A HISTORY OF THE MAHRATTAS

Captain James Grant Duff’s History of the Mahrattas, published in three volumes in 1826, is the first serious attempt to write a comprehensive history of the Mahrattas. It is a scholarly piece of work undertaken with great tenacity, and anyone who wants to study the evolution of the modern period of Indian history cannot do so without Duff, because no student of Indian History can overlook the fact that it was all about the Mahrattas. This book gives a comprehensive history of their extended empire from the south as far as Tanjore, including Mysore, and extends to the north which includes Gujarat, Malwa, and Bundelkhand. The Marathas were a yeoman warrior group from the western Deccan that rose to prominence during the rule of the Adil Shahi dynasty and Ahmadnagar Sultanate. The empire was founded by Shivaji Bhosle, who formally crowned himself Chhatrapati ("Emperor") with Raigad as his capital in 1674, and successfully fought against the Mughal Empire. The Maratha Empire waged war for 27 years with the Mughals from 1681 to 1707, which became the longest war in the history of India.