Maratha Empire, Shivaji and Administration

Why the Marathas Matter in CDS History

The Maratha story bridges the gap between the declining Mughal Empire and the rise of British power. For a graduate-level aspirant, this is high-value territory: it links medieval and early-modern India and supplies easy one-mark facts.

The Marathas were the first regional power to seriously challenge Mughal authority across the subcontinent. By the mid-18th century their influence stretched from the Deccan to the gates of Delhi, and they collected tribute from territories as distant as Bengal in the east and the Tamil country in the south.

Several factors explain their rise: the rugged Sahyadri (Western Ghats) terrain that favoured guerrilla defence, a shared Marathi language and Bhakti devotional culture that gave a sense of unity, the weakening of the Deccan sultanates of Bijapur and Golconda, and above all the leadership of Shivaji. For the CDS exam you should be able to connect these causes to the dates and personalities that follow.

The Rise of Shivaji Bhonsle

Shivaji was born in 1627 (some texts say 1630) at Shivneri fort. His father Shahji Bhonsle served the Bijapur Sultanate, and his mother Jijabai deeply shaped his values. His guardian Dadaji Kondadev trained him in administration and warfare.

Early conquests

From the age of around sixteen, Shivaji began seizing forts in the hilly Maval region near Pune. Torna fort (1646) was among his first captures, soon followed by Rajgad, Purandar and others. He won the loyalty of the hardy local Maval peasants, who became the infantry of his early army. These hill forts became the backbone of his guerrilla strategy, giving him secure bases from which raids could be launched and to which his cavalry could retreat.

By building a network of forts and a loyal local following rather than relying on borrowed Mughal or Bijapuri authority, Shivaji laid the foundation of an independent state well before his formal coronation.

Clashes with Bijapur and the Mughals

In 1659, Bijapur sent general Afzal Khan to crush Shivaji. At Pratapgad, during a parley, Shivaji killed Afzal Khan with concealed tiger claws (baghnakh) — a famous incident that boosted his prestige.

Facing Aurangzeb

The Mughal emperor Aurangzeb sent his maternal uncle Shaista Khan, whom Shivaji humiliated in a daring night raid at Pune in 1663, in which the Khan lost his fingers while escaping. The following year Shivaji boldly sacked the wealthy Mughal port of Surat (1664), filling his treasury. Next came the able Rajput general Raja Jai Singh I, the most serious threat Shivaji had yet faced.

This led to the Treaty of Purandar (1665), by which Shivaji surrendered 23 of his 35 forts to the Mughals and agreed to serve them. He visited Agra in 1666, was detained, but famously escaped hidden in sweet baskets.

The Coronation at Raigad (1674)

In 1674, Shivaji crowned himself Chhatrapati (paramount sovereign) at Raigad fort. The ceremony was performed by Gaga Bhatt, a Brahmin scholar from Banaras.

The coronation was a political masterstroke. It gave Shivaji legitimacy as an independent monarch, free of Mughal or Bijapuri overlordship, and proclaimed a Hindavi Swarajya (self-rule). It also placed him on an equal footing with the established kings of India, allowing him to negotiate, tax and govern as a sovereign rather than as a rebel chieftain.

To mark his sovereignty he assumed full royal regalia, struck coins and dated official documents in his own era. The choice of Raigad, a near-impregnable hill fort, as his capital symbolised the fort-based strength on which his power rested.

Administration: The Ashtapradhan

Shivaji governed with the help of a council of eight ministers called the Ashtapradhan. Note carefully — this was an advisory council, not a cabinet in the modern sense; ministers held office at the king's pleasure and posts were not hereditary.

The eight ministers

• Peshwa — Prime Minister, general administration.
• Amatya / Mazumdar — Finance and accounts.
• Sachiv / Surnis — Royal correspondence.
• Mantri / Waqia-Navis — Records of the king's daily activities.
• Senapati / Sari-i-Naubat — Commander-in-chief of the army.
• Sumant / Dabir — Foreign affairs.
• Nyayadhish — Justice / chief judge.
• Panditrao — Ecclesiastical (religious) affairs and charities.

Revenue System: Chauth and Sardeshmukhi

Shivaji's land revenue model drew on the system of Malik Ambar of Ahmadnagar. Land was carefully surveyed and measured, and the state's share was assessed directly from the cultivator, reducing the power of hereditary intermediaries such as the deshmukhs and deshpandes. The standard demand was about two-fifths (40%) of the produce, later sometimes raised, and peasants could pay in cash or kind.

By dealing directly with the farmer, Shivaji both increased the state's income and curbed the influence of the local landed gentry who had often acted as semi-independent powers under the sultanates.

Two famous taxes

Chauth was a levy equal to roughly one-fourth (25%) of the revenue of territories outside Shivaji's direct control, collected in return for protection from Maratha raids.

Sardeshmukhi was an additional 10% levy that Shivaji claimed as the hereditary sardeshmukh (chief headman) of the Deccan.

Shivaji preferred cash salaries for soldiers over the jagir (land grant) system, keeping the army loyal directly to the state.

The Army and the Forts

The Maratha army was built for speed. The light cavalry, the bargirs (state-equipped horsemen) and silahdars (those who brought their own horse and equipment), formed its core. Discipline was strict and plunder was state-regulated, with a fixed share going to the treasury. Shivaji generally avoided campaigning during the monsoon, when his cavalry could not move freely, and concentrated raids in the dry season.

The forts

Forts were the heart of Maratha power. Shivaji is said to have controlled over 250 forts. Each major fort was placed under three officers of equal rank — a Havaldar, a Sabnis and a Sarnobat — so no single commander could turn the fort against the king.

Successors and the Rise of the Peshwas

After Shivaji's death in 1680, his son Sambhaji ruled until he was captured and executed by Aurangzeb in 1689. Rajaram and then his widow Tarabai kept resistance alive during the long Mughal war in the Deccan.

Power shifts to the Peshwas

Under Shahu (Sambhaji's son, released by the Mughals in 1707), real power passed to the Peshwas. Balaji Vishwanath became Peshwa in 1713 and made the office hereditary — from here the Peshwa, not the Chhatrapati, was the true ruler.

His son Bajirao I (1720–1740) was the greatest Maratha general after Shivaji. He is remembered for the saying that one should strike at the trunk of the withering tree, meaning the Mughals, and he carried Maratha arms deep into north India, defeating the Nizam and raiding up to Delhi itself. Balaji Bajirao (Nana Saheb) followed, during whose tenure Maratha power reached its widest extent but also suffered the catastrophic Third Battle of Panipat (1761) against Ahmad Shah Abdali of Afghanistan.

The defeat at Panipat did not end Maratha power immediately, but it shattered a generation of leaders and gave the rising British East India Company the opening it needed in the decades that followed.

The Maratha Confederacy

As the empire expanded, power decentralised into a confederacy of great chieftains, each ruling a region under the nominal headship of the Peshwa at Pune.

• Gaekwad — Baroda
• Holkar — Indore
• Scindia (Shinde) — Gwalior
• Bhonsle — Nagpur
• Peshwa — Poona (Pune)

Each of these houses commanded its own army and revenue, and in practice often pursued its own interests. While this decentralisation allowed rapid expansion across India, it also meant the confederacy could rarely act as one. The British exploited these rivalries skilfully, defeating the chiefs one by one, until the final Maratha power was extinguished in 1818 at the close of the Third Anglo-Maratha War.

Worked Example: Calculating Maratha Levies

This shows how the two levies together stripped roughly 35% of a region's income — a constant pressure on neighbouring states and the Mughals alike.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Other frequent slips:

• Confusing the coronation year (1674) with Shivaji's birth or death year.
• Assuming the Peshwa always meant the ruler — he was originally just the Prime Minister.
• Forgetting that the Marathas, not the Mughals, were the chief Indian losers at Panipat (1761).

Previous-Year Question and Quick Recap