Give an account of the Maratha …

The Maratha kingdom was a powerful kingdom which arose out of a sustained opposition to Mughal rule.

Expansion of the Maratha Empire

The empire expanded between 1720 and 1761. It slowly chipped away at the authority of the Mughal Empire. By the 1720s Malwa and Gujarat were seized from the Mughals. The Maratha king was recognized as the overlord of the entire Deccan peninsula by the 1730s. He had the right to levy chauth and sardeshmukhi in the entire region. After the raid in Delhi by the Marathas in 1737, the frontiers of the Maratha domination expanded fast:

• Into Rajasthan and Punjab in the north
• Into Bengal and Orissa in the east
• Into Karnataka and the Tamil and Telugu states in the south

Though these were not formally included in the Maratha empire, they were made to pay tribute as a way of accepting Maratha sovereignty.

Drawbacks of expansion

Though the expansion brought enormous wealth, it came at a price. It made other rulers hostile towards the Marathas. Consequently, they were not inclined to support the Marathas in the third battle of Panipat in 1761.