Ancient & Medieval Maharashtra: Satavahanas to the Peshwas — MPSC GS Paper I and Prelims Paper I
Weightage: Prelims Paper I asks for the history of India "with special reference to Maharashtra", and GS Paper I expects Maharashtra examples inside every all-India history answer. The national frame comes from the UPSC CSE chapters aliased into this hub. This chapter supplies the Maharashtra dynasties, dates and institutions that the Commission asks directly.
1. How the Commission asks this period
Prelims asks for matching and chronology: which dynasty built which monument, which treaty ended which war, and which ruler sits at which capital. The Mains asks for evaluation: Shivaji's administration, the causes of the Maratha defeat at Panipat, or why the Peshwas lost to the British.
The same facts serve both. Learn each dynasty as a card of four entries: capital, key ruler, date and monument or text.
2. Before the Satavahanas
Maharashtra has some of India's best-studied farming villages. Inamgaon, on the Ghod river near Pune, is a Chalcolithic site of the Jorwe culture, with planned houses, granaries and burials. Daimabad in Ahilyanagar (formerly Ahmednagar) district is known for a hoard of bronze figures, including a chariot with a rider.
Sopara (Nala Sopara, in Palghar district) was the ancient port of Shurparaka. Fragments of Ashoka's Major Rock Edicts VIII and IX were found there, which places the Konkan coast inside the Mauryan network.
3. The Satavahanas and the Vakatakas
The Satavahanas ruled the western Deccan from Pratishthana (Paithan) on the Godavari. Simuka is named as the founder. Two inscriptions carry most of the questions:
- The Naneghat inscription of Queen Naganika, on the old trade pass from the Konkan to the plateau.
- The Nashik Prashasti of Queen Gautami Balashri, which praises her son Gautamiputra Satakarni for defeating the Kshaharata ruler Nahapana.
Satavahana kings used matronymics (their mothers' names). They made some of the earliest recorded land grants to Brahmanas and Buddhist monks. The Karla (Karle) chaitya, the Bhaja caves and the Nashik caves (Pandavleni) belong to this age of merchant and royal patronage. The king Hala is credited with the Gathasaptashati, an anthology of verse in Maharashtri Prakrit.
The Vakatakas (roughly the 3rd to 5th centuries CE) ruled Vidarbha in two branches, from Nandivardhana near Nagpur and from Vatsagulma (Washim). Queen Prabhavatigupta, daughter of the Gupta king Chandragupta II, ruled as regent, which tied the Vakatakas to the Guptas. Pravarasena II is credited with the Prakrit poem Setubandha.
The later Ajanta caves, including caves 16 and 17, were excavated under the patronage of the Vatsagulma king Harishena and his ministers and feudatories. That is why Ajanta questions often carry a Vakataka answer.
4. The Chalukyas, Rashtrakutas and Shilaharas
The Chalukyas of Badami held much of Maharashtra in the 7th century. Pulakeshin II stopped Harsha on the Narmada, as recorded in the Aihole inscription (634 CE) composed by Ravikirti.
The Rashtrakutas replaced them in the 8th century under Dantidurga. His successor Krishna I had the Kailasa temple (Ellora Cave 16) cut from a single mass of rock, top down. The later capital, Manyakheta, lies in present-day Karnataka, so avoid placing it in Maharashtra.
The Shilaharas ruled in three branches, in north Konkan, south Konkan and Kolhapur. The Ambarnath Shiva temple near Thane, of the 11th century, is their best-known monument.
5. The Yadavas of Devagiri
The Yadavas (Seunas) made Devagiri their capital under Bhillama V around 1187 and ruled most of Maharashtra. Their minister Hemadri (Hemadpant) compiled the Chaturvarga Chintamani and gave his name to the Hemadpanti temple style, built of dressed stone without mortar. Marathi grew as a literary language in this period, and Dnyaneshwar wrote in the reign of Ramachandra.
