Bajirao I and the Maratha Expansion into North India

Baji Rao I, Peshwa of the Maratha state from 1720 to 1740, was the architect of the most spectacular phase of Maratha territorial expansion. In the two decades of his tenure he led Maratha forces across the Indian heartland, from the western Deccan to the borders of Bengal and from Gujarat to the Punjab, and he forced the Mughal authorities to recognise the Maratha right to collect chauth and sardeshmukh across significant portions of north India. The broader political context of the Maratha expansion is examined in the rise of the Maratha power page, and the career of Shivaji, the founder of the Maratha state, is treated in the Shivaji and the Mughals page. This page focuses on the life, career, and legacy of Baji Rao I.

Early Life and Accession to the Peshwa

Baji Rao I was born on 18 August 1700, the son of Balaji Vishwanath, the Peshwa who had consolidated the position of the office after the release of Shahu from Mughal captivity in 1707. The Peshwa, although technically the chief minister of the Maratha king Chhatrapati Shahu, was in practice the principal executive authority in the state, and the Peshwa’s family, based at Pune, was the effective ruling house of the Maratha Confederacy. Baji Rao was raised in the household of his father and received a considerable education in the Maratha political and military traditions.

Baji Rao’s accession to the Peshwa in 1720, on the death of his father, was a major event in the history of the Maratha state. The young Peshwa, only twenty years old at his accession, faced a political challenge. The Maratha state was divided between the adherents of Shahu, the grandson of Shivaji, and the rival branch of the Maratha royal family at Kolhapur, and the Maratha sardars, the great Maratha noble families, were accustomed to a major degree of autonomy. The Peshwa’s authority was contested, and the young Baji Rao had to assert himself politically before he could pursue his expansionist agenda. The political context of the accession is examined in the rise of the Maratha power page.

The Peshwa and the Maratha State

Baji Rao’s tenure as Peshwa was marked by a significant consolidation of the office’s authority and a major expansion of Maratha power. The expansion was based on a distinctive fiscal and military system: the swaraj, the territory directly administered by the Maratha state, and the chauth and sardeshmukh, a system of revenue extraction that allowed the Marathas to project military power across a wide area. The chauth, a quarter of the land revenue, and the sardeshmukh, a tenth, were essentially protection money paid by the territories within the Maratha sphere of influence, and the system allowed the Marathas to maintain a large military force without having to administer the territories from which the revenue was extracted.

The Peshwa’s relationship with Chhatrapati Shahu was a complex mixture of formal deference and considerable de facto independence. Shahu, the grandson of Shivaji, lived at Satara and retained the formal symbols of sovereignty, but the practical direction of Maratha policy lay with the Peshwa at Pune. The arrangement suited both parties: Shahu retained the legitimacy of the royal house, and the Peshwa exercised effective executive authority. The political structure of the Maratha Confederacy is examined in the rise of the Maratha power page.

The Campaigns in North India

Baji Rao’s campaigns in north India were the most spectacular military operations of the early eighteenth century. The first major campaign was the expedition to Malwa in 1723, in which Baji Rao led a major Maratha force northward and established Maratha claims to the chauth and sardeshmukh of the region. The campaign was followed by expeditions to Gujarat, to the Carnatic, to Bundelkhand, and to the Punjab. The most ambitious of the northern campaigns was the expedition of 1737, in which Baji Rao led a significant Maratha force to the gates of Delhi and forced the Mughal emperor to recognise the Maratha claims to the chauth and sardeshmukh of the entire Mughal heartland.

The northern campaigns required considerable logistical support and careful management of the Maratha sardars, the great Maratha noble families whose cooperation was essential. Baji Rao was notably successful in this management, and he cultivated the support of the Holkars, the Scindias, the Bhonsles of Nagpur, and the Gaekwads of Baroda through a mixture of political concessions, marriage alliances, and military leadership. The sardar system is examined in the rise of the Maratha power and the Mughal administration overview pages.

