and selling Indians as slaves with no opposition from Indian powers until Shivaji intervened.
• Died of a fever at fifty (born 1630; the chapter's map shows his kingdom "about 1680"). Contemporary fame: Europeans compared him to Alexander; the Bundela prince Chhatrasal, inspired by him, carved out an independent Bundelkhand (present-day UP/MP); the Hindi poet Bhushan came to Maharashtra to compose poems in his praise.

5. After Shivaji: from survival to pan-Indian empire

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• Shivaji's sons: Sambhaji and Rajaram. Sambhaji succeeded as Chhatrapati; the Marathas were the only obstacle to total Mughal control of the Deccan.
• Aurangzeb conquered Bijapur (Adil Shahi) and Golconda (Qutb Shahi), then captured Sambhaji, tortured and executed him, and took Raigad, the capital.
• Rajaram fled to Gingee (present-day Tamil Nadu) — the Mughal–Maratha conflict spread to south India. The Marathas defended their fortresses staunchly; Aurangzeb could not leave the Deccan and died without subduing them.
• Tarabai (Rajaram's queen) then led large-scale inroads into Mughal territories — the Marathas moved from defence to conquest of large parts of India.
• Structural transformation: Shivaji's centralised state gave way to a decentralised structure — nominally centred on the Chhatrapati, but with chiefs wielding more power. The Peshwa (Persian for 'prime minister') came to wield great influence, even over the Chhatrapati; Bajirao I and his son Nanasaheb Peshwa drove the pan-Indian expansion.
• Rule was generally good, but regional chiefs' autonomy bred occasional indiscipline and abuse — e.g. the ten-year campaign in Bengal inflicted much cruelty on common people, in stark contrast with Shivaji's values.
• Northward reach: briefly controlled Lahore, Attock and even Peshawar. Panipat 1761 — disastrous defeat against the Afghans; quick recovery under Peshwa Madhavrao I; Mahadji Shinde (Scindia) recaptured Delhi in 1771, held until the British took it three decades later.

6. Anglo-Maratha wars and the fall

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• In the latter half of the 18th century the Marathas were the chief rivals of the British in India.
• Three Anglo-Maratha wars, 1775–1818. Causes of defeat: increased internal disunity of the Marathas vs the superior organisational and technological abilities of the British.
• Chapter's verdict (a claim to attribute, not settled scholarship): "the British took India from the Marathas more than from the Mughals or any other power."
• Nana Phadnavis, a powerful official under the Peshwas, is credited (per the chapter) with organising the first pan-Indian anti-British alliance — uniting even old adversaries Hyder Ali of Mysore and the Nizam of Hyderabad. A mural shows a British officer surrendering before Nana Phadnavis and Mahadji Shinde after the first Anglo-Maratha war.

7. Civilian administration, revenue, justice and trade

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Shivaji's centralised model:

• Abolished hereditary posts and land assignments (the norm under Sultans/Mughals); every official drew a salary from the state treasury; officials periodically transferred so none grew powerful enough to dictate to the king.
• Welfare: pensions to widows of soldiers killed in battle; military posts offered to their sons.
• The teak-tree letter: officials could cut teak for the navy with forest permission, but mango and jackfruit trees were not to be touched — people rear them "like their children"; "if you accomplish something by oppressing others, it perishes soon, along with the oppressor." Evidence of governance values; officials were forbidden to seize even "a blade of grass".
• Ashta pradhana mandala — council of eight ministers assisting the king (the chapter presents the full council in a diagram). Posts named in the running text:

Post	Role in Class 8 Part 1, Ch 3 "The Marathas"
Peshwa	'Prime minister' (a Persian term); under the later Marathas, wielded influence even over the Chhatrapati
Amatya	Finance minister — Ramachandrapant Amatya, author of the Adnyapatra

Revenue from outside the directly ruled area:

Levy	Rate	Terms
Chauth	25%	From provinces not directly under the Marathas (Deccan and north India)
Sardeshmukhi	additional 10% on top of chauth	Same provinces

• In return the Marathas protected those provinces and did not intervene in internal administration; the Mughals approved the arrangement through treaties; over time some provinces merged into the Maratha Empire.

Justice: efficient system, remarkable moderation in capital punishment; the panchayat (a local gathering of officials and prominent men — not the modern governmental Panchayat) was the main justice-delivering body; appeal lay to a Maratha chief; the kotwal (police) kept law and order in prominent towns such as Pune and Indore.

