James Grant Duff, a British soldier and historian who served as the resident at Satara, used this famous metaphor in his book “A History of the Mahrattas.” He viewed the emergence of the Maratha power as an abrupt, explosive event ...
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The British “Subsidiary Alliance” system was the most effective tool for dismantling Maratha power. By offering military protection to individual Maratha chiefs in exchange for control over their foreign policy and a British resident at their court, the British neutralized ...
In Northern India, Maratha rule was often characterized by revenue extraction (Chauth) rather than deep-seated administrative reform. This was primarily due to the “short duration” and instability of their control. Constant warfare with Afghans, Jats and Mughals forced the Marathas ...
The defining institutional feature of the Maratha Confederacy was the “semi-autonomous” nature of its sardars. Unlike a centralized empire where governors are subordinates who follow central orders, the Maratha chiefs (like Scindia, Holkar and Gaekwad) maintained their own armies, administrations ...
At Panipat, the Maratha army suffered from a fatal lack of coordination and centralized command. While Sadashivrao Bhau was the nominal leader, he struggled to unify the different sardars, who often disagreed on strategy. The departure of traditional guerrilla tactics ...