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Maratha war of Independance
Date 1680 – May 1707 Location Present-day states of Maharashtra, Karnataka, Gujarat, and Tamil Nadu. Result Mughal victory. Mughals annexed Maratha empire. However, by 1712, all territories lost by Marathas were quickly regained by them.
Belligerents
Maratha Empire	Mughal Empire
Commanders and leaders
Sambhaji  † Rajaram Maharani Tarabai Hambirao Mohite † Malhoji Ghorpade † Santaji Ghorpade Dhanaji Jadhav	Aurangzeb Bahadur Shah Azam Shah Zulfikar Khan Husain Ali Khan
Strength
150,000	500,000
Casualties and losses
1 - 1.5 million
2 million civilians in war-torn lands died due to drought, plague and famine.

The Mughal–Maratha Wars, also called the first Maratha War of Independence, were fought between the Maratha Empire and the Mughal Empire from 1680 to 1707. The Deccan Wars started in 1680 with the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb’s invasion of the Maratha enclave in Bijapur established by Chatrapati Shivaji.

Marathas under Sambhaji (1681–1689)

In the first half of 1681, many Mughal contingents were dispatched to lay siege to Maratha forts in present-day Gujarat, Maharashtra and Karnataka. Sambhaji provided shelter to the emperor's rebel son Sultan Muhammad Akbar, which angered Aurangzeb. In September 1681, after settling his dispute with the royal house of Mewar, Aurangzeb began his journey to Deccan to conquer the relatively young Maratha Empire. He arrived at Aurangabad, the Mughal headquarters in the Deccan and made it his capital. Mughal contingents in the region numbered about 500,000. It was a disproportionate war in all senses. By the end of 1681, the Mughal forces had laid siege to Fort Ramsej. But the Marathas did not succumb to this onslaught. The attack was well received and it took the Mughals seven years to take the fort. In December 1681, Sambhaji attacked Janjira, but his first attempt failed. At the same time one of the Aurangzeb’s generals, Husain Ali Khan, attacked Northern Konkan. Sambhaji left Janjira and attacked Husain Ali Khan and pushed him back to Ahmednagar. Aurangzeb tried to sign a deal with the Portuguese to allow trade ships to harbour in Goa. This would have allowed him to open another supply route to Deccan via the sea. This news reached Sambhaji. He attacked the Portuguese territories and forced them back to the Goan coast. But the viceroy of Alvor was able to defend the Portuguese headquarters. By this time the huge Mughal army had started gathering on the borders of Deccan. It was clear that southern India was headed for a large, sustained conflict.

In late 1683, Aurangzeb moved to Ahmednagar. He divided his forces in two and put his two princes, Shah Alam and Azam Shah, in charge of each division. Shah Alam was to attack South Konkan via the Karnataka border while Azam Shah would attack Khandesh and northern Maratha territory. Using a pincer strategy, these two divisions planned to encircle Marathas from the south and north to isolate them. The beginning went quite well. Shah Alam crossed the Krishna river and entered Belgaum. From there he entered Goa and started marching north via Konkan. As he pushed further, he was continuously harassed by Marathas forces. They ransacked his supply chains and reduced his forces to starvation. Finally Aurangzeb sent Ruhulla Khan to his rescue and brought him back to Ahmednagar. The first pincer attempt failed.

After the 1684 monsoon, Aurangzeb’s other general Shahbuddin Khan directly attacked the Maratha capital, Raigad. Maratha commanders successfully defended Raigad. Aurangzeb sent Khan Jehan to help, but Hambirao Mohite, commander-in-chief of the Maratha army, defeated him in a fierce battle at Patadi. The second division of the Maratha army attacked Shahbuddin Khan at Pachad, inflicting heavy losses on the Mughal army.

