Critically examine the rise of Maratha power

Question 1 of the IGNOU BHIC 112 assignment 2026-27 (History of India-VII, c. 1605-1750, for BAHIH and BAFHI) asks you to critically examine the rise of Maratha power. It carries 20 marks with a limit of about 500 words, so you need both the story (causes and stages) and the debate among historians. This post gives you a complete assignment answer, a timeline table, writing tips and FAQs.

Introduction

In the second half of the seventeenth century the Marathas grew from local chiefs and hereditary land-holders in western Maharashtra into a regional power that challenged the Mughal Empire. Under Shivaji (1630-1680) they built an independent kingdom; after his death they survived Aurangzeb’s long Deccan war; and in the eighteenth century the Peshwas spread Maratha influence across much of India.

To “critically examine” this rise, we must look at the factors behind it, the stages of its growth and the interpretations historians have offered.

Factors Behind the Rise of Maratha Power

1. Geography: the rugged Sahyadri (Western Ghats) and the Konkan coast, dotted with hill forts, suited guerrilla warfare and made it hard for large imperial armies to hold territory.
2. Experience under the Deccan sultanates: the kingdoms of Ahmadnagar, Bijapur and Golconda employed Maratha deshmukhs and soldiers. Shivaji’s father Shahji Bhonsle served Ahmadnagar and then Bijapur and held a jagir around Pune. This gave Maratha families military skill and revenue experience.
3. Social and cultural identity: Bhakti saints such as Eknath, Tukaram and Ramdas spread a shared religious culture in the Marathi language, which helped create a regional sense of community.
4. Mughal expansion and agrarian strain: Mughal pressure on the Deccan, from Shah Jahan’s time onwards, threatened local landholders’ rights and gave them reasons to resist.
5. Leadership: Shivaji’s personal ability as a general, organiser and diplomat turned these conditions into a state.

Stage 1: Shivaji and the Making of the Maratha State

Shivaji began by capturing forts in the Pune region, starting with Torna in the mid-1640s. He killed the Bijapur general Afzal Khan at Pratapgarh in 1659, made a surprise night attack on the Mughal governor Shaista Khan in Pune in 1663 and sacked the rich Mughal port of Surat in 1664.

Aurangzeb sent Raja Jai Singh, who forced the Treaty of Purandar (1665) on Shivaji, under which he surrendered many forts. Shivaji visited Aurangzeb’s court at Agra in 1666, was placed under watch and escaped. He soon recovered his forts and in 1674 was crowned Chhatrapati at Raigad, announcing an independent kingdom. A southern campaign in 1677-78 added Jinji and Vellore.

Administration: the base of Maratha power

• Ashtapradhan: a council of eight ministers, headed by the Peshwa, to assist the king.
• Revenue: Shivaji tried to limit the power of hereditary deshmukhs and to pay many officers in cash rather than through land grants.
• Chauth and sardeshmukhi: levies of one-fourth and one-tenth of revenue collected from areas outside direct Maratha rule, a key source of income and influence.
• Forts and navy: a network of forts and a coastal fleet protected the Konkan.

Stage 2: The War of Independence (1689-1707)

After Shivaji’s death, Aurangzeb came to the Deccan himself. He conquered Bijapur (1686) and Golconda (1687), and captured and executed Shivaji’s son Sambhaji in 1689. Maratha resistance did not collapse. Rajaram moved to Jinji in the south, and after his death in 1700 his widow Tarabai led the struggle. Mobile Maratha bands raided across the Deccan, and the war drained Mughal resources until Aurangzeb’s death in 1707. This phase showed that Maratha power rested on a wide social base of chiefs and soldiers, not on one ruler.

Stage 3: The Peshwas and Maratha Expansion

The Mughals released Shahu (Sambhaji’s son) in 1707, which led to a civil war with Tarabai’s side. Shahu won with the help of Balaji Vishwanath, whom he made Peshwa in 1713. In 1719 Balaji Vishwanath obtained Mughal recognition of Shahu’s home territory and of the right to collect chauth and sardeshmukhi in the six Mughal provinces of the Deccan.

His son Baji Rao I (Peshwa 1720-1740) pushed Maratha power north into Malwa, Gujarat and Bundelkhand, defeated the Nizam at Palkhed (1728) and raided up to the outskirts of Delhi in 1737. By about 1750 the Peshwa at Pune was the real centre of a Maratha system that included powerful chiefs such as the Shindes, Holkars, Gaekwads and Bhonsles of Nagpur.

Year	Event	Significance
1659	Afzal Khan killed at Pratapgarh	Shivaji defeats Bijapur
1665	Treaty of Purandar	Temporary Mughal success
1674	Coronation at Raigad	Independent Maratha kingdom
1689-1707	War against Aurangzeb	Maratha survival without a strong king
1713	Balaji Vishwanath Peshwa	Start of Peshwa leadership
1719	Mughal grant of chauth and sardeshmukhi	Legal claim over the Deccan
1720-1740	Baji Rao I	Expansion into north India

Critical Assessment: How Historians Explain the Rise of Maratha Power

• M. G. Ranade (Rise of the Maratha Power, 1900) saw it as a popular, almost national movement, prepared by the Bhakti saints and the unity they created.
• Jadunath Sarkar stressed Shivaji’s genius and the reaction against Aurangzeb’s religious policy.
• Satish Chandra and other Aligarh historians linked it to the crisis of the Mughal jagirdari system and the resistance of local zamindars (deshmukhs) to imperial demands.
• André Wink (Land and Sovereignty in India, 1986) argued that the Marathas worked through fitna, a politics of alliance and division in which they shared sovereignty with the Mughals rather than simply overthrowing them.

Each view captures part of the truth. The “national” reading is too modern: Maratha chiefs often served the Mughals and changed sides. The religious reading ignores the many Muslims in Shivaji’s service. The most balanced view combines local conditions (terrain, deshmukh power, regional culture), Shivaji’s statecraft and the weakening of the Mughal Empire. Its weaknesses also matter: the system rested on chauth collection rather than settled administration, and the growing independence of the great chiefs later weakened Maratha unity.

Conclusion

The rise of Maratha power was a long process, not a single event. It began with Shivaji’s kingdom, survived Aurangzeb’s war and expanded under the Peshwas as Mughal authority declined. Geography, social change, leadership and imperial crisis all played their part, which is why historians continue to debate whether it was a regional assertion, a zamindar revolt or a new form of shared sovereignty.

How to write this answer in your IGNOU assignment

• Keep to about 500 words: 50 words of introduction, 120 on factors, 200 on the three stages, 100 on historians’ views and a short conclusion.
• “Critically examine” means judge: do not stop at the story; add at least two historians’ interpretations and one weakness of the Maratha system.
• Read the unit on the Marathas in your BHIC-112 study material on eGyanKosh and use its terms: deshmukh, chauth, sardeshmukhi, swarajya.
• Add a short timeline: five dates (1659, 1674, 1689, 1713, 1719) make the answer easy to follow.
• Write it yourself: use this answer to understand the topic, then write the assignment in your own words and handwriting.

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