Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj

 After a lifetime of exploits and guerrilla warfare with Adilshah of Bijapur and Moghul emperor Aurangzeb, the local lord Shivaji founded an independent Maratha nation in 1674, with Raigad as its capital. Shivaji died in 1680, leaving a large, but vulnerably located kingdom. The Mughals invaded, fighting an unsuccessful 25 years long war from 1682 to 1707. Shahu, a grandson of Shivaji, ruled as emperor until 1749. During his reign, Shahu appointed a Peshwa ( prime minister) as head of government under certain conditions. After the death of Shahu, the Peshwas became the de facto leaders of the Empire from 1749 to 1761, while Shivaji's successors continued as nominal rules from their base in Satara. Covering a large part of the subcontinent, the Maratha Empire kept the British forces at bay during the eighteenth century, until dissension between the Peshwas and their sardars, or army commanders, tore at their cohesion. The Maratha Empire was at its height in the eighteenth century, u...

 Maratha Empire (also transliterated, Mahratta), or the Maratha Confederacy, was a Hindu state located in present-day India. It existed from 1674 to 1818. At its peak, the empire's territories covered 250 million acres (1 million km2) or one-third of South Asia. The state was ruled by a series of Prime Ministers who were advised by a Council of eight. As the British expanded their presence in India, the Marathas represented a major threat to their territorial ambitions. After fighting a series of wars with the British, the Marathas were defeated in 1818. Under British paramountcy, various princely states emerged from its ruins. However, the spirit of the Maratha Empire lives on in the Indian state of Maharashtra, "Great Nation", which was created in 1960 as a Marathi-speaking state. Traditions, such as social mobility regardless of caste and religious pluralism, continue to characterize life in this part of India. Although the empire had been pitted for many years against...

 Shivaji (1627-1680) was a Maratha aristocrat of the Bhosale clan who is the founder of the Maratha empire. Shivaji led a resistance to free the people from the Sultanate of Bijapur in 1645 by winning the fort Torna, followed by many more forts, placing the area under his control and establishing Hindavi Swarajya (self-rule of Hindu people). He created an independent Maratha kingdom with Raigad as its capital and successfully fought against the Mughals to defend his kingdom. He was crowned as Chhatrapati (sovereign) of the new Maratha kingdom in 1674. The Maratha kingdom comprised about 4.1% of the subcontinent, but it was spread over large tracts. At the time of his death, it was reinforced with about 300 forts, and defended by about 40000 cavalries, and 50000 soldiers, as well as naval establishments along the west coast. Over time, the kingdom would increase in size and heterogeneity; by the time of his grandson's rule, and later under the Peshwas in the early 18th century, it w...