The Conflict with the Nizam of Hyderabad

The principal political adversary of Baji Rao in the Deccan was the Nizam of Hyderabad, the founder of the Asaf Jahi dynasty, and the relationship between the two powers was a complex mixture of rivalry, cooperation, and outright conflict. The Nizam-ul-Mulk Asaf Jah, the founder of the dynasty, was one of the most capable of the early eighteenth-century Mughal provincial governors, and he had established a major independent state in the Deccan after the disintegration of central Mughal authority. The conflict between Baji Rao and the Nizam was sharpened by the fact that both powers were competing for control of the same Deccan territories, and the confrontation became open in 1728.

The first major conflict between the two powers was the Battle of Palkhed (also called Sakhar-Kheda) in February 1728, in which the Maratha forces under Baji Rao defeated a significant Mughal-Afghan-Deccani force. The battle was a major Maratha victory, and it established Maratha dominance over considerable portions of the Deccan. The campaign is examined in the rise of the Maratha power and the Mughal history overview pages.

The Battle of Bhopal 1737

The most consequential of Baji Rao’s campaigns against the Nizam was the Battle of Bhopal on 24 December 1737, in which a major Maratha force under the Peshwa defeated a combined Mughal, Awadh, and Deccani force assembled to contain the Maratha expansion. The battle forced the Mughal emperor to recognise the Maratha right to collect chauth and sardeshmukh across the Mughal heartland. The Treaties of Durg (1732) and Bhopal (1737) were major diplomatic achievements that established Maratha claims to a significant portion of north India.

The campaign was a major demonstration of the effectiveness of the Maratha light cavalry system, and it established Baji Rao’s reputation as the most formidable Indian military commander of his generation. The diplomatic consequences of the battle are examined in the Mughal decline overview and rise of the Maratha power pages.

The Sardar System and the Maratha Confederacy

Baji Rao’s relationship with the Maratha sardars was a major feature of his tenure. The Maratha Confederacy was a complex political formation that brought together a number of prominent Maratha noble families, including the Peshwas of Pune, the Bhonsles of Nagpur, the Holkars of Indore, and the Scindias of Gwalior. Each of these families controlled major territories and military forces, and the relationship between them was a complex mixture of cooperation, rivalry, and outright conflict. Baji Rao was notably successful in managing the sardar system, and the significant expansion of Maratha power in the 1720s and 1730s was significantly due to his ability to maintain the cooperation of the great Maratha families.

The sardar system is examined in the rise of the Maratha power page. The system’s later development, including the considerable rivalry between the Scindias and the Holkars, was a major factor in the eventual decline of the Maratha Confederacy. The Anglo-Maratha Wars of the early nineteenth century are treated in the British East India Company and the Mughals page.

Chimaji Appa and the Northern Expansion

Baji Rao’s younger brother, Chimaji Appa, was a major figure in the Maratha expansion of the 1720s and 1730s. Chimaji Appa conducted the major Maratha campaign against the Portuguese in the Konkan in 1739, a campaign that resulted in the capture of the Portuguese fort of Bassein (Vasai) and the major expansion of Maratha control over the Konkan coast. The campaign was a major Maratha success, and it established the Marathas as the dominant power in the western Deccan.

Chimaji Appa’s career is treated in the rise of the Maratha power page. The Konkan campaign of 1739 was a major demonstration of the effectiveness of the Maratha military system, and it contributed to the significant reputation that the Maratha state enjoyed in the 1730s. The broader context of the Maratha expansion is examined in the Mughal decline overview and the Mughal history overview pages.

Death and Legacy

Baji Rao died on 28 April 1740, at the age of thirty-nine, and was succeeded as Peshwa by his son Balaji Baji Rao, later known as Nanasaheb. The Peshwa’s legacy was major. He had, in the space of twenty years, transformed the Maratha state from a regional power in the western Deccan to the dominant political force in India, with a considerable presence across north India. He had developed the diplomatic and military instruments that would sustain the Maratha expansion through the middle of the eighteenth century. The Maratha state after Baji Rao was the major Indian power of the period, and the major expansion of Maratha influence in north India was a major factor in the political history of the decline of the Mughal Empire. The connection to the rise of the Sikh power, the British East India Company and the Mughals, and the rebellion of 1857 is treated in the relevant cluster pages.

Sources

• Stewart Gordon, The Marathas, 1600–1818 (NCHI II.4, 1993), chs. 3–4.