The dynasty ended under Delhi's pressure:
| Year | Event |
|---|---|
| 1296 | Alauddin Khalji raids Devagiri, the first Delhi expedition into the Deccan |
| 1318 | The Yadava kingdom is annexed under Mubarak Khalji |
| 1327 | Muhammad bin Tughlaq renames Devagiri Daulatabad and moves his capital there |
6. The Bahmanis, the Deccan sultanates and Malik Ambar
The Bahmani Sultanate was founded in 1347 by Alauddin Hasan Bahman Shah, first at Gulbarga and later at Bidar. Its minister Mahmud Gawan built a famous madrasa at Bidar. After his execution in 1481 the kingdom split into five sultanates.
The one that matters most for Maharashtra is Ahmadnagar (the Nizam Shahi), founded in 1490, with the city built in 1494. Chand Bibi defended it against the Mughals in 1595, and it fell in 1600.
Malik Ambar, an Abyssinian who became Ahmadnagar's regent, kept the Mughals at bay for two decades. He used light cavalry in guerrilla (bargi) warfare, reorganised the land revenue, and founded Khadki, later renamed Aurangabad and now Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar. His methods trained the Maratha commanders, including Shahaji Bhosale, Shivaji's father.
7. Shivaji and the Swarajya
Shivaji was born at Shivneri fort near Junnar; the Maharashtra government observes 19 February 1630 as the date. Brought up at Pune by his mother Jijabai, he began taking forts in the mid-1640s, starting with Torna.
| Year | Event |
|---|---|
| 1659 | Afzal Khan of Bijapur killed at Pratapgad |
| 1663 | Night raid on Shaista Khan at the Lal Mahal, Pune |
| 1664 | First sack of Surat |
| 1665 | Treaty of Purandar with Mirza Raja Jai Singh; 23 forts ceded |
| 1666 | Visit to Agra and escape |
| 1670 | Sinhagad retaken by Tanaji Malusare |
| 1674 | Coronation at Raigad (6 June) as Chhatrapati |
| 1677-78 | Southern campaign, including Jinji and Vellore |
| 1680 | Death at Raigad (3 April) |
The Ashtapradhan was his council of eight ministers:
| Minister | Charge |
|---|---|
| Peshwa (Mukhya Pradhan) | General administration |
| Amatya (Mazumdar) | Finance and accounts |
| Sachiv (Surnis) | Royal correspondence |
| Mantri (Waqianavis) | Court records and intelligence |
| Senapati (Sar-i-Naubat) | Army |
| Sumant (Dabir) | Foreign affairs |
| Nyayadhish | Justice |
| Panditrao | Religious affairs and charity |
Revenue and war. Shivaji preferred cash salaries to jagirs for his officers, to prevent the rise of rival local powers. He collected chauth (a quarter) and sardeshmukhi (a further tenth) from neighbouring territories. Forts were the backbone of defence, each under a havaldar with separate officers for stores and accounts. He also built a navy, with the sea fort of Sindhudurg at Malvan.
Worked example 7.1 (a 10-mark answer, ~150 words). "Evaluate the administrative system of Shivaji."
Model answer. Shivaji built a centralised state out of a frontier principality.
At the top, the Ashtapradhan divided work by function, from finance (Amatya) to foreign affairs (Sumant) and justice (Nyayadhish). Most of the eight also held military command, which kept civil and military power close to the king.
Revenue was assessed on measured land, and officers were paid in cash rather than jagirs, which checked the growth of hereditary local power. Chauth and sardeshmukhi funded expansion.
Forts, each with divided command, made the state hard to conquer, and the navy protected the Konkan.
The limits were real. The cash-salary principle did not survive his successors, and the tribute system bred conflict with neighbours. Even so, the system gave the Marathas the institutions that survived Aurangzeb's 27-year campaign.
8. From Sambhaji to Shahu
Sambhaji (1680-89) was captured at Sangameshwar and executed by Aurangzeb in 1689. His brother Rajaram held out at Jinji in the south. After Rajaram's death, Tarabai led the resistance in her son's name. Aurangzeb died at Ahmednagar in 1707 and was buried at Khuldabad, near Ellora, without having conquered the Marathas.
The Mughals then released Shahu, Sambhaji's son. He won the Battle of Khed (1707) against Tarabai's forces and ruled from Satara. The rival line settled at Kolhapur, and the Treaty of Warna (1731) fixed the division between the two.
