Maratha

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Member of a people living mainly in Maharashtra state, western India. There are about 40 million speakers of Marathi, a language belonging to the Indo-European family. The Marathas are mostly farmers, and practise Hinduism. In the 17th and 18th centuries the Marathas formed a powerful military confederacy in rivalry with the Mogul emperors. The latter's Afghan allies defeated the Marathas at Panipat in 1761, and, after a series of wars with the British 1779–1871, most of their territory was annexed. During the Indian Mutiny and the rise of the movement of independence, the Marathas became a symbol of Hindu revival.

The first Marathi kingdom was established in 1674 by Sivaji, who rose against the Mogul emperor at Delhi. During the first half of the 18th century, with Mogul influence waning, Maratha authority was extended into central and northern India. Politically, the Marathas were a loose confederacy, comprising powerful, independent families, notably the Sindhias, based at Gwalior, and the Holkars, who controlled Malwa in central India. The hereditary chitpavan Brahmin peshwas (chief ministers), based in Poona, were unable to control these families.

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