courtesy : famous personality in marathi
Ancient to medieval period
During the ancient period, around 230 BC, Maharashtra came under the rule of the Satavahana dynasty, which ruled the region for 400 years. The Vakataka dynasty then ruled Maharashtra from the 3rd century to the 5th century AD, and the Chalukya dynasty from the 6th century to the 8th century. The two prominent rulers were Pulakeshin II, who defeated the north Indian Emperor Harsh, and Vikramaditya II, who defeated Arab invaders in the 8th century. The Rashtrakuta dynasty ruled Maharashtra from the 8th to the 10th century. The Persian merchant and traveler, Sulaiman al-Tajir, who wrote of his many voyages to India and China in the mid-9th century CE, called the ruler of the Rashtrakuta dynasty, Amoghavarsha, “one of the four great kings of the world”.
From the early 11th century to the 12th century, the Deccan Plateau was dominated by the Western Chalukya Empire and the Chola dynasty.
The Yadava dynasty of Deogiri, ruled Maharashtra from the 13th century to the 14th century. The Yadavas were defeated by the Khaljis in 1321. After the defeat of Yadavas, the area was ruled for the next 300 years by a succession of Muslim rulers including (in chronological order): the Khaljis, the Tughlaqs, and the Bahmani Sultanate and its successor states called the Deccan sultanates, such as Adilshahi, Nizamshahi, and the Mughal Empire.
The early period of Islamic rule saw the imposition of a Jaziya tax on non-Muslims, temple destruction and forcible conversions. However, the mainly Hindu population and their Islamic rulers came to an accommodation over time. For most of this period Brahmins were in charge of accounts, whereas revenue collection was in the hands of Marathas who held watans (hereditary rights) of Patilki (revenue collection at village level), and Deshmukhi (revenue collection over a larger area). A number of families such as Bhosale, Shirke, Ghorpade, Jadhav, More, Mahadik, Ghatge, Gharge-Desai (Deshmukh) and Nimbalkar loyally served different sultans at different periods of time. All watandar considered their watan a source of economic power and pride and were reluctant to part with it. The watandars were the first to oppose Chhatrapati Shivaji because it hurt their economic interests. Since most of the population was Hindu and spoke Marathi, even the sultans such as Ibrahim Adil Shah I adopted Marathi as the court language for administration and record-keeping.
Islamic rule also led to Persian vocabulary entering the Marathi language. Per Kulkarni, for the elites of the era using Persian words was a status symbol. Surnames derived from service during that period such as Fadnis, Chitnis, Mirasdar, etc. are still in use today.
Most of the Marathi Bhakti poet saints, who worshipped Vitthal, belonged to the period between late Yadava and the late Islamic era. These include Dnyaneshwar, Namdev, Eknath, Bahinabai and Tukaram. Other important religious figures of this era were Narsimha Saraswati, and Mahanubhava sect founder Chakradhar Swami. All of them used the Marathi language rather than Sanskrit for their devotional and philosophical compositions.
The decline of Islamic rule in Deccan started when Chhatrapati Shivaji (1630–1680) founded the Maratha Empire by annexing a portion of the Bijapur Sultanate. Chhatrapati Shivaji later led rebellions against Mughal rule, thus becoming a symbol of Hindu resistance and self-rule. The Maratha Empire contributed greatly to the end of Mughal rule and went on to rule over a vast empire stretching from Attock to Cuttack.
Early modern period (1650–1818)
Political history
In the mid-17th century, Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj founded the Maratha Empire by conquering the Desh and the Konkan regions from the Adilshahi, and established Hindavi Swaraj (“self-rule of Hindu people”). The Marathas are credited to a large extent with ending Mughal rule in India. After Chhatrapati Shivaji’s death, the Mughals, who had lost significant ground to the Maratha Empire under him, invaded Maharashtra in 1681. Chhatrapati Shivaji’s son Sambhaji, also his successor as Chhatrapati, led the Maratha Empire valiantly against the much stronger Mughal opponent, but in 1689, after being betrayed, Sambhaji was captured, tortured and killed by the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb. The war against the Mughals was then led by Sambhaji’s younger brother and successor Rajaram I. Upon Rajaram’s death in 1700, his widow Tarabai took command of Maratha forces and won many battles against the Mughals. In 1707, upon the death of Aurangzeb, the War of 27 Years between the much-weakened Mughal Empire and the rising Maratha Empire came to an end.
Territory under Maratha control in 1760 (yellow), without its vassals
Shahu I, the grandson of Chhatrapati Shivaji, with the help of capable Maratha Empire administrators and generals such as the Peshwa Balaji Vishwanath and his descendants, saw the greatest expansion of the Maratha Empire power. After Shahu’s death in 1749, the Peshwa Nanasaheb and his successors became the virtual rulers of the Maratha Empire. The Maratha Empire was expanded by many chieftains including Peshwa Bajirao Ballal I and his descendants, the Shindes, Gaekwad, Pawar, Bhonsale of Nagpur, and the Holkars. The Empire at its peak stretched from northern Tamil Nadu in the south to Peshawar (modern-day Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) in the north, and to Bengal in the east. Pune, under the Peshwa, became the imperial seat, with envoys, ambassadors, and royals coming in from far and near. However, after the Third Battle of Panipat in 1761, in which the Marathas were defeated by the Afghans under Ahmed Shah Abdali, the Maratha Empire broke up into many independent kingdoms. Due to the efforts of Mahadji Shinde, it remained a confederacy until the British East India Company defeated Peshwa Bajirao II. Nevertheless, several Maratha Empire states remained as vassals of the British until 1947 when they acceded to the Dominion of India.
A watercolor painting of Pune from the late Peshwa era as seen from the confluence of the Mula and Mutha rivers, by British artist Henry Salt. The picture clearly shows the permanent features of the place and cremations. River confluences have been popular in Hinduism for cremations and also for ceremonial disposal of ashes
The Maratha Empire also developed a potent coastal navy around the 1660s. At its peak under Maratha Koli Admiral Kanhoji Angre, the naval force dominated the territorial waters of the western coast of India from Mumbai to Sawantwadi. It would engage in attacking British, Portuguese, Dutch, and Siddi naval ships and kept a check on their naval ambitions. The Maratha Navy dominated until around the 1730s, but was in a state of decline by the 1770s, and ceased to exist entirely by 1818.
