This Book Deals With History Of The Marathas. Marathas Became Paramount Power After The Disintegration Of Mughal Empire. After The Third Battle Of Panipat In 1761 And Of Buxar In 1765, Marathas Installed Mughal Emperor Shah Alum At Delhi Under Their Protection. Marathas-Sindhian Forces Were Defeated In The Battle Of Assaye And Laswari By British Forces Led By Duke Of Wellington, Who Later On Defeated Nepoleon Bonaparte And Lord Lake. After This Mughal Emperor Shah Alum Came Under British Control. In Spite Of Defeat Of Marathas In 1818, Daulat Rao Sindhia Succeeded In Saving His Gwalior State Without Accepting Subsidiary Alliance During His Life-Time And His Wife Raiza Bai Played An Important Role In Bringing Upheaval Of 1857. Sindhian Family Followed Pragmatic Diplomacy.Sindhia Family Continues To Play An Important Role In Indian Politics And The Last Sindhian Ruler Became Raj Pramukh Of Madhya Bharat. After The Abolition Of Privy Purse, Vijay Raje Sindhia And Basundhra Raje In B.J.P. And Madhavrao Sindhia And Jyotiraditya Sindhia In Congress Continued To Play An Important Role In Indian Politics And Are Related With Nepal And Kashmir Royal Family. This Book Deals With Political Aspects Of Marathas-Sindhian Politics Along With Their Social, Economic And Administrative Aspects. Justice Was Fair, Quick, Cheap And Impartial And There Were No Arrears Of Cases While Now More Than 300 Million Cases Are Pending. The Book Is Based On Original Documents As Well As On Contemporary Books And Is, Therefore, Very Useful For Teachers, Research Scholars, Students And Readers Who May Be Interested To Know Social, Cultural, Economic And Judicial Set Up And Indian Way Of Life Of Pre-British Days.

The power of India reached its pre-British Raj height under the Maratha Empire or the Maratha Confederacy which was an Indian imperial power that existed from 1674 to 1818. At its peak, the empire covered much of India, encompassing a territory of over 2.8 million km2. The Marathas are credited for ending the Mughal rule in India. The Marathas were a yeoman warrior group from the western Deccan that rose to prominence during the rule of the Adil Shahi dynasty and Ahmadnagar Sultanate. The empire was founded by Shivaji Bhosle, who formally crowned himself Chhatrapati ("Emperor") with Raigad as his capital in 1674, and successfully fought against the Mughal Empire. The Maratha Empire waged war for 27 years with the Mughals from 1681 to 1707, which became the longest war in the history of India. Shivaji, pioneered "Shiva sutra" or Ganimi Kava (guerrilla tactics), which leveraged strategic factors like demographics, speed, surprise and focused attack to defeat his bigger and more powerful enemies. After the death of the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb, the empire expanded greatly under the rule of the Peshwas. The empire at its peak stretched from Tamil Nadu in the south, to Peshawar (modern-day Pakistan) on the Afghanistan border in the north, and Bengal and Andaman Islands in east. In 1761, the Maratha army lost the Third Battle of Panipat to Abdali’s Afghan Durrani Empire, which halted their imperial expansion. Ten years after Panipat, young Madhavrao Peshwa reinstated the Maratha authority over North India. In a bid to effectively manage the large empire, he gave semi-autonomy to the strongest of the knights, which created a confederacy of Maratha states. In 1775, the British East India Company intervened in a succession struggle in Pune, which became the First Anglo-Maratha War. Marathas remained the preeminent power in India until their defeat in the Second and Third Anglo-Maratha wars (1805–1818), which left the British East India Company in control of most of India.

Duff provides a comprehensive history of the Mahratta Empire, from its origins to its eventual decline. This work offers valuable insights into the political, military, and cultural forces that shaped one of India's most enduring dynasties. This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the "public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

A History of the Mahrattas by James Grant Duff. The want of a complete history of the rise, progress, and decline of our immediate predecessors in conquest, the Mahrattas, has been long felt by all persons conversant with the affairs of India; in so much, that it is very generally acknowledged, we cannot fully understand the means by which our own vast empire in that quarter was acquired, until this desideratum be supplied. Maharashtra is the native country of the people whose history it is now proposed to trace. Different limits are assigned to this great portion of the Deccan. According to the Tutwa, one of the books of the Jotush Shaster, or Hindoo Astronomy, Maharashtra extends no farther than the Chandore range of hills, where Kolwun, Buglana, and Candeish are represented as its northern boundary, and all beyond those countries is indiscriminately termed Vendhiadree. James Grant Duff (1789-1858) was a British soldier, and historian from Scotland who was active in British India.