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Balaji Vishwanath
Balaji Vishwanath Bhat (1 January 1662 – 12 April 1720) was the first of a series of hereditary Peshwas hailing from the Bhat family who gained effective control of the Maratha Confederacy and other Mughal vassals during the early 18th century. Balaji Vishwanath assisted a young Maratha king Shahu to consolidate his grip on a kingdom that had been racked by civil war and persistently intruded on by the Mughals under Aurangzeb. Early life and career Balaji Vishwanath Bhat was born into a Marathi Konkanastha Chitpavan Brahmin family. The family hailed from the coastal Konkan region of present-day Maharashtra and were the hereditary Deshmukh for Shrivardhan under the Siddi of Janjira. He went out in search of employment to the upper regions of western ghats and worked as a mercenary trooper under various Maratha generals. According to Kincaid & Parasnis, Balaji Vishwanath entered the Maratha administration during the reign of Sambhaji or the regency of his brother, Rajaram. ...
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Peshwa
The Peshwa was the second highest office in the Maratha Empire, next in rank and prestige only to that of the Chhatrapati. Initially serving as the appointed prime minister in the Maratha Kingdom, the office became hereditary when Shahu gave the seat of Peshwa to Bajirao I, Bajirao Ballal. During the reign of Shahu, the office of Peshwa grew in power and the Peshwas came to be the ''de facto'' rulers of the Maratha Confederacy. Eventually, the Chhatrapati title became titular and the main heads were the Peshwas according to the Sangola pact. All Peshwas during the rule of Shivaji, Sambhaji and Rajaram I, Rajaram belonged to Marathi people, Marathi Deshastha Brahmin community. The first Peshwa was Moropant Trimbak Pingle, Moropant Pingle, who was appointed as the head of the Ashta Pradhan (council of eight ministers) by Shivaji, the founder of the Maratha Kingdom. The initial Peshwas were all ministers who served as the chief executives to the king. The later Peshwas held the h ...
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Marathi People
The Marathi people (; Marathi language, Marathi: , ''Marāṭhī lōk'') or Marathis (Marathi: मराठी, ''Marāṭhī'') are an Indo-Aryan peoples, Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group who are native to Maharashtra in western India. They natively speak Marathi language, Marathi, an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language. Maharashtra was formed as a Marathi-speaking state of India on 1 May 1960, as part of a nationwide linguistic reorganisation of the States and union territories of India, Indian states. The term "Maratha" is generally used by historians to refer to all Marathi-speaking peoples, irrespective of their Caste system in India, caste; However, it may refer to a Maharashtrian caste known as the Maratha (caste), Maratha which also includes farmer sub castes like the Kunbis. The Marathi community came into political prominence in the 17th century, when the Maratha Empire was established by Shivaji in 1674. Etymology According to R. G. Bhandarkar, the term Mara ...
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Tarabai
Maharani Tarabai Bhonsle ( Marathi: ̪aːɾabaːi; ; 1675 – 9 December 1761) was the regent of the Maratha Empire from 1700 until 1708. She was the queen of Rajaram I, and daughter-in-law of the kingdom's founder Shivaji I. She is acclaimed for her role in keeping alive the resistance against Mughal Empire, Mughal rule in Konkan, and acting as the regent of the Maratha Confederacy, Maratha Kingdom during the minority of her son, Shivaji II. She defeated Mughal forces of Aurangzeb in several battles and expanded the Maratha Kingdom. Family and early life Tarabai came from Mohite clan. She was the daughter of Hambirrao Mohite, Commander-in-Chief of Shivaji, the founder of the Maratha kingdom. Hambirrao's sister Soyarabai was the queen of Shivaji and the mother of his younger son Rajaram I. Tarabai married Rajaram at the age of 8 in 1682, becoming his second wife. After the death of his half-brother and predecessor Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj, Rajaram ruled the Marath ...