9. The Peshwas
Under Shahu, real power passed to his Peshwas, whose office became hereditary.
| Peshwa | Years | Key events |
|---|---|---|
| Balaji Vishwanath | 1713-20 | Mughal sanads of 1719 granting chauth and sardeshmukhi of the Deccan |
| Bajirao I | 1720-40 | Palkhed (1728) against the Nizam; raid to Delhi (1737); Chimaji Appa takes Vasai from the Portuguese (1739) |
| Balaji Bajirao (Nanasaheb) | 1740-61 | Sangola agreement (1750) moves power to Pune; defeat at Panipat (14 January 1761) |
| Madhavrao I | 1761-72 | Revival; victory over the Nizam at Rakshasbhuvan (1763) |
| Later Peshwas | 1772-1818 | Narayanrao murdered (1773); Nana Phadnavis holds the state together; Bajirao II signs the Treaty of Bassein (1802) |
By the late 18th century the Maratha state was a confederacy: the Peshwa at Pune, the Shindes at Gwalior, the Holkars at Indore, the Gaikwads at Baroda and the Bhonsles at Nagpur. Their rivalry gave the British their opening.
Worked example 9.1 (a Prelims-style chronology). "Arrange in order: Treaty of Purandar, Battle of Palkhed, Treaty of Warna, Treaty of Bassein."
Answer. Purandar (1665), Palkhed (1728), Warna (1731), Bassein (1802). Anchor each to a ruler: Shivaji, Bajirao I, Shahu and Bajirao II.
10. The Anglo-Maratha wars
| War | Years | Key events | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| First | 1775-82 | Treaty of Surat (1775); British defeat and Convention of Wadgaon (1779) | Treaty of Salbai (1782): broadly the status quo |
| Second | 1803-05 | Assaye (1803); treaties of Deogaon with the Bhonsles and Surji-Anjangaon with the Shindes | British paramountcy over much of the confederacy |
| Third | 1817-18 | Khadki (November 1817); Koregaon (1 January 1818); Ashti (February 1818) | Bajirao II surrenders (June 1818); the Peshwai ends |
Bajirao II was pensioned off to Bithur near Kanpur. The British set up a small Satara principality under Pratapsingh, then annexed it in 1848 under the doctrine of lapse. Nagpur followed in 1853-54.
Common traps MPSC sets here
- Crediting the Kailasa temple to the Chalukyas. It was cut under the Rashtrakuta king Krishna I.
- Placing Manyakheta in Maharashtra. It is in present-day Karnataka.
- Dating the Treaty of Purandar to 1666. It was signed in 1665. The Agra visit was 1666.
- Confusing Khadki and Koregaon. Khadki was November 1817; Koregaon was 1 January 1818.
- Mixing up the Treaties of Surat and Salbai. Surat (1775) opened the first war and Salbai (1782) closed it.
- Using old district names without the new ones. Ahmednagar is now Ahilyanagar and Aurangabad is Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar; give both.
Memory aids
- "Paithan, Washim, Ellora, Devagiri": the capitals and monuments of the Satavahanas, Vakatakas, Rashtrakutas and Yadavas, in order.
- "65, 66, 74, 80": Purandar, Agra, coronation, death.
- "Surat opens, Salbai closes; Bassein invites; Koregaon ends": the arc of the Anglo-Maratha wars.
Summary
Maharashtra's early history runs from Chalcolithic Inamgaon through the Satavahanas at Paithan and the Vakatakas of Vidarbha, patrons of later Ajanta. The Rashtrakutas cut the Kailasa temple at Ellora, and the Yadavas of Devagiri presided over the rise of Marathi before Delhi's conquest.
The Deccan sultanates, above all Ahmadnagar under Malik Ambar, trained the Maratha commanders. Shivaji built a centralised Swarajya with the Ashtapradhan, forts and a navy. The Peshwas expanded it into a confederacy, which divided and lost to the British between 1775 and 1818.
Exam protocol
- Give every dynasty as capital, ruler, date and monument.
- Use the treaty tables for chronology questions.
- Pair each Mains evaluation with one strength, one limit and one Maharashtra example.
