Shah Ji had taken an active part in the last events of the kingdom of Ahmadnaggur, but was subsequently employed in the southern districts of the Adal Shahi of Bijapur, who gave him Sira and Bangalore in jaghir. His son Sivaji, however, born A.D. 1626, was brought up at Poona ; while still a youth he engaged in predatory expeditions, in 1648 openly plundered a convoy of royal treasure, and before his death, on the 5th April 1680, by alternately aiding and attacking the Moghul and Bijapur armies, or allying himself with the Kutub Shahi kings of Golconda, while taking every opportunity of securing for himself the fortresses and their adjoining territories, he had heated a nationality which, in spite of numerous iternal disorders, was kept together until it had established its supremacy over the greater part of India. In A.D. October 1659, Sivaji was guilty of the treacherous assassination of Afzal Khan at a con ference near the hill fort of Partabgarh ; but he was a skilful general and able statesman, and though he latterly became superstitious and austere, he left a character which has never since been equalled by any of his countrymen. His eldest son Sambaji succeeded, but he was cruel and wilful ; he put to death the wife of Sivaji in a cruel manner, and he left his army in arrears. His country was overrun by Aurangzeb and Prince Azim, and he himself was captured at Sangameswar in the Konkan, and carried to Aurangzeb in the Moghul camp, where (A.D. August 1689) his eyes were destroyed with a hot iron, his tongue was torn out, and he was then beheaded along with the Brahman Calusha. This cruelty raised the indignation and religious hatred of the nation, and his infant son Saho was acknowledged by them as raja, with his uncle Raja Ram as regent, but in 1690 Saho also was captured at Raighar, and remained a prisoner till Aurangzeb's death.
On the capture of Saho, Raja Rain assumed the government, and took the field against the Moghuls with the largest army that the Mahrattas had ever raised, but with little success ; and he died in the early part of 1690, to be succeeded by his son Sivaji II., under the regency of Tara Bai. Aurangzeb's efforts to conquer the Dekhan in his advanced years all failed, and he retreated to Ah madnaggur, where he died on 21st February 1707, in the 89th year of his life and 50th of his reign. His successor, Bahadur Shah, released Saho. But during his captivity other claimants had been striving for power, and it was not until A.D. 1720, through the aid of Balaji Wiswanath, that Saho became the recognised ruler of all the territories conquered by Sivaji and his successors. Balaji Wiswanath, a Brahman, was the founder of the dynasty of the Peshwas, who from this time ruled the Mahratta counsels, and on his death he was succeeded by his son Baji Rao.
Baji Rao had been brought up in camp, and he combined the habits of a Mahratta horseman with enlarged judgment and extensive knowledge, never flinching from fatigue or danger. He established the Gaekwar families in Gujerat, April A.D. 1731, and Udaji Puar, Mulhar Rao Holkar, Ranaji Sindia, and Parsoji Bhonsla were officers of high rank in his army. They invaded the Karnalic, defeated Dost Ali, took and evacuated Trichin opoly, and plundered Porto Novo and Cuddalore. In 1731, Baji Rao compelled the Azof Jahi dynasty to permit him to plunder the northern parts of the Moghul territory. He crossed the Nerbadda
in 1732, plundered Malwa, obtained a third of the Jhansi territory ; in 1736, obtained the cession of Malwa ; in 1737, he exacted from Azof Jah an as signment of all the countries south of the Chambal, the surrender of Benares, Gya, Mattra, and Allah abed. For 20 years Baji Rao headed the Mahratta Confederacy, and elevated it to a high pitch of glory. He died 28th April 1740, on the banks of the Nerbadda, and was succeeded by his son Balaji Rao.
Raja Saho died without issue, December 1749, and Balaji Rao took possession of the government. Balaji Rae's brother Ragonath Rao, surnamed Ragoba, took Dehli in 1758, and then withdrew to the Dekhan, leaving one division of his army under Dataji Sindia, and another under Mulhar Rao Holkar. The Mahratta power was at this time at its zenith, and Sedasheo Rao Bhao, the cousin of the Peshwa, with an army which has been stated at 300,000 of all arms, advanced and took Dehli. Ahmad Shah, Abdali, also advanced, and passed the Jumna, 25th October 1760, on which the Mahrattas retreated to Paniput. Detachments and foraging parties of the two armies harassed their respective opponents, till the Mahrattas opened the action on the 6th January 1761. The battle was well contested, but the whole Mahratta army gave way, and on the field and in the pursuit 200,000 were slain. Sedasheo Rao Bhao, also Wiswas Rao, the l'eshwa's son, and most of the great Mahratta chiefs, fell. The government of the Peshwa never regained its vigour ; and though most of the Mahratta conquests were subsequently recovered, this was effected by in dependent Mahratta chiefs, several of whom were aided by European officers, with soldiers dis ciplined in the European manner. From 1768 to 1799, these chiefs were operating south of the Kistna river, sometimes in alliance, sometimes at war, with Hyder Ali, Tipu Sultan, and the British.
The first war between the British and the Mahrattas lasted from 1779 to 1781. The British in the beginning of the 19th century interfered in their internal dissensions, and war again broke out in 1803. The campaign commenced on the 7th August. It was directed against Sindia and Perron and the Bhonsla raja of Berar ; these two Mahratta powers had 72 regular battalions officered by Frenchmen, and 200,000 troops untrained, but from the sources whence they were drawn, such took a higher social standing than their soldiers of the line. Before the end of December there were gained by the British four battles, amongst which were Assaye, and Argaum, and Laswari. The British completed eight sieges and storms, and effected the almost total destruc tion of the 72 trained battalions, the dispersion of the rest of their armies, the capture of 738 pieces of cannon, the British force being about 55,000 regular troops, amongst which were 10,000 British soldiers. To effect these results, Sir Arthur Wellesley had been moving northwards, taking Ahmadnaggnr, the key of the Deklian ; taking Gawilgarh in the Vindhya, also Asirgarlt ; and Lord Lake moved southwards, fighting the battle of Laswari. Subsequently, in 1817, war again broke out between the British and the Peshwa Baji Rao and the Bhonsla raja of Nagpur, but the Mahrattas were politically annihilated in 1817-18, under the administration of the Marquis of Hastings, by the actions at Kirki, Mahidpur, and Nagpur.