The Peshwas and pan-Indian expansion

As the Marathas grew, their state changed shape. The centralised state of Shivaji's time gave way to a more decentralised one: still officially centred on the Chhatrapati, but with the chiefs holding more power.

In particular the Peshwa (a Persian word for 'prime minister') gained great influence, even over the Chhatrapati himself. Peshwa Bajirao I and his son Nanasaheb Peshwa led the spread of Maratha power across India.

The chapter is fair about what decentralisation cost. The Marathas brought large parts of India under control and generally ruled them well. But as regional chiefs gained power, there was occasional indiscipline and abuse, "in stark contrast with Chhatrapati Shivaji's values".

In the north they briefly controlled Lahore, Attock and even Peshawar in modern-day Pakistan, and fought the Afghans.

At Panipat in 1761 they suffered a disastrous defeat, and recovered quickly under Peshwa Madhavrao I. Under Mahadji Shinde they recaptured Delhi in 1771, holding it until the British took it three decades later.

So in the second half of the 18th century, the British's main rivals in India were not the Mughals. They were the Marathas.

Three Anglo–Maratha wars were fought between 1775 and 1818. The Marathas won the first. But growing disunity among themselves, against the British's better organisation and technology, ended Maratha power.

Hence the chapter's striking conclusion: "the British took India from the Marathas more than from the Mughals or any other power." One man saw the danger early: Nana Phadnavis, a powerful official under the Peshwas, organised the first pan-Indian alliance against the British, uniting even with old enemies like Hyder Ali of Mysore and the Nizam of Hyderabad.