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The Maratha Century: Vignettes and Anecdotes Of The Maratha Empire
The Marathas began their quest for Swarajya in 1646 under Chhatrapati Shivaji. From this year until 1818, the Marathas remained a formidable power in the Indian sub-continent. This is a story of their rise to paramountcy in the Eighteenth century – and their fall in early Nineteenth century. It was the first indigenous Empire after centuries of foreign rule…and the last before the British took over. A look at a stirring saga of a hundred and seventy-five years. The story is told in 37 plus sections, with over 80 colour and black and white pics and maps, a bibliography and an index.
312 pages, Hardcover
First published July 20, 2021
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Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
August 6, 2021
The Maratha Century: Vignettes and Anecdotes Of The Maratha Empire - this collection of 37 essays is an absolute delight to read. A great collection of essays on Maratha across one eighty three years. It is written in lucid language with an engaging flow to the narrative, these stories and essays are a powerful read.
The presentation of the book is superb. I love how writer have added sixty-six illustrations and maps. It also have 16 colour plates. These kind of things increase more value to these narratives and made them visually appealing. It kinda help you in visualizing the story and understanding the narrative. Even famous publisher don't do that.
It filled with narratives of various famous and not so famous historical figures. This book manages to keep you hooked while you learn about the diverse and complex history of India. These essays are in depth and deep dive into the life and times of those Marathas lived in. This book whet ones appetite and get us into thinking. Uday S. Kulkarni attempts to reveal the veracity behind some of tales from Indian history. It is beautifully written, gives me information which I wasn’t aware and helped me learn and re-learn; introduced me to events and characters which I wasn’t aware before.
What I take away from this book then is this clear distinction of their individual histories, an understanding of the key players and how each of them contributed to the story of the Maratha empire. The author needs to be lauded for his impeccable research and writing style - there is a lot of information packed within this book and almost at no point you feel overburdened with information. Overall, a brilliant compilation I cannot recommend enough not only for its external beauty but also for its internal beauty. It keeps you hooked. And I highly recommend for those who have zero clue about Maratha history, this will be the best book to start with.
I realized how lopsided our education has been with respect to the history of the India, which has largely focused on the history of the north India. It is a must read book. The collection will keep readers engaged till the last line. The cover of this book is so aesthetic. This was my fourth book by Uday S. Kulkarni. Now I am waiting for his next book Mastery of Hindustan: Triumphs and Travails of Madhav Rao Peshwa.
The presentation of the book is superb. I love how writer have added sixty-six illustrations and maps. It also have 16 colour plates. These kind of things increase more value to these narratives and made them visually appealing. It kinda help you in visualizing the story and understanding the narrative. Even famous publisher don't do that.
It filled with narratives of various famous and not so famous historical figures. This book manages to keep you hooked while you learn about the diverse and complex history of India. These essays are in depth and deep dive into the life and times of those Marathas lived in. This book whet ones appetite and get us into thinking. Uday S. Kulkarni attempts to reveal the veracity behind some of tales from Indian history. It is beautifully written, gives me information which I wasn’t aware and helped me learn and re-learn; introduced me to events and characters which I wasn’t aware before.
What I take away from this book then is this clear distinction of their individual histories, an understanding of the key players and how each of them contributed to the story of the Maratha empire. The author needs to be lauded for his impeccable research and writing style - there is a lot of information packed within this book and almost at no point you feel overburdened with information. Overall, a brilliant compilation I cannot recommend enough not only for its external beauty but also for its internal beauty. It keeps you hooked. And I highly recommend for those who have zero clue about Maratha history, this will be the best book to start with.
I realized how lopsided our education has been with respect to the history of the India, which has largely focused on the history of the north India. It is a must read book. The collection will keep readers engaged till the last line. The cover of this book is so aesthetic. This was my fourth book by Uday S. Kulkarni. Now I am waiting for his next book Mastery of Hindustan: Triumphs and Travails of Madhav Rao Peshwa.
July 24, 2021
The book is really great tell us about the 175 years of glorious history. A must read book. I have read his other 4 books as well.
August 3, 2021
A novel encounter with the intriguing and fascinating world of mostly ignored Maratha empire and personalities.
August 1, 2021
Another fantastic book on Maratha history by Dr. Uday Kulkarni. Having read his previous books - "The Era of Bajirao" and "The extraordinary epoch of Nanasaheb Peshwa", I was familiar about the few contents from the book. I was particularly interested to know about the history after the demise of Nanasaheb Peshwa , when British started to gain the strength. To articulate the important events happened over 170 years is difficult task and author has done commendable work to do so. This book is perfect reading for those who want to get to know about short information of entire Maratha history collected in one book.
October 18, 2021
“The Maratha Century” is everything that I wished my history textbooks were! Thoroughly researched and analyzed, prose that is a matter of fact and to-the-point accompanied by copious amounts of footnotes, evidence and references - this book is a whirlwind tour of the roughly 175 years of the Maratha rule - starting from the Chhatrapati to the Peshwas to the 3 Anglo-Maratha wars.
What I liked the most is that there is neither the aggrandizing nor the belittling of any of the historic personalities. There is no unnecessary dramatization, things are told as they would have happened.
