The
Marathas
The power that came closest to imperial
pretensions was that of the Marathas. Starting
from scratch, the non-Brahmin castes in the
Maharashtra region had been organised into a
fighting force by their legendary leader,
Shivaji. Dimunitive in height, clever beyond his
enemy's imagination, Shivaji led everyday of his
life like a drama in which he was always a step
ahead of his adversaries. The Marathas moved like
lightning and appeared in areas where least
expected, at times hundreds of miles away from
their home. They always went back with their
hands full of plunder.
Gradually, states began to pay them vast
amounts in "protection money,"
insurance aginst their plundering raids. By the
third quarter of the 18th century, the Marathas
had under their direct administration or indirect
subjection enough Indian territory to justify use
of the term "the Maratha Empire",
though it never came near the dimensions of the
Mughal empire. The Marathas also never sought to
formally substitute themselves for the Mughals;
they often kept the emperor under their thumb but
paid him formal obeisance.
When Nadir Shah of Persia attacked Delhi in
1739, the declining Mughals were even further
weakened, but the expansion of the Maratha power
came to an abrupt halt in 1761 at Panipat. There
the Marathas were defeated by Ahmad Shah Durrani
from Afganisthan. Their expansion to the west
halted, they nevertheless consolidated their
control over central India and their region known
as Malwa. Soon, however, they were to fall to
India's final imperial power, the British.
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