Bajirao II was the final holder of the office of the Peshwa. After his defeat in the Third Anglo-Maratha War (1817-1818), the British East India Company abolished the position of Peshwa entirely. He was stripped of his territories, removed from Pune and sent into exile at Bithoor near Kanpur with an annual pension, ending the era of Peshwa rule. ANSWER: (B) Bajirao II
Who was the last Peshwa of the Maratha Empire? (A) Madhavrao Narayan (B) Bajirao II (C) Madhavrao (D) Narayan Rao
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The era of the Peshwas, which began with Balaji Vishwanath in 1713, ended with the surrender of Bajirao II in 1818. Following the Battle of Khadki and subsequent defeats, Bajirao II surrendered to Sir John Malcolm. The British Governor-General, Lord Hastings, decided to annex the Peshwa’s dominions to the Bombay Presidency to prevent any future Maratha resurgence. Bajirao II spent the rest of his life as a British pensioner in Bithoor. His adopted son, Nana Saheb, would later become a prominent leader in the Indian Rebellion of 1857, seeking to reclaim the lost Maratha legacy.