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Deccan Plateau
The Deccan is a plateau extending over an area of and occupies the majority of the Indian peninsula. It stretches from the Satpura Range, Satpura and Vindhya Ranges in the north to the northern fringes of Tamil Nadu in the south. It is bound by the mountain ranges of the Western Ghats and the Eastern Ghats on the sides, which separate the region from the Western Coastal Plains, Western and Eastern Coastal Plains respectively. It covers most of the Indian States of Maharashtra, Karnataka, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh excluding the coastal regions, and minor portions of Tamil Nadu and Kerala. The plateau is marked by rocky terrain with an average elevation of about . It is subdivided into Maharashtra Plateau, Karnataka Plateau, and Rayalaseema & Telangana Plateau. The Deccan Traps in the north west were formed by multiple layers of igneous rocks laid down by basaltic lava flows following a massive volcanic eruption that occurred during the end of the Cretaceous period (66 Millio ...
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Shivaji
Shivaji I (Shivaji Shahaji Bhonsale, ; 19 February 1630 – 3 April 1680) was an Indian ruler and a member of the Bhonsle dynasty. Shivaji carved out his own independent kingdom from the Sultanate of Bijapur that formed the genesis of the Maratha Empire. In 1674, he was formally crowned the ''Chhatrapati'' of his realm at Raigad Fort. Shivaji offered passage and his service to the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb to invade the declining Sultanate of Bijapur. After Aurangzeb's departure for the north due to a war of succession, Shivaji conquered territories ceded by Bijapur in the name of the Mughals. Following his defeat at the hands of Jai Singh I, the senior most general ("Mirza (noble), Mirza Raja") of the Mughal Empire, in the Battle of Purandar, Shivaji entered into vassalage with the Mughal empire, assuming the role of a Mughal chief and was conferred with the title of ''Raja (title), Raja'' by Aurangzeb. He undertook military expeditions on behalf of the Mughal Empire for a ...
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Chattrapati Shahu
Shahu I (Shivaji Sambhaji Raje Bhonsale; ; 18 May 1682 – 15 December 1749) was the fifth Chhatrapati or head of state of the Maratha Empire founded by his grandfather, Shivaji I. He was born into the Bhonsle family and was the son of Sambhaji I and Yesubai. At a young age, he was taken into custody at the Siege of Raigad by Mughal emperor Aurangzeb, and held captive. He was released from captivity after the death of Aurangzeb in the hope of engineering an internecine struggle among the Maratha factions of Tarabai and Shahu. Shahu emerged victorious in the bloody Battle of Khed and was crowned as Chhatrapati. During Shahu's reign, Maratha power and influence extended to much of central and western India, which had then created a strong Maratha Kingdom. After his death, his ministers and generals such as the Peshwa Bhats and their lieutenants of the Shinde and Holkar house, Senasahibsubha Bhonsles of Nagpur, and Senakhaskhel Gaikwad of Baroda administered their s ...
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Pune
Pune ( ; , ISO 15919, ISO: ), previously spelled in English as Poona (List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name until 1978), is a city in the state of Maharashtra in the Deccan Plateau, Deccan plateau in Western India. It is the administrative headquarters of the Pune district, and of Pune division. In terms of the total amount of land under its jurisdiction, Pune is the largest city in Maharashtra, with a geographical area of 516.18 sq km, though List of cities in India by population, by population it comes in a distant second to Mumbai. According to the 2011 Census of India, Pune has 7.2 million residents in the metropolitan region, making it the List of metropolitan areas in India, seventh-most populous metropolitan area in India. The city of Pune is part of Pune Metropolitan Region. Pune is one of the largest IT hubs in India. It is also one of the most important Automotive industry in India, automobile and Manufacturing in India, manufacturin ...
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Murud-Janjira
Murud-Janjira () is the local name of a famous fort and tourist spot situated on an island just off the coastal town of Murud, Raigad, Murud, in the Raigad district of Maharashtra, India. Malik Ambar is credited with the construction of the Janjira Fort in the Murud Area of present-day Maharashtra India. After its construction in 1567 AD, the fort was key to the Sidis withstanding various invasion attempts by the Maratha Confederacy, Marathas, Mughal Empire, Mughals, and Portuguese India, Portuguese to capture Janjira. Origins of the name The word Janjira is a corruption of the word "jazira", which means "island" in the Arabic language. Murud was once known in Marathi language, Marathi as ''Habsan'' ("of the Habshi", that is, the Abyssinian people, Abyssinians). The name of the fort is a concatenation of the Konkani language, Konkani and Marathi words, "murud" and "Janjiri". The word "morod" is peculiar to Konkani and is absent in Marathi. Itbarrao Koli & Malik Ambar of Janjir ...