In early 1685, Shah Alam attacked south again via the Gokak-Dharwar route, but Sambhaji’s forces harassed him continuously on the way and finally he had to give up and thus failed to close the loop a second time. In April 1685, Aurangzeb changed his strategy. He planned to consolidate his power in the south by undertaking expeditions to the Muslim kingdoms of Golkonda and Bijapur. Both of them were allies of Marathas and Aurangzeb was not fond of them. He broke his treaties with both kingdoms, attacked them and captured them by September 1686. Taking this opportunity, Marathas launched an offensive on the North coast and attacked Bharuch. They were able to evade the Mughal army sent their way and came back with minimum damage. Marathas tried to win Mysore through diplomacy. Sardar Kesopant Pingle was running negotiations, but the fall of Bijapur to the Mughals turned the tides and Mysore was reluctant to join Marathas. Sambhaji successfully courted several Bijapur sardars to join the Maratha army.

Sambhaji led the fight but was captured by the Mughals and killed. His wife and son (Shivaji's grandson) were held captive by Aurangzeb for twenty years.

Execution of Sambhaji

After the fall of Bijapur and Golkonda, Aurangzeb turned his attention again to the Marathas but his first few attempts had little impact. In January 1688, Sambhaji called together his commanders for a strategic meeting at Sangameshwar in Konkan to decide on the final blow to oust Aurangzeb from the Deccan. To execute the decision of the meeting quickly, Sambhaji sent ahead most of his comrades and stayed back with a few of his trustworthy men, including Kavi Kalash. Ganoji Shirke, one of Sambhaji's brothers-in-law, turned traitor and helped Aurangzeb's commander Muqarrab Khan to locate, reach and attack Sangameshwar while Sambhaji was still there. The relatively small Maratha force fought back although they were surrounded from all sides. Sambhaji was captured on 1 February 1689 and a subsequent rescue attempt by the Marathas was repelled on 11 March. He refused to bow down to Aurangzeb, so he was beheaded.

According to John F. Richards, however, Sambhaji was executed for killing and capturing Muslims. The ulema of the Mughal Empire sentenced Sambhaji to death for his atrocities.

Marathas under King Rajaram (1689 to 1700)

To Aurangzeb, the Marathas seemed all but dead by end of 1689. But this would prove to be almost a fatal blunder. The death of Sambhaji had rekindled the spirit of the Maratha forces, which made Aurangzeb's mission impossible. Sambhaji's younger brother Rajaram was now given the title of Chhatrapati (Emperor). In March 1690, the Maratha commanders, under the leadership of Santaji Ghorpade launched the single most daring attack on Mughal army. They not only attacked the army, but sacked the tent where the Aurangzeb himself slept. Luckily Aurangzeb was elsewhere but his private force and many of his bodyguards were killed. However, this was followed by a betrayal in the Maratha camp. Raigad fell to the treachery of Suryaji Pisal. Sambhaji’s queen, Yesubai and their son, Shahu I, were captured.

Mughal forces, led by Zulfikar Khan, continued this offensive further south. They attacked fort Panhala. The Maratha killedar of Panhala gallantly defended the fort and inflicted heavy losses on Mughal army. Finally Aurangzeb himself had to come and Panhala was surrendered.

Maratha king moved to Gingee

Maratha ministers realised that the Mughals would move on Vishalgad. They insisted that Rajaram leave Vishalgad for Senji (Gingee) (in present Tamil Nadu), which had been captured by Shivaji during his southern conquests and was now to be the new Maratha capital. Rajaram travelled south under escort of Khando Ballal and his men.

Aurangzeb was frustrated with Rajaram’s successful escape. Keeping most of his force in Maharashtra, he sent a small number to keep Rajaram in check. This small force was destroyed by an attack from two Maratha generals, Santaji Ghorpade and Dhanaji Jadhav, who then they joined Ramchandra Bavadekar in Deccan. Bavdekar, Vithoji Chavan and Raghuji Bhosale had reorganised most of the Maratha army after defeats at Panhala and Vishalgad.

