Maratha Empire: Encyclopedia II - Maratha Empire - The Decline of the Empire

Maratha Empire - The Decline of the Empire

The Peshwa sent an army to challenge the Afghans, and the Maratha army was decisively defeated on January 13, 1761 at the Third Battle of Panipat. Their internal feuding cost them greatly in this battle. The battle checked Maratha expansion, prevented the capture of Delhi, and encouraged the fragmentation of the empire. Even today the phrase in Marathi, "meet your Panipat", has a similar meaning as the phrase "meet your Waterloo" does in English.

After 1761, the confederacy dissolved into five autonomous Maratha states. The Maratha_controlled regions were divided among the Gaekwads of Baroda, the Holkars of Indore & Malwa, and the Scindias of Gwalior (and Ujjain): these became strongholds of Maratha power. Tarabai was earlier awarded revenue rights in Berar, and later she made Nagpur her capital. When the British annexed Nagpur after the Sepoy Mutiny of 1857, Tarabai Bhonsle’s protégés were given Kolhapur, where they remained well into the 20th century.

In 1775 the British East India Company, from its base in Bombay, intervened in a succession struggle in Pune, which became the First Anglo-Maratha War: that ended in 1782 with a restoration of the pre-war status quo. In 1802 the British intervened in Baroda to support the heir to the throne against rival claimants, and they signed a treaty with the new Maharaja recognizing his independence from the Maratha empire in return for his acknowledgement of British sovereignty. In the Second Anglo-Maratha War (1803-1805), the Maratha retained their independence, but lost Orissa and most of Gujarat to Britain. The Third Anglo-Maratha War (1817-1818) resulted in the loss of Maratha independence, and left Britain in control of most of India. The Maratha heartland of Desh, including Pune, came under direct British rule, with the exception of the states of Kolhapur and Satara, which retained local Maratha rulers. The Maratha-ruled states of Gwalior, Indore, and Nagpur all lost territory, and were integrated into the British Raj as princely states that retained local autonomy under British sovereignty.

The name of the empire today is preserved in the Indian state of Maharashtra, which was created in 1960 as a Marathi-speaking state.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "The Decline of the Empire", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki