Maratha Empire, for a long time, relied on the strength of Shivaji. His personal heroism and charisma had successfully led him to fill the societal void, that had occurred due to political-religious errings of the Mughal rule. The reign of the Marathas is a story of courage and conflict for the achievement of Swaraj, the self-rule
THE MARATHAS
The history of the Marathas can be divided into two well-marked phases namely the earlier phase from the latter half of the 17th century till the death of Aurangzeb i.e. the period of Shivaji, Sambhaji, Rajaram and Tarabai and the latter Mughal phase, when the Peshwas became the de facto rulers and the Maratha empire turned into a loose confideracy of the Maratha Chiefs under the chairmanship of the Peshwas
During the later phase, Maratha influence spread like a conflagration’ from the South to North-West frontier of India.
In the beginning of the 17th century, most of the territories in Maharashtra were under the possession of the Nizamshah of Ahmednagar and the Adilshah of Bijapur. They took the help of local, Marathi-speaking people to run their administration. They recruited a large number of Maratha sardars and soldiers in their armies.
The Mores, Ghatages, Nimbalkars, Jadhavs, Ghorpades, Sawants and Bhonsle were Maratha Sardar families who rose to fame during the 16th and 17th centuries. The Deshpandey’s and Deshmukh’s traditionally performed the duty of collecting land revenue. They were granted tax-free land, called as Watan, in return for their services
Malik Ambar of Ahmednagar using the best talent and cooperation of Marathas, both for war and administration and improved the financial condition of that kingdom and successfully opposed the Mughal advance for a quarter of century
In this political struggle, Shivaji’s father, Shahji and grandfather, Maloji, were associated with Malik Ambar. The fall of Khandesh, the gradual disappearance of Ahmednagar and the creation of the Mughal vice-royalty in the Deccan affected every aspect of Maratha life, which induced an awakening among the Marathas as a nation under the leadership of Shivaji and others.