In late 1691, Bavdekar, Pralhad Niraji, Santaji, Dhanaji and several Maratha sardars met in the Maval region and reformed the strategy. Aurangzeb had taken four major forts in Sahyadrais and was sending Zulfikar khan to subdue the fort Ginjee. So according to new Maratha plan, Santaji and Dhanaji would launch offensives in the East to keep rest of the Mughal forces scattered. Others would focus in Maharashtra and would attack a series of forts around southern Maharashtra and northern Karnataka to divide Mughal won territories in two, thereby posing significant challenge to enemy supply chains. Having a strong navy established by Shivaji, the Marathas could now extend this divide into the sea, checking any supply routes from Surat to south.

Now war was fought from the Malwa plateau to the east coast. Such was the strategy of Maratha commanders to counter the might of the Mughals. Maratha generals Ramchandrapant Amatya and Shankaraji Niraji maintained the Maratha stronghold in the rugged terrains of Sahyadri.

In several brilliant cavalry movements, Santaji Ghorpade and Dhanaji Jadhav defeated the Mughals. Their offensive, and especially that of Santaji, struck terror into the hearts of the Mughals. In the Battle of Athani, Santaji defeated Kasim Khan, a noted Mughal general.

Fall of Gingee (Jan 1698)

It seems that the war was much more serious than it was originally thought. Aurangzeb decided to regroup his forces and customize his strategy. He sent an ultimatum to Zulfikar Khan to capture gingee or be stripped of the titles. Zulfikar Khan tightened the Siege, but Rajaram escaped and was safely escorted to Deccan by Dhanaji Jadhav and the Shirke brothers. Haraji Mahadik’s son took command of gingee and defended the city against Julfikar Khan and Daud Khan until marathas surrendered the city in January 1698. This gave Rajaram ample amount of time to reach Vishalgad.

After significant Mughal losses, Gingee was captured in a classic Pyrrhic victory. The fort had done its work: for seven years the three hills of Gingee had kept a large contingent of Mughal forces occupied while inflicting heavy losses. It had significantly depleted Mughal resources in the region, from the treasury to material.

Marathas would soon witness an unpleasant development of their own making. Dhanaji Jadhav and Santaji Ghorpade had a simmering rivalry, which was kept in check by the councilman Pralhad Niraji. But after Niraji’s death, Dhanaji grew bold and attacked Santaji. Nagoji Mane, one of Dhanaji’s men, killed Santaji. At this time Aurangzeb and the Mughal army ready to attack once again.

But by this time the Mughals were no longer the army they were earlier feared to be. Aurangzeb, against the advice of several of his experienced generals, continued the war.

Revival of Maratha fortunes

The Marathas again consolidated and began a counter-offensive. Rajaram appointed Dhanaji Jadhav as commander-in-chief and the army was split into three divisions, headed by Jadhav himself, Parshuram Timbak and Shankar Narayan. Jadhav defeated a large Mughal force near Pandharpur and Narayan defeated Sarja Khan in Pune. Khanderao Dabhade, who led a division under Jadhav, took Baglan and Nashik, while Nemaji Shinde, a commander with Narayan, scored a major victory at Nandurbar.

Enraged at these defeats, Aurangzeb took charge and launched another counter-offensive. He laid siege to Panhala and attacked the fort of Satara. A seasoned Maratha commander, Prayagji Prabhu, defended Satara for a good six months but surrendered in April 1700, just before the onset of the monsoon. This foiled Aurangzeb’s strategy to clear as many forts before the monsoon as possible.

Marathas under Tarabai

In March 1700, Rajaram died. His queen, Tarabai, who was daughter of the Maratha commander-in-chief Hambirrao Mohite, took charge of the Maratha army and continued fighting for the next seven years.

Signs of strain were showing in the Mughal camp in late 1701. Asad Khan, Julfikar Khan’s father, counselled Aurangzeb to end the war and turn around. The expedition had already taken a giant toll, much larger than originally planned, on the empire and it looked possible that 175 years of Mughal rule might crumble due to being involved in a war that was not winnable.

Mughals were bleeding heavily in the treasuries but Aurangzeb kept pressing the war on. By 1704, Aurangzeb had Torana and Rajgad. He had won only a handful forts in this offensive, but he had spent several precious years. It was slowly dawning to him that after 24 years of constant war, he was no closer to defeating Marathas than he was the day he began.

The final Maratha counter-offensive gathered momentum in the North, where Mughal provinces fell one by one. They were not in position to defend because the royal treasuries had been sucked dry and no armies were available. In 1705, two Maratha army factions crossed Narmada. One, under the leadership of Nemaji Shinde, hit as far north as Bhopal; the second, headed by Khanderao Dabhade, struck Bharoch and the west. With his 8000 men, Dabhade attacked and defeated Mahomed Khan’s forces numbering almost fourteen thousand. This left entire Gujarat coast wide open for Marathas. They immediately tightened their grip on Mughal supply chains. By 1705 end, Marathas had penetrated Mughal possession of Central India and Gujarat. Nemaji Shinde defeated Mughals on the Malwa plateau. In 1706, Mughals started retreating from Maratha dominions.

In Maharashtra, Aurangzeb became despondent. He started negotiations with the Marathas, then cut them abruptly and marched on the small kingdom of Wakinara whose Naik rulers traced their lineage to the royal family of the Vijaynagar empire. His new opponents had never been fond of the Mughals and had sided with the Marathas. Jadhav marched into Sahyadris and won almost all the major forts back in a short time, while those of Satara and Parali were taken by Parshuram Timbak, and Narayan took Sinhgad. Jadhav then turned around, taking his forces to help the Naiks at Wakinara. Wakinara fell but the Naik royal family escaped.

Aurangzeb's death

Aurangzeb had now given up all hope and planned a retreat to Burhanpur. Jadhav attacked and defeated his rearguard but Aurangzeb was able to reach his destination with the help of Zulfikar Khan. He died of a fever on 21 February 1707.

The Indologist Stanley Wolpert says that:

The conquest of the Deccan, to which, Aurangzeb devoted the last 26 years of his life, was in many ways a Pyrrhic victory, costing an estimated hundred thousand lives a year during its last decade of futile chess game warfare. The expense in gold and rupees can hardly be accurately estimated. Aurangzeb's encampment was like a moving capital – a city of tents 30 miles in circumference, with some 250 bazaars, with a 1⁄2 million camp followers, 50,000 camels and 30,000 elephants, all of whom had to be fed, stripped the Deccan of any and all of its surplus grain and wealth ... Not only famine but bubonic plague arose ... Even Aurangzeb, had ceased to understand the purpose of it all by the time he was nearing 90 ... "I came alone and I go as a stranger. I do not know who I am, nor what I have been doing," the dying old man confessed to his son, Azam, in February 1707.

Niccolao Manucci who worked in Mughal court in service of Dara Shukoh wrote in his book Storia do Mogor:

Aurangzeb feels forced to continue the war against Shivaji and he has from first had the ambition of conquering the countries of others, be it by treachery or force of arms. In the execution of these designs there have died in his armies over a hundred thousand souls yearly and of animals, horses, pack-oxen, camels, elephants, etc over three hundred thousand.

Aftermath of the war

After the death of Aurangzeb, the Marathas began an expansion northward. They crossed the Narmada, the traditional boundary between northern plains and peninsula, and marched into Delhi itself. Within a decade, the Mughals were confined to Delhi itself and had to release the grandson of Shivaji, Shahu, from captivity. By 1758, the Marathas had reached Delhi.

The Mughal empire was split in small kingdoms, with the Nizam of Hyderabad, Nawab of Oudh and Nawab of Bengal quick to assert the independence of their lands.

Maratha conquest of North-west India

Marathas conquered North-west India between 1757 and 1758. Though it was short-lived, it had long-lasting effects upon the politics of the Indian subcontinent. Marathas reached Multan and Peshawar by 1758.

See also

• Military history of India
• List of people involved in the Maratha Empire

References

1. Malešević, Siniša (2017). The Rise of Organised Brutality. Cambridge University Press. p. 119. ISBN 978-1-107-09562-5.
2. Malešević, Siniša (2017). The Rise of Organised Brutality. Cambridge University Press. p. 119. ISBN 978-1-107-09562-5.
3. Malešević, Siniša (2017). The Rise of Organised Brutality. Cambridge University Press. p. 119. ISBN 978-1-107-09562-5.
4. Sir Jadunath Sarkar (1974). History of Aurangzib: mainly based on Persian sources, Volume 5. Orient Longman . p. 13.
5. Medieval India
6. ^ Robinson, Howard; James Thomson Shotwell (1922). "Mogul Empire and the Marathas". The Development of the British Empire. Houghton Mifflin. p. 106–132.
7. Prachi Deshpande (2007). Creative Pasts: Historical Memory and Identity in Western India, 1700-1960. Columbia University Press. p. 171. ISBN 978-0-231-12486-7.
8. ^ John F. Richards (1995). The Mughal Empire. Cambridge University Press. p. 223.
9. ^ Maharani Tarabai of Kolhapur, c. 1675–1761 A.D.
10. Relation between French and Marathas
11. ^ Mehta, Jaswant Lal (1 January 2005), Advanced Study in the History of Modern India 1707-1813, Sterling Publishers Pvt. Ltd, pp. 54–, ISBN 978-1-932705-54-6
12. Wolpert, Stanley A. (2004) . New History of India (7th ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780195166774.
13. Niccolao Manucci (1907). Storia do Mogul India 1653-1708 Volume 4. London, Murray. p. 96.

v t e Maratha Confederacy
Chhatrapatis	Shivaji Sambhaji Rajaram I Tarabai Shahu I Rajaram II Shahu II Pratap Singh
Peshwas	Moropant Trimbak Pingle Moreshvar Pingale Ramchandra Pant Amatya Bahiroji Pingale Balaji Vishwanath Baji Rao I Balaji Baji Rao Madhavrao Ballal Narayan Rao Raghunathrao Sawai Madhavrao Baji Rao II Amrut Rao Nana Sahib Bhat family
Amatya & Pratinidhi	Ramchandra Pant Amatya Pralhad Niraji Parshuram Pant Pratinidhi (hereditary) Shripatrao Pant Pratinidhi Jagjivanrao Pant Pratinidhi
Women	Ahilyabai Holkar Anandibai Gopikabai Jankibai Jijabai Kashibai Lakshmibai Mastani Parvatibai Putalabai Ramabai Saibai Sakvarbai Soyarabai Umabai Dabhade Baka Bai Tulsi Bai Holkar
Maratha Confederacy	Bhonsle of Nagpur Gaekwad of Baroda Scindia of Gwalior Holkar of Indore Patwardhan dynasty
Battles	Pratapgarh Kolhapur Pavan Khind Umberkhind Chakan Surat Purandar Sinhagad Salher Kalyan Bhupalgarh Bijapur Raigarh (1689) Jinji Satara Khelna Raigarh Torna Palkhed Malwa Mandsaur Bhopal Vasai 1st Trichinopoly Katwa (1st) 2nd Trichinopoly Katwa (2nd) Invasions of Bengal Burdwan Narela 2nd Delhi North-west India Peshawar 3rd Panipat Alegaon Rakshasbhuvan Capture of Delhi Pachgaon Saunshi Wadgaon Adoni Badami Savanur Gajendragad Bahadur Benda Lalsot Chaksana Patan Kharda Poona 3rd Delhi Assaye Laswari Farrukhabad Bharatpur Khadki Koregaon Mahidpur
Wars	Maratha-Mughal War of 27 years Maratha–Mysore War First Anglo-Maratha War Second Anglo-Maratha War Third Anglo-Maratha War
Adversaries	Adil Shahi Qutb Shahi Mughal Empire Durrani Empire British Empire Portuguese Empire Nizam of Hyderabad Kingdom of Rohilkhand Mysore
Forts	Mangad Panhala Pratapgad Purandar Raigad Rajgad Shaniwar Wada Shivneri Sindhudurg Rajgad Torna
Coins	Shivrai

