• Chapter I A brief history of the Marathas Pla~.or the Ch.ptnr the [The chapter deals with the ~aratha history on Itol10w- ln, 11ne8 :- (1) The probuble onl':in or the terms tjl,arathas' and '~ah8ra.htra' • A briet historical suryey ot ancient ~nd medla8va1 Maharashtra. (li) The Maratha., as they are called, ca•• into pro­ m1nence 1n "the middle or the 17th century, wh1ch marks t~e be,inning or th~ Maratha h1story. Their history .r~118 into two distinct ~eriod., i.e. from 1645 to 1706 and fr~ 1707 to 1818. (111) The rirst period encompasa.s the reglme or Shivajl. the founder of the klngdom (1645-16801 and that ot his two 80ns, namely, wambh~jl (1680-16891 and Raj.­ ram (16g9 .. l700). (lvl In th~ second period, the king remained nomlnal and the state power ~radua1ly slipped into the handa or his chi.r-miniet~r, the Peshwa. The Peahw&s had their ~eredltary office at Poona. As many as nine persons trom their family held this orrice in succession. The second part or the :aratr.as hlstory, thus, embraces t.he regimes ot nina successive P.ahwas. ] 10 11 The historY of the ..aratha. 18 the hlatorlc&l reoord or the .ar.thl-8pea~lnr people ot Mahar•• htra durlnc the' p ••t tbr • centuri•• (Map 10. 11. n .arl, tl •••• th ,eop1. of thi. 1.nd were known •• "Ratth•• ", " .h~&tth ••q 1 or ~ .htr.kut.a~. The .ook Bdiet V ot Albok. proyid•• the •• r11 ••t record or the exl.'enee or the ~ ~shtrlka.­ a. the people ot the necaan In the )rd oentury B.C. Op1nlon8 , howe.er, dilter .e to how aDd when the pr••• nt te~. Po.erathaa" and " .har•• btr.~ came Into u.e. There 1. ~ , ood de.l ot .peculat10n •• re,.rd. the origla ot the aboye two teras," but It 1. certaln tba' the, auat haye coae to .tay In the ••1"1, ~hrl.tlan era • There ,,1". • any inecrlption. in the ancient cayes ot Karla , Bhaja and Bed,. (all 1ft the Poone distriot of '~h.r•• h'ra) In which the male and t ...le archite.t. hay. b.en d •••ribed as "~ahar.tthi" and ~Mabarat'hln i· respeotl ••1,. Thi. 2 ladlca'•• that the ~ ••htrlka." acquired the a... ~ aha· 1 G. $. Sard•• a' : !lw ula,orr of thl tiar."a., Vol. I, p. 1). 2~Th' t.rm ' ••htrlk' 1. the Senakrltla. fors of tb. '.nn t la.tile' -- thtt people who w.r. mo.' probably the lnb,bitants or ~ahara.ht ra. elne. the ~tthaa w.re the rulina peopl •• 1n .outh Indl.~ _. Dr. Ramkrishna Bhand.rk,r (B.rly Hta'orr of the Dece,n, p~. 26-~8}. 1 MAP No.1 MAHARASHTRA IN INDIA • () o 400 80 , ! ! 12 -riitthi" t so:retitlle 1n the fir-st century I~.D. The term 't erath.. ' i e the rurth.u· dftrt vati v~ of the t!- aharatthi ' and the country inhabited by the ~arathas ber:an to be called The pre.ent l .• rathi tomrue ot the ;. aratha. il the direct deacendent l'lt the literary Prakrit 'gaha­ rashtri', t.he l.n~ua,e or :'.aharaahtra. Anciept and V.edl,eyal lhe Mnclent '~tthaa ruling over V,h@r,shtr. ; A brier . hl.torical 'Pryey the Deccan Ctime to be divided into, and known by the namae of. many families, such as. the ~atY8han68 (7) B.C. to 218 k.U.J • • the ;haluky",. (e.rly 6th e~nturj I •• iJ. to 757 A. D. }, the .aahtr.kutas {who also called themselves .s .• &tthae 6Snd ruled upto 97) A.D.J who, 1n turn. ~er. overpowered by another dynasty of the Chalukyas. Thp.8e 6halukyas were, however. defeated by anoth~r dynasty or the Tadwvaa in lIS? A.D. The rulers ot this dynaaty ruled from Deol'lri (pre.ent Oaulatabad) for about one ~nd a ouarter of a century until their kingdom was lubjur.ated by ~l;u'd-Dln Khaljl t ~ hualin: ruler) of the t:halji dynasty of Uelhi t In 1)12 ,~.D. The next two Sultana or this dynasty extlnruiahed the last vestigee or the Hindu power in ~outh India. 3 nb''''ut 1000 .fl. u. the i usllma her-an to knock at th" pates of India. dnd b~ the ~nd of the twelfth c~ntury, Delhi passed into their hand.. They rec.ulred lD nundred years more to reach :: aharashtrl from Ue1h1. 1) hS the newly concuered territories in the Deccan were beyond the ran~e or efficient control from Delhi. H.'an tilies 28far~&1In was posted as a deputy to the "'rtperor or Uelhi to run admln1ltr.tlon 1n ~outh India trom D~ulatab.d . Ja ~ararkhan. however. estab1tshe4 his own kin,dom, better known as the Bahmanl kin~dom 1n 1)47 h.D. and severed his connectiona with Uelhl. H1s kln~dom exl.ted tor two centuries and "'a. suba.