Sivaji the Great, as already mentioned, died in 1680, while Aurangzeb
was still on the throne. The family of Sivaji produced no great names,
either among those who continued to be the nominal chiefs of the
Mahratta confederacy, with their capital at Satara, or among the rajas
of Kolhapur and Tanjore. All real power passed into the hands of the
peshwa, or Brahman minister, who founded in his turn an hereditary
dynasty at Poona, dating from the beginning of the 18th century. Next
rose several Mahratta generals, who, though recognizing the suzerainty
of the peshwa, carved out for themselves independent kingdoms in
different parts of India, sometimes far from the original home of the
Mahratta race. Chief among these generals were the gaikwar in Gujarat,
Sindhia and Holkar in Malwa, and the Bhonsla raja of Berar and Nagpur.
At one time it seemed probable that the Mahratta confederacy would expel
the Mahommedans even from northern India; but the decisive battle of
Panipat, won by the Afghans in 1761, gave a respite to the Delhi empire.
The Mahratta chiefs never again united heartily for a common purpose,
though they still continued to be the most formidable military power in
India. In especial, they dominated over the British settlement of Bombay
on the western coast, which was the last of the three presidencies to
feel the lust of territorial ambition. For more than a hundred years,
from its acquisition in 1661 to the outbreak of the first Mahratta war
in 1775, the British on the west coast possessed no territory outside
the island of Bombay and their fortified factory at Surat.
First Mahratta War.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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