The excerpts and pictures of the original documents, letters, etc. are included; which are simply fascinating to read. The focus is not just on the wars and the battles and the ever-changing political landscape but the light is shed on the cultural aspects, the day-to-day lives of the 18th-century people.
Compared to Dr. Kulkarni’s previous books, “The Maratha Century” is a quick read. Clocking in at about 300 pages, it gives a bird's eye view of the entire era but at the same time manages to delve into sufficient details of quite a few key events. This balance of detail vs high-level summary is superbly maintained.
Overall, a solid 5/5 if you enjoy facts-driven, evidence-based and non politically motivated history tellings!
“The long period of the foreign rule until the Maratha period, and the British Raj thereafter, places the Maratha Empire in a unique position in Indian history. Not only were they the first indigenous power after centuries of Turkic rule they were also the last indigenous Empire before India succumbed to the British rule.”
What I liked the most is that there is neither the aggrandizing nor the belittling of any of the historic personalities. There is no unnecessary dramatization, things are told as they would have happened.
The excerpts and pictures of the original documents, letters, etc. are included; which are simply fascinating to read. The focus is not just on the wars and the battles and the ever-changing political landscape but the light is shed on the cultural aspects, the day-to-day lives of the 18th-century people.
Compared to Dr. Kulkarni’s previous books, “The Maratha Century” is a quick read. Clocking in at about 300 pages, it gives a bird's eye view of the entire era but at the same time manages to delve into sufficient details of quite a few key events. This balance of detail vs high-level summary is superbly maintained.
Overall, a solid 5/5 if you enjoy facts-driven, evidence-based and non politically motivated history tellings!
“The long period of the foreign rule until the Maratha period, and the British Raj thereafter, places the Maratha Empire in a unique position in Indian history. Not only were they the first indigenous power after centuries of Turkic rule they were also the last indigenous Empire before India succumbed to the British rule.”
August 3, 2021
Essays on some major and some now-forgotten historical personalities in Indian history. The breadth of reading by the author is commendable. Am amazing journey through history. Less known facts about our country.
October 10, 2021
Many historians have discussed what is often called "The eighteenth century debate ". The colonial historians stretched the Mughal period well into the 18th century and then presented onset of British era as beginning with Plassey in 1757 or from 1765 when diwani of Bengal was handed over.
The Mughals - 1556 to 1712 when it weakened to the extent by 1740 were controlled by the Marathas. The British took over from the Marathaswho were the paramount power (not from the Mughals who by then were under the protection of Marathas) starting 1803-1818 and the book gives a sweeping look at the 172 years after the first fort was won by Shivaji Maharaj to Balaji Ragunathrai in 1818.
Aptly called the Maratha century!
The Mughals - 1556 to 1712 when it weakened to the extent by 1740 were controlled by the Marathas. The British took over from the Marathaswho were the paramount power (not from the Mughals who by then were under the protection of Marathas) starting 1803-1818 and the book gives a sweeping look at the 172 years after the first fort was won by Shivaji Maharaj to Balaji Ragunathrai in 1818.
Aptly called the Maratha century!
October 24, 2021
A must-read for history lovers.
This book, written by noted Maratha historian Uday Kulkarni, gives a glimpse into the 18th century during which the Maratha empire stretched from North to South.
This book is based on detailed research and facts, contains many photographs, actual letters, and paintings from that era. If someone wants to know about the Maratha empire in that era, it is a good read.
This book, written by noted Maratha historian Uday Kulkarni, gives a glimpse into the 18th century during which the Maratha empire stretched from North to South.
This book is based on detailed research and facts, contains many photographs, actual letters, and paintings from that era. If someone wants to know about the Maratha empire in that era, it is a good read.
August 3, 2021
Must read. Generally neglected part of Indian history. I was looking for a good history book on Maratha, completely satisfied. Many a times we always comes across biased political narrative misrepresents facts. Must read, book gives a neutral view.
January 10, 2023
This is a very important book. Introduces a very significant part of Indian history to readers like myself who aren't familiar with Maratha history.
The author's knowledge and research is indisputable.
I will definitely read more books by this author.
I only wish his writing skills made this a book that was easier to read. Or that he'd hired a co-author or ghost-writer.
The copy-editing of the book is abominable. With literally one or two typos per page, you wonder what the editor brought to the table. In its current form, this book would make a great first draft for someone with some real writing + editing skills. Someone who could make reading this book more pleasure and less tedium.
(Took me longer than a year to trudge through this book, and it makes me resentful of the author that such an important subject and contents have been treated so shoddily)
The author's knowledge and research is indisputable.
I will definitely read more books by this author.
I only wish his writing skills made this a book that was easier to read. Or that he'd hired a co-author or ghost-writer.
The copy-editing of the book is abominable. With literally one or two typos per page, you wonder what the editor brought to the table. In its current form, this book would make a great first draft for someone with some real writing + editing skills. Someone who could make reading this book more pleasure and less tedium.
(Took me longer than a year to trudge through this book, and it makes me resentful of the author that such an important subject and contents have been treated so shoddily)
May 20, 2023
A history of India is incomplete without the history of the Marathas. They were the dominating force post Mughal and pre-British. It's a misnomer quite often repeated that the transfer of power in India happened from the Muslim dynasty to the British. When in fact, the Marathas were the de facto force deciding the course of polity and history of the country from the Himalayas to the Kaveri for no less than a good 170 years.
