Table Of Content

OF THE INDIAN PEOPLE ★ : ■ -■ ^ Hpp^ .MUMBAI . ■ * Agartala * Agra * Ahmedabad 45 Allahabad Amritsar * Andheri * Aurangabad Bagalkot * Bangalore * Baroda * Belgaum * Bellary * Bharuch * Bharwari Bhatpara * Bhimavaram * Bhopal * Bhubaneshwar * Bhusawal 45 Chandigarh Chatrapur (Bhatti Mines) * Chennai * Coimbatore * Dakor * Dehradun * Guntur Guruvayur * Guwahati * Haldia * Hazira * Hosur * Hubli-Dharwad * Hyderabad Indore * lrinjalakuda * Jabalpur % Jaipur * Jalgacm * Jammu Tawi *' Jamftagar * Jodhpur * Kakinada * Kammam * Kanchipuram Kannur * Kanpur * Khor * Kochi Kodagu * Kodaikanal * Kodinar * Kodungallur * Kolhapur * Kolkata * Kollam Korba * Kosamba * Kota * Kottayam * Kozhikode * Kurkunta * Kutch * Lucknow Machilipatnam * Madurai * Malkhed * Mangalore *. 'Munkapur * Modipuram f. Mukundgarh * MUMBAI H.O. * Mysore Nadiad * Nagercoii * Nagpur * Nasik Navi Mumbai * New Delhi * Palakkad * Panehkula * Patna * Ponnani 44 Pune Puthucode * Raipur * Ramachandrapuram * Ramanattukara * Ratangarh Reddipalayam * Renukoot * Roorkee * Rourkela * Salav * Satna * Secunderabad Serampore *. Shimoga * Silgiri * Suehindrahr; * Surat * Tadepalligudam Taliparamba * Thirunavaya * Thiruvananthapuram * Thrissur * Tirupati * Udipi Manipal * Ujjain * Valanchery * Varanasi ;* Visakhapatnam * Wardha * Wayanad irt the seventh volume of -this series it was stated that the phase oPconquest and expansion of the two great military powers in India — the Marathas and the Sikhs — and of the foreign powers one of which was ultimately to play a* dominant role in the history of this continent, would be set forth in Volume VIII Which/woaki complete this series of "The History and Culture of the Indian People’'. This has now been done in this volume. It deals with the period from the death of Aurangzib (1707) to the third Anglo-Maratha War (IBIS), ';"b .V' •' Irwas an eventful'period that witnessed the end of Muslim rule, the rise and fall of the Maratha empire and the foundation of British empire in India, This period—the eighteenth century—is rightly looked on as the age of Maratha Supremacy. The Maratha dominated the Indian political scene right upto the end of the century. With the death of emperor Aurangzib vanished the glory and pregtige of the Mughul empire. The governors of distant provinces assumed independence for all practical purposes. The Afghans started sweeping down to the plains of India from their eyries in the mountains in the north west. Among the Hindu populace of the empire, there were revolts against foreign rule and resurgence. The Rajputs, the Sikhs, the Jats; the Bundelas and the Marathas all started thinking in terms of independence and challenged the might of the empire. The Marathas proved the most successful of the lot, liberated their homeland and carried the war into the enemy’s country. Peshwa Balaji Vishwanath set on the bold adventure of participating in the imperial affairs by the treaty of 1718. Under his son and grandson, Peshw3 Baji Rao and Balaji Rao, participation made wav for direction and control. The Marathas succeeded to a large extent in conquering Malwa. Gujarat and a part of Bhundelkhand and levying tribute from Bengal to the Punjab and from Agra to Arcot. Unfortunately they were unable to develop satisfactory administrative, political and cultural institutions to evoke the cooperation of the local people and win their loyalties. The defeat at Panipat (1761) and the First Anglo- . Maratha War created in the MaratKas State which were never healed. All this While, the British were pushing forward their conquests from the East and the South, and it was dear they would one day clash with the Marathas for supremacy. This fact remained hidden temporarily by Mahadji Sindia's assumption of the powers of a king-maker at Delhi (1784-94). During the decade that followed his death, all the great and wise leaders of the Maratha State departed from the earthly scene and the great proconsul Wellesley found himself dealing with small men who could not understand that their interest lay in cohesion and unity. British diplomacy created disarray among Maratha chiefs and fought them separately Maratha supremacy was gone. A sleepy, inert, feudal society was overpowered by an aggressive imperialism deriving its strength from the new learning and new science. Religious reformers arose who tried to interpret tenets of Hindu religion in a liberal way. among the Muslim there was a harking back to the old days of simplicity in religion. The sel ient economy based on domestic consumption was shattered first fey extraordinary privileges the British conquerors claimed for themselves, and later by the unequal competition of the Industrial Revolution of the West. AH this would be found discussed in the present volume. The contributors to the vojume are eminent scholars such as Prof. B. P. Saksena, Prof. K. K.. Datta, Prof. H. R. Gupta, Dr. Raghubir Singh, Prof. Puntamfcekar, Prof. C S. Sririivasachari, Prof. A. P. Dass and Prof. R. K. Mukherjee and others. ' 7 t V-.V Wtv - £ V'.. j;v- ‘A .