v t e Mughal Empire
Emperors	Babur Humayun Akbar Jahangir Shahryar Shah Jahan Aurangzeb (Alamgir I) Muhammad Azam Shah Bahadur Shah I Jahandar Shah Farrukhsiyar Rafi ud-Darajat Shah Jahan II Muhammad Shah Ahmad Shah Bahadur Alamgir II Shah Jahan III Shah Alam II Shah Jahan IV Akbar II Bahadur Shah II
Administration	Dynasty family tree Economy Flag Foreign relations Government Military Mughal artillery Provinces Agra Ajmer Awadh Bengal Berar Bihar Gujarat Delhi Hyderabad Lahore Malwa Multan Sira
Conflicts	Mughal-Rajput wars Mughal conquest of Malwa Gujarat conquest Mughal–Safavid war (1622–1623) Mughal–Safavid war (1649–1653) Suppression of Tilpat rebellion Ahom–Mughal conflicts Tibet–Ladakh–Mughal war Mughal–Maratha wars Child's war Carnatic wars Bengal war Indian Rebellion of 1857 Mughal–Sikh wars Mughal–Portuguese conflicts Battles Agra Badli-ki-Serai Bhuchar Mori Buxar Chanderi Chausa Ghagra Haldighati Karnal Khajwa Khanwa Najafgarh Panipat (1526) Panipat (1556) Panipat (1761) Plassey Raj Mahal Samugarh Sirhind Thanesar (1567) Thanesar (1710) Tukaroi Bakla Bhulua Sieges Bijapur Chittorgarh Delhi Daman Daulatabad Golconda Hooghly Jinji Kandahar Purandhar Ranthambore Sambhal Adversaries Baro-Bhuyan Isa Khan Khwaja Usman Bayazid of Sylhet Musa Khan Pratapaditya Ibrahim Lodi Rana Sanga Sher Shah Suri Hemu Maharana Pratap Malik Ambar Gokula Shivaji Lachit Borphukan Khushal Khattak Josiah Child Guru Gobind Singh Henry Every Bajirao I Nader Shah Hector Munro
Architecture	Forts and palaces Agra Fort Lahore Fort Lalbagh Fort Red Fort Jahangir Mahal Sheesh Mahal Mosques Alamgir Mosque, Aurangabad Jama Masjid (Delhi) Chawk Mosque Badshahi Mosque Shah Jahan Mosque, Thatta Sunehri Masjid Wazir Khan Mosque Tombs and mausoleums Akbar's Tomb Bibi Ka Maqbara Gardens of Babur Humayun's Tomb Jahangir's Tomb Taj Mahal Tomb of Salim Chishti Tomb of Aurangzeb Tomb of Nur Jahan List of tombs of Mughal Empire Others Fatehpur Sikri Shalimar Gardens Achabal Gardens Shahi Bridge more
See also	Art Cuisine Culture Fashion Gardens Language Painting Persian Mughals Tribe Weapons Foreign relations
Successor states	Sur Empire (interrupted) Maratha Empire Rajput states Jats Sikh Empire Nawabs of Bengal Nawabs of Awadh Nizam of Hyderabad Carnatic Kingdom of Mysore Rohilkhand

• Use dmy dates from September 2013
• Wars involving the Maratha Empire
• Military history of India
• Wars involving India
• 17th-century conflicts
• 18th-century conflicts
• Wars involving the Mughal Empire
• 17th century in India
• 18th century in India