(1uently apl it up. in 1526 ",.ll •• into five independent sultanate. ot Bljapur, Golconda, Ahmednavar, Serar and Bidar (~ap No.2). or the •• (l'Ve su1tan~e., only thre~t namely, Bijapur. Golconda .nd Ah~edna"ar existed tor a lon~er time. Ih. l.ar,th. tallJ1~ief 1 In the •• rvice or the above thr.e £I~. to pr!minence in ~h. ear y 17th state., many Yaratha r.milie., century such •• the Jadhavs, Bhonsles. ('horped.a, Nimbalkara and several others came to prominence. They rendered heroic eervlces to their re.pect1, •.~ultana tor, which th~y were ,ranted j.~ir8 or rent-tree lands. They, therefore, enjoyed respectable position at their courts and were usually CoIled as manaabdara. In tho firat cuarter or the sevent.enth century, !Jheahaji Bhons1e, a t· aratha manaabdar came into prominence ----------------~---------- ----------------------------- Jal..atarkhan. better known Iii 8 I\bul-~.u.arrar Ala-ud-d1n :ihah or Uasan {~an}7u Bahzruanl . MAP No 2 t 600 Km. 0 I . "" I ~'::?;~J,. ~~ .................. : ........... " . THE FIVE . : SULTANATES OF THE r--.:--~D E CC AN THE. SUL-TANATES OF THE. DEC.:AN IN ,')26 A. D 14 PEl W&8 rrarsr &1 and did not spare bn~ efr,rt to d~rend the state sp&inet t\.p rlslnr u':"'hyl pre~5ure fro't the north c.nd that of 4 Bijapur 1n t~.~ south. But the state, insplte of heroic defence bv ~h.h~ji 'r'nsle, 11 not survive lon er &nd was subju lilted by the eOr'"'blnttd art!' tes of i-~t,lrbn ~~bCad and Bl.'ia't·ur Its t~rrltory WeS divided and annexed by 5 th~ two stat88 (~ap No.3' and, thus, by the ~nd of the year 16)6 11. • .0. only t~o kino-dar S ot (~j.ja~'ur dnd oleond4i t apart from t":e A ul-hal territory, existed 1n t·'t" Deccan. Shihajl Bhonpl~, th- wain pl11&r of the e~-A~mednarar dynasty t •• as allowed to hold on his old ja ~ir of Poona &nd ~upa (which he possessed 1n reeD nit ton to his services for thf' I.hmednsf"ar kin: dom) und hi It seryteel werflt utl1 tsftd bv the kin,. cf Btj~pur. expeditions to t~p ~~rn~tic which thereafter forrred hi. ~a1n ~phere or aetivlty. J~ set up his headcuarters first I.ike Shar.aji Bhon~lp, t there were many othE'lr 'ilrlithb familiAs in the services of 4The ~hnedn8F6r ~ultbnat for1ed ~ buffer zone between the .IIp"he.l l~mp1re of the nort~ and the . uharr.:r:ed".n states of the south and h~nce was subject to the ~111tary ~res­ sure fron. beth th~ sides. 5 By tinnexinp: a part of the 1'0 medna;ar ~ i nr.dotl. t the souti"lern' ost part of the . urhal u:pire, tt:.. t 18, the pro­ vince of .:.urangab.d ·~rr.brticed the parts of NCislk, I handeeh t t~ e whole of BeT'or end a l)art of tJ'1e Nortl" tonkan. '1 he remainln"" portion of tre kin· dor. fell to thr> share of the Bi~apur Jultbnat. MAP No 3 I) B A z f III ~oo K'115 I".lDIA IN 16.36 A D 15 .'ljapur. r-olconda and that of Delhi. but one 1s more con­ cerned with Sh&h.jl fer his son. Shlvaji. turned out to be Shahajl died on ~3rd January, 1664. tie left behind three 80ns, two of whom, nallely Sarnbhaji lind .:>hl vaji, ','ere born from the firat wife and th~ third eon, \Yonkoji, tram the second one. where.8 Vyankojl came lnto po8s8.s10n or his jaYir of TanJor. 1n the :arnatic. Jh1vaj1 looked .ft~r his paternal jaglr at Poona 1n f .aharashtra. Thua the ~.aratha8 atarted lunction- inp as a powerful group during the early part of the ••yent ••nth eentury ,hen Sh.h~j~han W~. ruling at Uelhi ~s the ; u.f"hal li! ..peror. '1'11. first ouarter of thft .eyenteenth century ~ltn8s ••d two .1~nlr!cant 6 event., n&mely, the e.t~b11.hment or an ~n~lt.h t.ctory at Surat in 1612 and the birth of 7 ~hiyaji on 6th April. 1('2'1 61t ~hlYn.r. near Junnar (1n the present roon& district). .,hl VMj 1, the found er of the I"arath. Kingdom. w.. s brou~ht up in hi8 paternal jag1r at 6"heae two eventa were- aiy,n1ficant 1n t.he aonae that the Britiah trade 1n India W~. followed by their power which finally subdued the r ·.r4l6tha 14!mplre of wh1ch ';hl vajl ~a8 the founder.