• . -Tv 3TT Tt ^r: SFcfcfr fqw: Let noble thoughts come to us from every side Rigveda, I-89-i BHAVAN'S BOOK UNIVERSITY General Editor S. RAMAKRISHNAN History and Culture of the Indian People Volume VIII THE MARATHA SUPREMACY Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2018 with funding from Public.Resource.Org https://archive.org/details/marathasupremacy08bhar BHAVAN'S BOOK UNIVERSITY History and Culture of the Indian People Volume VIII THE M AR AT H A SUPREMACY General Editor R. C. MUJUMDAR, M.A.,Ph.D., D. LiTT. (Hony.) Vice-President of the International Commission for a History of the Scientific and Cultural Development of Mankind set up by UNESCO: Hon. Fellow of the Asiatic Society, Kolkata Hon. Head of the Department of History, Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Bombay; Formerly Vice-Chancellor, University of Dacca: Principal, College of Indology, Hindu University, Banaras: and Visiting Professor of Indian History, Universities of Chicago and Pennsylvania (U.S.A.) ASSISTANT EDITOR Formerly Senior Research Officer, Ministry of External Affairs: Senior Scholar, Ministry of Education, New Delhi. 2001 BHARATIYA VIDYA BHAVAN Kulapati K.M. Munshi Marg, Mumbai - 400 007. All rights reserved by the Publishers © Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan Kulapati Munshi Marg, Mumbai-400 007. First Edition 1977 Second Edition 1991 Third Edition 2001 Price Rs.: 500.00 PRINTED IN INDIA By Atul Goradia at Siddhi Printers, 13/14, Bhabha Building, 13th Khetwadi Lane, Mumbai 400 004 and published by S. Ramakrishnan, Executive Secretary, Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Kulapati Munshi Marg, Mumbai-400 007. CONTRIBUTORS R. C. MAJUMDAR (Hon.) M. A., Ph.D.,D.LITT. General Editor. B. P. SAKSENA M. A., Ph.D. Formerly Professor of History, Allahabad University. V. G. DIGHE M. A , Ph D. Formerly Senior Research Officer, Ministry of External Affairs; Senior Scholar, Ministry of Education, New Delhi. K. K. DATTA M.A., Ph.D. Formerly Professor of History, Patna, & Vice-Chancellor, Magadha University. H. R. GUPTA M.A , Ph.D. Formerly Professor of History, Punjab University. RAGHUBIR SINH M.A., D. LITT., LL.B. J. N. CHAUDHURI M.A., Ph.D. Formerly Lecturer, Brahmananda Keshabchandra College, Barrackpur. (Late) S. V. PUNTAMBEKAR m.a., (Oxon), Bar-at-Law Professor of Politics, University of Nagpur. A. C. BANERJEE M.A., Ph.D. Formerly Professor of History, Calcutta University db Jadavpur University. (Late) RAO SAHIB C. S. SRINIVASACHARI Professor of History, Anmamalai University. A. P. DAS GUPTA Formerly Controller of Examinations & Inspector of Colleges. Calcutta University. S. N. SEN M.A., Ph.D. Lecturer in History, Vidyasagar College, CalOutta. (Late) N. K. SINHA M.A., Ph.D. Professor of History, Calcutta University. S. N. QANUNGO M.A., Ph.D. Lecturer in History, Lucknow University (Late) D. N. BANERJEE M*A.» PlU>. Professor of History, Dacca St Calcutta Universities. RAMANLAL C. SHAH M.A., Phj». Head, Department of Gujarati, University of Bombay R. V. HERWADKAR M.A., B.T., Ph.D. Professor and Head of the Department of Marathi, St. Xavier's College, Bombay. EL R. SRINIVASA IYENGAR M.A., D.UTT. Formerly Professor and Vice-Chancellor, Andhra University. S. V. JOGA RAO M.A., Ph.D. Head. Department of Telugu, Andhra University Postgraduate Centre, Guntur. S. SRIKANTHA SASTRI M.A., Ph.D. Formerly Professor of History, University of Mysore. S. K. NAYAR M.A., Ph.D. « Professor, University of Madras. PROF. A. N. JAFREE M.A , Ph.I>. RAM PANJWANI M.A., Ph.D. Head, Department of Sindhi, University of Bombay. ABDUS SUBHAN M.A., Ph.D. Lecturer, Maulana Azad College, Calcutta. S. A. UPADHYAYA M.A. Jt. Director (Academic), Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Bombay. (Late) BIMAN BEHARI MAJUMDAR M.A., Ptl.D. Professor of History, Patna University. (Late) RADHA KAMAL MUKHERJEE Head of the Department of Economics, Lucknow University.