I had picked this book because I wanted to know more about the Marathas than what would simply be told by a biography of the great Chattrapati Shivaji Maharaj and this dense book did full justice to that aspiration. It goes through numerous vignettes and anecdotes of the Maratha Empire in those two centuries and one emerges from it much enlightened about the course Indian history could have taken and eventually did take along with its multiple meanderings and side quests. Uday S. Kulkarni has done a masterful job in this phenomenal book. Given below is an excerpt from the epilogue of the book which can serve as a highly succinct summary of the events of the two centuries. For more, one will have to read the book.
"From the twelfth century a stream of invasions into India brought kings who were zealous of their own culture and imposed it on the 'indigenous' Indian population that existed at the time. The question that one therefore, to be asked is - what exactly is indigenous? It is not as difficult to answer this at a time when a 'nation state' is the fundamental unit of the world today, and it is the well-being of this nation that determines the well-being of its citizens. History is not static, it is everchanging as the perception of its observer changes. As corporates lord over the seven seas, some have begun challenging the Westphalian nation-state. While a merging of identities may have occurred in Europe, in the east - China, India and Japan - the cultural and political nation state thrives. After over seventy-five years of an independent India, as a mature nation that has fought our fissures, we have reason to be confident of our nationhood. It is time to discard the red herrings and see our history as it really was.
The oft repeated story of India being a nation of migrants has been flogged to the bone. The entire world is full of migrants. In History, traders came to our coasts and invaders came across the cultural frontiers of India. India had its share of migrants in the form of invasions. They added to the social milieu, yet discord was a small part of it. Then, a new set of invaders arrived who came and ruled here. And until the very end they continued to use the language and the customs of the region they hailed from. National consciousness is of a shorter period than our long history, and even though language and culture can be seen to once have extended as far as Balkh and Indonesia with much sharing of traditions, today, the Indian identity in its broadest sense is understood to be uniquely located in the geographical landmass of India.
The Delhi Sultanate and the Mughals had a well-defined pecking order, so well brought out by Athar Ali in his exposition on the skewed distribution of Mughal mansabs as per ancestry. A similar situation prevailed in the Deccan Sultanates. Here, there was a premium on Turkic ancestry, enabling faster as well as higher promotions. The second layer of mansabs was for ethnic Indians who embraced the faith of the rulers, while the third and lowest layer belonged to the natives who did not belong to either of these categories. These were the fewest, either of their own volition or due to the discriminatory pecking order of the day.
This was the state of affairs when Chhatrapati Shivaji began his quest for swarajya. The concept of a free nation was enunciated in mid-seventeenth century, when Chhatrapati Shivaji said that he fought for swarajya - self-rule. The definition of this self-rule by itself reveals the thought process of the founder king of the Maratha state. It was freedom from oppression. The oppression of his people was on socio-cultural, religious and economic fronts. The economic oppression was, for example, in the form of higher octroi duties for Hindu traders compared to Muslim or even Europeans as seen from Aurangzeb's order promulgated in 1667 at Ahmedabad.
Swarajya was further defined as not foreign rule - perceived as by 'yavanas' - a word derived from 'Tonian' - a region in present day Turkey and hence Turkic. 'Yavana' eventually was used as a broader term that indicated people not of India and eventually, we have letters where the English were similarly referred to.
The common phrase when confronted by injustice in Maharashtra to this day is, 'is this Mughal rule?" It was Chhatrapati Shivaji who had a clear perception of what he had to do. Freedom had to be political firstly, but also cultural. So, even as he created a Maratha state, as early as in 1646, he also adopted a Sanskrit seal for himself - as against the Persian seals prevalent until then. He also began a process of weeding out Persian words from Marathi. The Rajya-vyavahar-kosh was meant to substitute such words in governance. The names of his ministers were also based on Sanskrit words.
The word swarajya was used only twice in Indian history. The first was when Chhatrapati Shivaji sought freedom from the Mughals and the Adilshahi, the second was when Lokmanya Tilak fought against the British. The word swarajya was in fact used as a direct juxtaposition to the par-rajya, or foreign rule, that we had until then.
After 1680, when Chhatrapati Shivaji died, Aurangzeb descended on the Deccan. A long twenty-five-year war ravaged the Deccan. Thousands were killed in battle, while the famine due to war killed several thousands more. It was Aurangzeb's death in 1707 that saw the Mughals retreat to the north and the rise of the Maratha power across the Narmada.
Looking at the political history of the eighteenth century, one gets an idea of what the period represents. A mere dozen years after Aurangzeb's death, thirty thousand Maratha troops were in Delhi and helped the rebel Sayyid Husain Ali depose the Mughal Emperor Farrukh Siyar. The Mughal court could no longer command the power and prestige of the past. The Nizam ul mulk was vanquished in 1728, and again in 1738, at the hands of Bajirao Peshwa on the battlefield, and the Peshwa himself reached Delhi in 1737 - the first time Delhi saw an enemy at its doors in a hundred and eighty years. In 1729, Chimaji Appa defeated and killed the Mughal Governor of Malwa on the battlefield and the very next year Bajirao entered Bundelkhand to help Chhatra Sal, defeating the Mughal commander Muhammad Khan Bangash. The Peshwa was called to Delhi to help the Mughals face Ahmed Shah Abdali in 1748, and in 1752, the Marathas signed a treaty by which they undertook to protect the Mughal throne in exchange for revenue from a number of Mughal subahs. At the same time the armies of Raghuji Bhonsle had captured Orissa and obtained chauth from the province of Bengal.