Trade: Shivaji encouraged and personally participated in maritime trade — he and his officials owned ships sailing to Mocha (Yemen), Muscat (Oman) and Malacca (Malaysia), carrying cargo such as gold and textiles. Roads built and maintained; bridges over rivers; an 18th-century ferry network in Odisha for riverine transport.

8. Military organisation: army, forts, navy

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• Three wings: infantry, cavalry, navy. Cavalry of two types — bargirs (horses and equipment paid by the state) vs shiledars (paid by the soldiers themselves).
• Weapons: swords and lances preferred; guns used in sizable numbers; rockets from Shivaji's own days, and metal-tube rockets by 1770. In the 18th century the Marathas raised European-style disciplined troops and artillery — Mahadji Shinde kept a large European-style army.
• Forts — the initial mainstay of Maratha power: Shivaji built and controlled a considerable number to command routes and shelter the army during guerrilla warfare. Ramachandrapant Amatya (Shivaji's finance minister) in the Adnyapatra ('The Royal Edict', 1715): "Forts are the core of the state… This kingdom was created by the late great master from forts alone… it was due to forts that the state survived despite decades of onslaught" (by Aurangzeb, conqueror of Bijapur and Bhaganagar).
• The Adnyapatra also warns against the "hat-wearers" — Portuguese, English, Dutch, French, Danes: "not like other merchants… fully intent on entering this land, increasing their territory and propagating their religion… Navy and gunpowder are their chief weapons. Their traffic should be controlled, and they shouldn't be allowed to build strong buildings."
• Navy: Kanhoji Angre (18th century) won many naval battles through clever use of geography and tactics, despite technologically inferior ships. Europeans forced Indians to buy naval trade passes (cartaz, Portuguese); ships without one were confiscated. The Marathas turned the system back on the Europeans, demanding passes from them — the frustrated Europeans branded Angre a 'pirate'.
• 1665 Muscat episode: four of Shivaji's ships reached Muscat and were seized, crews arrested; the ruler of Oman prepared to attack Shivaji's coast — but on hearing the Maratha navy had more than a hundred ships, retreated into his harbour.
• Key naval fortification: Sindhudurg fort near the Maharashtra–Goa border.

9. Cultural revival and the Maratha women

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• Sanskrit seal: Shivaji's seal carried a Sanskrit inscription — a notable departure from prevalent Persian seals — "This seal of Chhatrapati Shivaji, the son of Shahji, waxing like the new moon, revered by the world, reigns for the welfare (of the people)."
• Rajya-Vyavahara-Kosha: treatise commissioned by Shivaji giving Sanskrit equivalents for Persian words in diplomatic use — foreign loanwords in Maratha diplomacy fell considerably.
• Coinage: Shivaji minted gold and copper coins in his own name using Devanagari — an assertion of sovereignty and cultural identity. In the 18th century Marathas often adopted the popular Mughal style of coinage with their own symbols — e.g. the rare 'Ganapati-Pantapradhan rupee' (early 19th century, minted by the Patwardhans, generals under the Peshwa): Devanagari + Persian scripts, one side invoking Ganapati, the other declaring loyalty to the Peshwa ('Pantapradhan' in Marathi).
• Modi script — a cursive form of Devanagari — was the main Maratha correspondence script.
• A devout Hindu who respected other religions: rebuilt desecrated temples, promoted Sanskrit and Marathi literature, religious institutions and traditional arts; his saffron flag was adopted by all Marathas. The Bhonsles of Nagpur revived the worship of Jagannath at Puri (Odisha), often interrupted under Mughal rule.

Woman ruler	Achievements (Class 8 Part 1, Ch 3 "The Marathas")
Tarabai (Rajaram's queen; ruled early 18th c.)	Seeing north India unprotected while Aurangzeb sat in the Deccan, organised and despatched large Maratha armies north — architect of the northward expansion; her strategy and tenacity preserved Maratha independence at a critical time
Ahilyabai Holkar (Holkar dynasty, around present-day Indore)	Governed thirty years after losing husband and son; built/restored hundreds of temples, ghats, wells and roads from Kedarnath to Rameswaram; rebuilt Kashi Vishwanath (destroyed by Aurangzeb) and Somnath (destroyed by Mahmud of Ghazni); promoted the Maheshwar weaving industry (Madhya Pradesh)

10. Thanjavur Marathas and the Maratha legacy

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• Ekoji, Shivaji's half-brother, conquered Thanjavur (present-day Tamil Nadu) in the late 17th century. The Thanjavur Marathas fostered a syncretic, multilingual culture — local Tamil, the former rulers' Telugu, and the rulers' Marathi interacting freely; many rulers were themselves poets and dramatists. The gold-foil Thanjavur painting style flourished under their patronage.
• Serfoji II — the most notable Thanjavur ruler:

Contribution	Detail
Devendra Kuravanji	Marathi play describing world geography as then known; he knew many Indian and European languages
Music and dance	Under his patronage modern Carnatic music took shape, as did the early stages of Bharatanatyam
Dhanwantari Mahal	Centre of medicine offering free treatment using both Indian and Western medicine
Printing press	The first in India set up by a native ruler
Brihadishwara temple inscription	Bhonsle family history inscribed on the temple walls at Thanjavur — one of the largest single inscriptions in India

• Legacy (chapter's summing-up): the Marathas built the largest Indian empire before the British, controlling much of central and northern India; an efficient new administration; revival of local Hindu traditions without religious discrimination; a navy that resisted European supremacy despite lacking the latest technology; and the ideal of Swarajya, which later inspired Indians to believe they could govern themselves — early seeds of the freedom movement (chapter claim).

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Exam angles

Prelims:

• Percentages/pairs: chauth = 25%, sardeshmukhi = additional 10% (classic trap: sardeshmukhi is on top of chauth, not instead of it); bargir = state-equipped, shiledar = self-equipped cavalry; Peshwa = Persian term for prime minister.
• Fort–event pairings: Raigad — coronation 1674, capital, captured by Aurangzeb; Pratapgad — Afzal Khan killed (wagh nakh); Purandar — treaty with Jai Singh; Sindhudurg — naval fort near Goa border; Gingee (Tamil Nadu) — Rajaram's refuge.
• Chronology: campaigns from age 16 → Afzal Khan → Shaista Khan night raid → Surat sacks → Purandar treaty → Agra escape → coronation 1674 → dakshina-digvijaya → death at fifty; then Sambhaji executed → Rajaram at Gingee → Tarabai's offensive → Peshwa era (Bajirao I, Nanasaheb) → Panipat 1761 (vs Afghans) → Madhavrao I → Delhi retaken 1771 (Mahadji Shinde) → Anglo-Maratha wars 1775–1818 (three).
• Works/terms: Adnyapatra — Ramachandrapant Amatya, 1715, "forts are the core of the state" + warning on the "hat-wearers"; Rajya-Vyavahara-Kosha — Sanskrit substitutes for Persian; Modi script — cursive Devanagari; Rajyabhisheka shaka — Shivaji's era; cartaz — European naval pass turned back on Europeans by Kanhoji Angre (branded 'pirate'); Ganapati-Pantapradhan rupee — Patwardhans.
• Person–deed: Serfoji II — Devendra Kuravanji, Dhanwantari Mahal, first printing press by a native ruler, Brihadishwara inscription; Ahilyabai Holkar — Kashi Vishwanath and Somnath rebuilt, Maheshwar handlooms; Tarabai — northward expansion; Nana Phadnavis — first pan-Indian anti-British alliance (with Hyder Ali, the Nizam); Ekoji — Thanjavur; Chhatrasal — Bundelkhand; Bhushan — Hindi poet; Bhonsles of Nagpur — Jagannath revival at Puri.
• Trap statements (FALSE): "Panipat 1761 was fought against the British" (it was the Afghans) · "chauth and sardeshmukhi were levied on directly ruled territory" (levied on provinces not directly ruled) · "the Maratha panchayat is the ancestor of the modern Panchayat body" (chapter explicitly distinguishes them) · "Shivaji's seal was in Persian" (Sanskrit) · "the Marathas shunned firearms" (guns in sizable numbers; rockets from Shivaji's time, metal-tube by 1770).

Mains:

• Geography and state formation: how the Deccan mountains, forts and the Konkan coast shaped guerrilla strategy, the naval initiative and Maratha survival against larger empires (GS-I).
• "The British took India from the Marathas more than from the Mughals" — evaluate this Class 8 Part 1, Ch 3 "The Marathas" claim using the 1775–1818 wars, the Delhi holding of 1771–1803, and pan-Indian Maratha reach.
• Shivaji's centralised Swarajya (salaried officials, transfers, no hereditary posts) vs the Peshwa-era decentralised confederacy: administrative strengths, and how chiefly autonomy bred the disunity the British exploited.
• Maratha cultural revival — language policy (seal, Rajya-Vyavahara-Kosha, Devanagari coinage), temple restoration without religious discrimination, Thanjavur syncretism — and the maritime challenge to the European cartaz regime.
• Swarajya as an early seed of the freedom movement: the chapter's framing of Maratha legacy in India's self-rule imagination.