Which institutional feature most clearly distinguished the Maratha Confederacy from a centralized empire?
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 and foreign policies. The Peshwa acted as a nominal head or coordinator rather than an absolute monarch. ANSWER: (C) Semi-autonomous power of regional chiefs
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The Maratha state was built on a system of shared sovereignty. While the Peshwa in Pune held the central title, the regional chiefs exercised nearly complete control over their respective territories. They collected their own taxes, entered into local treaties and managed their own succession. This institutionalized autonomy meant that the empire functioned as a collective of states bound by a common cultural and military identity rather than a single administrative law. This distinction is what made the Marathas a “Confederacy”—a structure that allowed for great flexibility but lacked the unity of a centralized imperial system.