The 1719 sanad for the six subahs of the Deccan, the sanad of Malwa of 1741, as well as the ahadnama of 1752 were used by the Marathas as justification to occupy every province under the erstwhile Mughals. The sanads were the legal justification for their occupation of Malwa and the Carnatic. Rather than being mere acknowledgement of a Mughal ruler's order, the sanads became a legal tool to obtain the Chauth from several provinces. The British emulated this by similar slender treaty documents to spread their influence.
In the foregoing chapters, we have seen how Ahmed Shah Abdali looted Delhi and waged a jihad, massacring pilgrims at Mathura in 1757. On his departure, the Maratha army under Raghunathrao and Holkar took Delhi and entered the Punjab. In 1758 and 1759, Lahore, Attock, Multan and Peshawar were under Maratha control. This was indeed the furthest expanse of the Maratha Empire founded by Chhatrapati Shivaji. This was also the time when the English took advantage of Maratha preoccupation with Abdali and Delhi to win the battle at Plassey and take control of Bengal.
The battle of Panipat of 1761, fought in a territory where the Marathas had no allies, resulted in a huge loss for them. However, within months many of the lost places in the doab were taken and many of the northern potentates were pushed out of Maratha territories taken from the Mughals. It would have been easier to tackle the setback had Raghunathrao's ambition to be the next Peshwa not hindered affairs at home for a couple of years. By 1763, Madhavrao Peshwa had reclaimed control of affairs, and through that decade he successively brought the Nizam and Hyder Ali to submission.
Similarly in the north, Delhi was captured in February 1771 by Mahadji Scindia, Ramachandra Ganesh and Visaji Krishna Biniwale. By January 1772, Shah Alam II, the Mughal king who was in exile at Prayag, had been brought back and placed on the throne. The same year, Najib Khan's fort of Pathargarh: was also taken.
The period after 1772 can be properly called the post- Peshwai period. It was Mahadji Scindia, Tukoji Holkar and Nana Phadnis along with the Patwardhans and Hari pant Phadke, who persevered and retained Maratha hold on the north and the south. Save a small blip in the north when Ghulam Qadir took control of the Red Fort and blinded the Mughal king, the Marathas remained as the ruling power from the towns of Aligarh to Sirhind north Delhi, to beyond the Tungabhadra in the south. Delhi itself was under Mahadji and later, under Daulatrao Scindia, until 1803.
In 1803, Delhi was taken by Lord Lake's army largely through defections by French officers in Maratha employ, and progressively, divisions among their own chiefs led to the complete loss of power to the British in 1818. This traditionally is the year from which rule by the East India Company began over most of India.
The Marathas were a liberating force and remained the paramount power all through the eighteenth century. The excesses in Bengal are often cited as an example of Maratha tyranny. None of these however, can match the massacres of civilians on the scale practised by Abdali or later by the British at Jhansi. Bajirao Peshwa expanded the Maratha kingdom to the north, yet, one hardly finds examples of unnecessary bloodshed. At Vasai, Chimaji allowed a defeated enemy to leave honourably. At no period in their history do we see pyramids of heads before the tents of their victorious armies.
During the entire period, the ideals of religious, socio- cultural and economic parity were pursued in the areas that they controlled. Freedom from religious persecution for all communities was implemented. From 1650s to 1818, one sees a nation-wide enterprise of rebuilding old temples destroyed in previous centuries and the reclaiming of religious freedom. From Chhatrapati Shivaji to Bajirao, Nanasaheb, Madhavrao and Ahilyadevi Holkar - each and every ruler contributed to this renewal. The ghats and temples of Kashi or Maheshwar are living testimony to this giant enterprise.
The long period of foreign rule until the Maratha period, and the British raj thereafter, places the Maratha Empire in a unique position in Indian history. Not only were they the first indigenous power after centuries of Turkic rule they were also the last indigenous Empire before India succumbed to a hundred and thirty years of British rule."
To Swarajya then: Jai Shivaji! Jai Bhawani!
I had picked this book because I wanted to know more about the Marathas than what would simply be told by a biography of the great Chattrapati Shivaji Maharaj and this dense book did full justice to that aspiration. It goes through numerous vignettes and anecdotes of the Maratha Empire in those two centuries and one emerges from it much enlightened about the course Indian history could have taken and eventually did take along with its multiple meanderings and side quests. Uday S. Kulkarni has done a masterful job in this phenomenal book. Given below is an excerpt from the epilogue of the book which can serve as a highly succinct summary of the events of the two centuries. For more, one will have to read the book.
"From the twelfth century a stream of invasions into India brought kings who were zealous of their own culture and imposed it on the 'indigenous' Indian population that existed at the time. The question that one therefore, to be asked is - what exactly is indigenous? It is not as difficult to answer this at a time when a 'nation state' is the fundamental unit of the world today, and it is the well-being of this nation that determines the well-being of its citizens. History is not static, it is everchanging as the perception of its observer changes. As corporates lord over the seven seas, some have begun challenging the Westphalian nation-state. While a merging of identities may have occurred in Europe, in the east - China, India and Japan - the cultural and political nation state thrives. After over seventy-five years of an independent India, as a mature nation that has fought our fissures, we have reason to be confident of our nationhood. It is time to discard the red herrings and see our history as it really was.
The oft repeated story of India being a nation of migrants has been flogged to the bone. The entire world is full of migrants. In History, traders came to our coasts and invaders came across the cultural frontiers of India. India had its share of migrants in the form of invasions. They added to the social milieu, yet discord was a small part of it. Then, a new set of invaders arrived who came and ruled here. And until the very end they continued to use the language and the customs of the region they hailed from. National consciousness is of a shorter period than our long history, and even though language and culture can be seen to once have extended as far as Balkh and Indonesia with much sharing of traditions, today, the Indian identity in its broadest sense is understood to be uniquely located in the geographical landmass of India.
The Delhi Sultanate and the Mughals had a well-defined pecking order, so well brought out by Athar Ali in his exposition on the skewed distribution of Mughal mansabs as per ancestry. A similar situation prevailed in the Deccan Sultanates. Here, there was a premium on Turkic ancestry, enabling faster as well as higher promotions. The second layer of mansabs was for ethnic Indians who embraced the faith of the rulers, while the third and lowest layer belonged to the natives who did not belong to either of these categories. These were the fewest, either of their own volition or due to the discriminatory pecking order of the day.
This was the state of affairs when Chhatrapati Shivaji began his quest for swarajya. The concept of a free nation was enunciated in mid-seventeenth century, when Chhatrapati Shivaji said that he fought for swarajya - self-rule. The definition of this self-rule by itself reveals the thought process of the founder king of the Maratha state. It was freedom from oppression. The oppression of his people was on socio-cultural, religious and economic fronts. The economic oppression was, for example, in the form of higher octroi duties for Hindu traders compared to Muslim or even Europeans as seen from Aurangzeb's order promulgated in 1667 at Ahmedabad.
Swarajya was further defined as not foreign rule - perceived as by 'yavanas' - a word derived from 'Tonian' - a region in present day Turkey and hence Turkic. 'Yavana' eventually was used as a broader term that indicated people not of India and eventually, we have letters where the English were similarly referred to.
The common phrase when confronted by injustice in Maharashtra to this day is, 'is this Mughal rule?" It was Chhatrapati Shivaji who had a clear perception of what he had to do. Freedom had to be political firstly, but also cultural. So, even as he created a Maratha state, as early as in 1646, he also adopted a Sanskrit seal for himself - as against the Persian seals prevalent until then. He also began a process of weeding out Persian words from Marathi. The Rajya-vyavahar-kosh was meant to substitute such words in governance. The names of his ministers were also based on Sanskrit words.
The word swarajya was used only twice in Indian history. The first was when Chhatrapati Shivaji sought freedom from the Mughals and the Adilshahi, the second was when Lokmanya Tilak fought against the British. The word swarajya was in fact used as a direct juxtaposition to the par-rajya, or foreign rule, that we had until then.
After 1680, when Chhatrapati Shivaji died, Aurangzeb descended on the Deccan. A long twenty-five-year war ravaged the Deccan. Thousands were killed in battle, while the famine due to war killed several thousands more. It was Aurangzeb's death in 1707 that saw the Mughals retreat to the north and the rise of the Maratha power across the Narmada.
Looking at the political history of the eighteenth century, one gets an idea of what the period represents. A mere dozen years after Aurangzeb's death, thirty thousand Maratha troops were in Delhi and helped the rebel Sayyid Husain Ali depose the Mughal Emperor Farrukh Siyar. The Mughal court could no longer command the power and prestige of the past. The Nizam ul mulk was vanquished in 1728, and again in 1738, at the hands of Bajirao Peshwa on the battlefield, and the Peshwa himself reached Delhi in 1737 - the first time Delhi saw an enemy at its doors in a hundred and eighty years. In 1729, Chimaji Appa defeated and killed the Mughal Governor of Malwa on the battlefield and the very next year Bajirao entered Bundelkhand to help Chhatra Sal, defeating the Mughal commander Muhammad Khan Bangash. The Peshwa was called to Delhi to help the Mughals face Ahmed Shah Abdali in 1748, and in 1752, the Marathas signed a treaty by which they undertook to protect the Mughal throne in exchange for revenue from a number of Mughal subahs. At the same time the armies of Raghuji Bhonsle had captured Orissa and obtained chauth from the province of Bengal.
The 1719 sanad for the six subahs of the Deccan, the sanad of Malwa of 1741, as well as the ahadnama of 1752 were used by the Marathas as justification to occupy every province under the erstwhile Mughals. The sanads were the legal justification for their occupation of Malwa and the Carnatic. Rather than being mere acknowledgement of a Mughal ruler's order, the sanads became a legal tool to obtain the Chauth from several provinces. The British emulated this by similar slender treaty documents to spread their influence.
