Thanjavur and the Maratha legacy

Maratha influence reached far south, and Thanjavur is the best example of what it produced.

Ekoji, Shivaji's half-brother, conquered the Thanjavur region in present-day Tamil Nadu in the late 17th century.

The Thanjavur Marathas helped create a syncretic culture (one where different traditions are kept and used together), rich and full of new ideas. They were great supporters of the arts, and many rulers were themselves poets and playwrights. The traditional Thanjavur painting style, with its delicate gold foil work, flourished under them.

The most notable was Serfoji II, and his range is remarkable.

He knew many Indian and European languages, and wrote a Marathi play, Devendra Kuravanji, describing world geography in the detail then known.

He supported many talented musicians, and in his time modern Carnatic music took shape, along with the early stages of Bharatanatyam.

He was interested in medicine and set up the Dhanwantari Mahal, a centre giving free treatment using both Indian and Western medicine. He started a printing press, the first in India by a native ruler. And he had the Bhonsle family history carved on the walls of the Brihadishwara temple, one of the largest single inscriptions in India.

Thanjavur's culture was multilingual: local Tamil culture, the Telugu culture of the earlier rulers, and the rulers' own Marathi culture mixed freely. And the empire's legacy was larger still: the largest Indian empire before the British, an efficient new way of governing, and an ideal, Swarājya, that later inspired many Indians to believe they could govern themselves, planting early seeds of India's freedom movement.