The Marathas & the Sikh Empire

Shivaji and the Maratha Rise

Shivaji Bhonsle (crowned Chhatrapati in 1674 at Raigad) built a compact, resilient Maratha state through guerrilla warfare (ganimi kava) against both the Bijapur Sultanate and the Mughals, exploiting the rugged Sahyadri terrain via a chain of hill forts. His administration is a distinct, testable topic in itself:

• The Ashtapradhan (Council of Eight Ministers) advised the king — including the Peshwa (originally a general administrative-finance minister, ranked first among the eight — the position that would later eclipse the Chhatrapati's own authority), Sar-i-Naubat (military commander), Amatya (finance/accounts), Sachiv (correspondence), Mantri (records/intelligence), Sumant (foreign affairs), Nyayadhish (justice), and Panditrao (religious/charitable affairs).

Memory hook — the eight Ashtapradhan posts in order: Peshwa, Sar-i-Naubat, Amatya, Sachiv, Mantri, Sumant, Nyayadhish, Panditrao — "Please Send A Silly Man Some Nice Pie" (P-S-A-S-M-S-N-P). You don't need the exact order for the exam, but the sentence is enough to jog all eight names off the tongue.

Practice Recall: Name as many of Shivaji's eight Ashtapradhan ministers as you can, with their portfolios, before reading on. (Answer: Peshwa — administration/finance; Sar-i-Naubat — military; Amatya — accounts; Sachiv — correspondence; Mantri — records/intelligence; Sumant — foreign affairs; Nyayadhish — justice; Panditrao — religious/charitable affairs.)

• He levied Chauth (25% of a region's revenue, paid to avoid Maratha raids) and Sardeshmukhi (an additional 10% claimed as hereditary overlord dues) on neighbouring territories — the Marathas' signature revenue-extraction instruments, distinct from ordinary land revenue and repeatedly tested by name.

The Peshwa Period and Maratha Expansion

After Shivaji's death and his successors' weaker rule, real executive power shifted to the hereditary Peshwas (based at Poona/Pune), beginning with Balaji Vishwanath and reaching its zenith under Baji Rao I, under whom Maratha power expanded dramatically across central and northern India through the early-to-mid 18th century, forming a loose confederacy of major chiefs (Scindia of Gwalior, Holkar of Indore, Gaekwad of Baroda, Bhonsle of Nagpur) under nominal Peshwa leadership. This northward expansion was catastrophically checked at the Third Battle of Panipat (1761), where Maratha forces under Sadashiv Rao Bhau were decisively defeated by the Afghan ruler Ahmad Shah Abdali (Durrani) — a defeat that halted Maratha momentum for a generation, though the confederacy later recovered some ground before being finally subdued by the British in a sequence of Anglo-Maratha Wars (ending in 1818 with the defeat of the last Peshwa, Baji Rao II).

The Sikh Empire (1799–1849)

Maharaja Ranjit Singh, the "Lion of Punjab," unified the fractious Sikh misls (confederate bands) into a single, well-organised state centred at Lahore, notably modernising his army (the Fauj-i-Khas) along European lines with the help of French and Italian mercenary generals, and maintaining generally cordial relations with the British (Treaty of Amritsar, 1809) during his lifetime. Following his death, succession disputes and factional intrigue weakened the state rapidly, and it was annexed by the British after the Anglo-Sikh Wars (First: 1845–46; Second: 1848–49) — the last major indigenous power to fall before the Company's paramountcy was complete.