In the foregoing chapters, we have seen how Ahmed Shah Abdali looted Delhi and waged a jihad, massacring pilgrims at Mathura in 1757. On his departure, the Maratha army under Raghunathrao and Holkar took Delhi and entered the Punjab. In 1758 and 1759, Lahore, Attock, Multan and Peshawar were under Maratha control. This was indeed the furthest expanse of the Maratha Empire founded by Chhatrapati Shivaji. This was also the time when the English took advantage of Maratha preoccupation with Abdali and Delhi to win the battle at Plassey and take control of Bengal.
The battle of Panipat of 1761, fought in a territory where the Marathas had no allies, resulted in a huge loss for them. However, within months many of the lost places in the doab were taken and many of the northern potentates were pushed out of Maratha territories taken from the Mughals. It would have been easier to tackle the setback had Raghunathrao's ambition to be the next Peshwa not hindered affairs at home for a couple of years. By 1763, Madhavrao Peshwa had reclaimed control of affairs, and through that decade he successively brought the Nizam and Hyder Ali to submission.
Similarly in the north, Delhi was captured in February 1771 by Mahadji Scindia, Ramachandra Ganesh and Visaji Krishna Biniwale. By January 1772, Shah Alam II, the Mughal king who was in exile at Prayag, had been brought back and placed on the throne. The same year, Najib Khan's fort of Pathargarh: was also taken.
The period after 1772 can be properly called the post- Peshwai period. It was Mahadji Scindia, Tukoji Holkar and Nana Phadnis along with the Patwardhans and Hari pant Phadke, who persevered and retained Maratha hold on the north and the south. Save a small blip in the north when Ghulam Qadir took control of the Red Fort and blinded the Mughal king, the Marathas remained as the ruling power from the towns of Aligarh to Sirhind north Delhi, to beyond the Tungabhadra in the south. Delhi itself was under Mahadji and later, under Daulatrao Scindia, until 1803.
In 1803, Delhi was taken by Lord Lake's army largely through defections by French officers in Maratha employ, and progressively, divisions among their own chiefs led to the complete loss of power to the British in 1818. This traditionally is the year from which rule by the East India Company began over most of India.
The Marathas were a liberating force and remained the paramount power all through the eighteenth century. The excesses in Bengal are often cited as an example of Maratha tyranny. None of these however, can match the massacres of civilians on the scale practised by Abdali or later by the British at Jhansi. Bajirao Peshwa expanded the Maratha kingdom to the north, yet, one hardly finds examples of unnecessary bloodshed. At Vasai, Chimaji allowed a defeated enemy to leave honourably. At no period in their history do we see pyramids of heads before the tents of their victorious armies.
During the entire period, the ideals of religious, socio- cultural and economic parity were pursued in the areas that they controlled. Freedom from religious persecution for all communities was implemented. From 1650s to 1818, one sees a nation-wide enterprise of rebuilding old temples destroyed in previous centuries and the reclaiming of religious freedom. From Chhatrapati Shivaji to Bajirao, Nanasaheb, Madhavrao and Ahilyadevi Holkar - each and every ruler contributed to this renewal. The ghats and temples of Kashi or Maheshwar are living testimony to this giant enterprise.
The long period of foreign rule until the Maratha period, and the British raj thereafter, places the Maratha Empire in a unique position in Indian history. Not only were they the first indigenous power after centuries of Turkic rule they were also the last indigenous Empire before India succumbed to a hundred and thirty years of British rule."
To Swarajya then: Jai Shivaji! Jai Bhawani!
September 17, 2023
My second book in row by Uday Kulkarni! Following the one on Nanasaheb Peshwa.
This book is a brief account of 170 years of rise and fall of Maratha Empire. The author skillfully weaves the narrative through key protagonists. However, as expected, the book is limited in scope by the very nature of its subject, an empire which lasted over a hundred years is impossible to be dealt in little under 300 pages. So it is a pretty good read for people like me who wanted to know about this little neglected but highly important piece of our recent history but did not know where to start. So while the book tells you what happened, it does not delve into why it happened. But as you read through the book, you will most likely notice few things which are left unsaid there:
1) Maratha empire was just like Mughal one, begun with individual brilliance and ended with fratricide.
2) There is hardly anything which changed significantly from Mughal to Maratha rule. The administrative, judicial, military, and, most importantly social structures remained the same. When the author says that Marathas supplanted Mughal rule, he means it literally.
3) The unchanging nature of society under Marathas meant that as soon as the initial few efficient and brilliant administrators departed, the very structure of feudal society meant that probability of finding similarly capable people at the helm was slim. So no wonder that the empire collapsed as rapidly as it did when it came in contact with a foe as advanced as the English.
4) You can't help but admire the brilliance, sagacity, charisma, and far sightedness of the founder Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. Even when he had a fledgling state surrounded by far bigger enemies, he insisted on a centralized structure with an army maintained by the state and not granting hereditary grants of land and jagirs. This was revolutionary for those feudal times when the mughal concept of mansabdari system was the bedrock of both administration and miltary might. However Shivaji's ideas were junked by the first peshwa who returned to the usual method a confederate system. While this helped in an explosive growth of the empire, but it had the seed of its own destruction.
