Question

How did the Marathas extend their empire? What was the consepuences of the expansion?

Answer 1

1) The Maratha kingdom was another powerful regional kingdom to arise out of a sustained opposition to Mughal rule.

2) Shivaji carved out a stable kingdom with the support of powerful warrior families (deshmukhs). Shivaji used these forces to challenge the Mughals in the Indian peninsula

3) After Shivaji’s death, effective power in the Maratha state was wielded by a family of Chitpavan Brahmanas who served Shivaji’s successors as Peshwa

4) Under the Peshwas, the Marathas, developed a very successful military organisation. Their success lay in bypassing the fortified areas of the Mughals, by raiding cities and by engaging Mughal armies in areas where their supply lines and reinforcements could be easily disturbed

5) Between 1720 and 1761, the Maratha Empire expanded. It gradually chipped away at the authority of the Mughal Empire. Malwa and Gujarat were seized from the Mughals by the 1720s

6) By 1730s the Maratha king was recognized as the overlord of the entire Deccan peninsula. After raiding Delhi in 1737, the frontiers of Maratha dominion expanded rapidly, into Rajasthan and the Punjab in the North, into Bengal and Orissa in the East, and into the Karnataka and the Tamil and Telugu countries in the South

7) These were not formally included in the Maratha Empire, but were made to pay tribute as a way of accepting Maratha sovereignty. Expansion brought enormous resources, but it came at a price.

8) These military campaigns also made other rulers hostile towards Marathas. As a result, they did not support the Marathas during the Third battle of Panipat in 1761