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Dhanaji Jadhav
Dhanaji Jadhav (1650–27 June 1708) also known as Dhanaji Jadhav Rao, was a prominent Maratha general and served as the Senapati of the Maratha Empire during the reigns of Rajaram I, Tarabai, and Shahu I. Alongside Santaji Ghorpade, he conducted highly successful campaigns against the Mughals from 1689 to 1696, contributing significantly to the Maratha cause. Furthermore, he played a pivotal role in the initial expansion of the Gujarat Province while consistently defeating Mughal forces. Background Dhanaji was a member of the Jadhav Rao clan of Sindhkhed. He was the descendant of Lakhuji Jadhav. Dhanaji was raised by Shivaji's mother, Jijabai, following the assassination of Dhanaji's great-grandfather, Achloji, who was Jijabai's brother. Achloji's son, Santaji, perished in the Battle of Kanakgiri. Santaji's son and Dhanaji's father, Shambhu Singh, was also nurtured by Jijabai. Shambhu Singh met his demise at the Battle of Pavan Khind. Early military career At a youn ...
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Rajaram Chhatrapati
Rajaram I (Rajaram Bhonsale, ; 24 February 1670 – 3 March 1700), also known as Ram Raaje, was the third king (Chhatrapati) of the Maratha Kingdom, who ruled from 1689 to his death in 1700. He was the second son of Shivaji, the founder of the kingdom, and younger brother of Sambhaji whom he succeeded. His eleven-year reign was marked with a constant struggle against the Mughals. He was succeeded by his infant son Shivaji II under the regentship of his Rajmata Maharani Tarabai. Early life and family Rajaram was born in the Bhonsle dynasty to Shivaji and his second wife, Soyarabai, on 24 February 1670. He was thirteen years younger than his brother, Sambhaji. Given the ambitious nature of Soyarabai, Rajaram was installed on the Maratha throne upon the death of his father in 1680 at the age of 10. However, the Maratha generals wanted Sambhaji as the king and thus Sambhaji claimed the throne. Upon Sambhaji's death at the hands of the Mughals in 1689, Rajaram was informally cro ...
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Sambhaji
Sambhaji (Sambhajiraje Shivajiraje Bhonsle, ; 14 May 1657 – 11 March 1689), also known as Shambhuraje, ruled from 1681 to 1689 as the second king ( Chhatrapati) of the Maratha Empire, a prominent state in early modern India. He was the eldest son of Shivaji, the founder of the Maratha Empire. At the age of nine, Sambhaji was taken as a political hostage of the Mughal Empire, to guarantee his father's compliance with the treaty of Purandar. He later accompanied his father to Agra where both were placed under house arrest by the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb; they subsequently escaped. He was later confined by his father at Panhala Fort, with some theories suggesting that it was due to his addiction to "sensual pleasures" or for violating a Brahmin woman. * * * He subsequently defected to the Mughal Empire and served under Diler Khan in the Battle of Bhupalgarh against his father. He ascended the throne following his father's death, with his rule being largely shaped by th ...
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Janjira State
Janjira State was a princely state in India during the British Raj. It was governed by the Siddi Khan dynasty of Habesha peoples, Habesha descent and the state was under the suzerainty of the Bombay Presidency. Janjira State was located on the Konkan coast in the present-day Raigad district of Maharashtra. The state included the towns of Murud, Raigad, Murud and Shrivardhan, as well as the fortified island of Murud-Janjira, just off the coastal village of Murud, which was the capital and the residence of the rulers. The state had an area of 839 km2, not counting Jafarabad State, Jafarabad, and a population of 110,389 inhabitants in 1931. Jafarabad State (also spelled Jafrabad) was a dependency of the Nawab of Janjira State, and located 320 km to its north-northwest. History Establishment According to legend, Janjira Invaded in the year 1489 the Ahmadnagar Sultanate sent its admiral Piram Khan (of Ethiopian descent) with orders to capture the Murud-Janjira from Ra ...
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