Overall, a more than decent book on a very important aspect of Indian history. Some chapters like those on Mahadji Scindia, or that of Raghunath Peshwa's treachery are more interesting. The author seems to blame the last peshwa's father for rapid decline of the empire but he was more of a symptom than the real cause. Just like Chatrapati Sahu gave away reins of power to a more competent person like Balaji Vishwanath, why couldn't a system of such transfer of power to a competent person could have been instituted? You wonder. And then you think if it was Sahu's sagacity which enabled the empire to flower and so was he the real hero and not the much celebrated Peshwas?! Food for thought!
This book is a brief account of 170 years of rise and fall of Maratha Empire. The author skillfully weaves the narrative through key protagonists. However, as expected, the book is limited in scope by the very nature of its subject, an empire which lasted over a hundred years is impossible to be dealt in little under 300 pages. So it is a pretty good read for people like me who wanted to know about this little neglected but highly important piece of our recent history but did not know where to start. So while the book tells you what happened, it does not delve into why it happened. But as you read through the book, you will most likely notice few things which are left unsaid there:
1) Maratha empire was just like Mughal one, begun with individual brilliance and ended with fratricide.
2) There is hardly anything which changed significantly from Mughal to Maratha rule. The administrative, judicial, military, and, most importantly social structures remained the same. When the author says that Marathas supplanted Mughal rule, he means it literally.
3) The unchanging nature of society under Marathas meant that as soon as the initial few efficient and brilliant administrators departed, the very structure of feudal society meant that probability of finding similarly capable people at the helm was slim. So no wonder that the empire collapsed as rapidly as it did when it came in contact with a foe as advanced as the English.
4) You can't help but admire the brilliance, sagacity, charisma, and far sightedness of the founder Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. Even when he had a fledgling state surrounded by far bigger enemies, he insisted on a centralized structure with an army maintained by the state and not granting hereditary grants of land and jagirs. This was revolutionary for those feudal times when the mughal concept of mansabdari system was the bedrock of both administration and miltary might. However Shivaji's ideas were junked by the first peshwa who returned to the usual method a confederate system. While this helped in an explosive growth of the empire, but it had the seed of its own destruction.
Overall, a more than decent book on a very important aspect of Indian history. Some chapters like those on Mahadji Scindia, or that of Raghunath Peshwa's treachery are more interesting. The author seems to blame the last peshwa's father for rapid decline of the empire but he was more of a symptom than the real cause. Just like Chatrapati Sahu gave away reins of power to a more competent person like Balaji Vishwanath, why couldn't a system of such transfer of power to a competent person could have been instituted? You wonder. And then you think if it was Sahu's sagacity which enabled the empire to flower and so was he the real hero and not the much celebrated Peshwas?! Food for thought!
February 5, 2023
From a purely nationalistic-leaning point of view, Dr Kulkarni is owed a debt of gratitude by us Indians. The Marathas were THE most important part of Indian political and power structure for almost a century (the 1700s to be specific, hence the name of the book), and a prominent part of it for about 170 years (from 1650s until 1810s). But you couldn't figure that from the popular discourse or history curriculum in Indian schools. They've been relegated to the obscurity in the name of every tom, dick and harry who ever sat the throne of delhi. These obvious omissions is what gives some people the platform to claim all sorts of absurdities about the indian past; because if the delhi based historical research community could miss the mighty marathas, what else could they have missed. Flying Cars? Laughably evil muslim kings, who ate hindus for lunch, and destroyed temples during their evening strolls? I mean fuck Aurangzeb and Ahmed Shah Abdali, but you still get the point. By sidelining the obvious and denying a society a sense of pride in its ancestors, you create the mix for something far more virulent to emerge. And for the demonization of an entire spectrum of society for the sins of a few.
Anyway I wouldn't rant too much. I just feel its important to know a nation's past to decide its future; and so it is, very simply, just important to know what came before - in its entirety, and in an unbiased way. And this is why I said Dr Kulkarni is owed a debt of thanks. While the book could have been far better edited for a flow and ease of reading, as well as been made more detailed in some obvious places (hence the three stars), it still does a wonderful job of introducing us to the entire breadth of the Martha empire .
There is the obvious fact that comes out - that they emerged in opposition to the oppresive religious, economic, social policies of foregin born muslim rulers. All sources seem to indicate that Shivaji was a wise, benevolent, mild-mannered king, and an uber-smart millitary and political strategist. And while I disagree with the politics played in his name today; he 100% deserves to be named alongside the truly greatest rulers that India ever had. He also deserves the credit for giving hindus political representation that they had lacked for almost 500 years before he came on to the scene. For not massacring subduded populations, for being relgiously tolerant. If there ever was a glorious king, Shivaji raje was one.
But equally, there's another very important fact that comes out. That once they established themselves as a paramount power in India (on the backs of Shivaji, Sambhaji, Baji Rao's struggles), they were too happy to do anything to stay in power, even if it meant sacrificing the very country and people, that they had once sought to emancipate. I guess its true that absolute power corrupts absolutely. There is no doubt in my mind that as rulers, Marathas were far better than Mughals, and most other medieval empires - but it is important to remember that they were not so holier than thou, as some would have us believe.
And so, thank you to the author for opening up this relatively recent, but somehow completely obscure, period of our history. It only takes a few minutes to sift through the notes to see the volume of documents and years of research that have gone into the writing of this, and his other books.
Anyway I wouldn't rant too much. I just feel its important to know a nation's past to decide its future; and so it is, very simply, just important to know what came before - in its entirety, and in an unbiased way. And this is why I said Dr Kulkarni is owed a debt of thanks. While the book could have been far better edited for a flow and ease of reading, as well as been made more detailed in some obvious places (hence the three stars), it still does a wonderful job of introducing us to the entire breadth of the Martha empire .
There is the obvious fact that comes out - that they emerged in opposition to the oppresive religious, economic, social policies of foregin born muslim rulers. All sources seem to indicate that Shivaji was a wise, benevolent, mild-mannered king, and an uber-smart millitary and political strategist. And while I disagree with the politics played in his name today; he 100% deserves to be named alongside the truly greatest rulers that India ever had. He also deserves the credit for giving hindus political representation that they had lacked for almost 500 years before he came on to the scene. For not massacring subduded populations, for being relgiously tolerant. If there ever was a glorious king, Shivaji raje was one.
But equally, there's another very important fact that comes out. That once they established themselves as a paramount power in India (on the backs of Shivaji, Sambhaji, Baji Rao's struggles), they were too happy to do anything to stay in power, even if it meant sacrificing the very country and people, that they had once sought to emancipate. I guess its true that absolute power corrupts absolutely. There is no doubt in my mind that as rulers, Marathas were far better than Mughals, and most other medieval empires - but it is important to remember that they were not so holier than thou, as some would have us believe.
And so, thank you to the author for opening up this relatively recent, but somehow completely obscure, period of our history. It only takes a few minutes to sift through the notes to see the volume of documents and years of research that have gone into the writing of this, and his other books.
September 14, 2023
A wonderful, valuable book about a long-neglected period in India’s history. The final chapter brilliantly sums up the place of the Marathas in Indian history. They ruled as much or more of India for 144 years (1674-1818) than the Mughal dynasty did for 151 years (1556-1707) and the British for 129 years (1818-1947), and yet we know very little about them. Hence a clear narrative about the Maratha Supremacy (the title of the 8th volume of RC Majumdar’s magisterial 11-volume masterpiece about India’s history) is needed for the current generation. By making this a series of essays about anecdotes and vignettes of the Maratha period, this book falls a bit short of accomplishing that. The last chapter should have been the first, and a more gripping narrative style should have extolled the role of the great figures — Baji Rao I, Balaji Baji Rao, Madhava Rao, Nana Phadnis, Mahadji Scindia — other than Shivaji. Tarabai and Ahilyabai (Holkar) are almost completely neglected, as is the post-1818 period of the Marathas (including 1857-58, which was essentially a Maratha uprising against the British, led by Nana Saheb, Tatya Tope and Lakshmibai, with tacit funding and planning by Baija Bai). Nonetheless this is an invaluable book that needs to be widely read.
November 12, 2021
When I was in middle school and learning about our history, I intuitively felt that there is a discontinuity. We have been taught something about early civilizations then the lessons kind of do a fast forward and with few patches of invasions we straight away reach the period of freedom struggle. However, I always felt curiosity regarding what might have happened in between and I am glad that this book does satisfy some of it. It sheds light on a period of 175 years, that saw rise of indigenous empire and quest for self-governance. I have learned a lot through this book and it has helped me understand some of the present issues as well. I liked author's narrative style. I would leave the readers with the following quote from Theodore Roosevelt - "The more you know about the past, the better prepared you are for the future."
September 7, 2021
Covers a very substantive portion of Indian history that most of us are unfamiliar with (nuanced reasons for that). The narration is dry, but the content is very well researched and makes it more than a worthwhile read.
November 6, 2023
Well written and researched. I would have liked a greater exploration of the Later Days of the Maratha Empire .i.e. after Madhavrao Peshwa. The whole area is unexplored and thus rich with undiscovered stories.
December 10, 2021
Very text bookish.. More of snippets of the era.. Could have been much better
November 20, 2022
Wonderful anecdote about the Maratha Empire.
December 30, 2022
Uday is well researched and compelling as always!
October 2, 2023
Very well written book . Covered in detail and closely about the maratha' s Dominance over Indian Subcontinent in 17 th and 18 century.
December 31, 2021
This is another very good book about Maratha history by Uday Kulkarni. But unlike his other books which cover a certain era and are very detailed, this one covers the entire duration of the great Maratha empire. There are separate chapters about important characters, battles, practises and tactics of the Marathas and other important events.
This is good book to get to know all the important facts about the Marathas. If you want to read one book about the Marathas, then this is highly recommended.
But if you want full detail and I certainly want it, then I would suggest you read the other books by Uday Ji. I have read the one on Baji Rao. There is one chapter about him in this book and it clearly can’t do him full justice.
Still a very good book. The choice is yours. How much you want to know about the Marathas.
This is good book to get to know all the important facts about the Marathas. If you want to read one book about the Marathas, then this is highly recommended.
But if you want full detail and I certainly want it, then I would suggest you read the other books by Uday Ji. I have read the one on Baji Rao. There is one chapter about him in this book and it clearly can’t do him full justice.
Still a very good book. The choice is yours. How much you want to know about the Marathas.
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