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Maratha Empire Facts & Worksheets

The Maratha Empire began in 1674, with the coronation of Shivaji, and ended in 1818, after the British East India Company won the Third Anglo Maratha War.

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The Maratha Empire began in 1674, with the coronation of Shivaji, and ended in 1818, after the British East India Company won the Third Anglo Maratha War. The Maratha Empire encompassed a large area of the Indian subcontinent during its peak.

See the fact file below for more information on the Maratha Empire or alternatively, you can download our 26-page Maratha Empire worksheet pack to utilise within the classroom or home environment.

Key Facts & Information

LOCATION

  • The Maratha Kingdom started as a small district in Adilshahi Sultanate around Pune and Supe.
  • During Maratha’s peak, its location expanded from Peshawar (modern-day Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan) in the north to Tamil Nadu in the south. Maratha also extended to Orissa in the east and Gujarat in the west.
  • The Marathas conquered almost 25,000,000 square kilometers of the Indian subcontinent. Shivaji, founder of the Maratha Kingdom, led the battles that brought Maratha to its new heights.

MARATHA FOUNDER

  • Shivaji was said to be born on February 19, 1630, or in April of 1627, in Poona, India.
  • He was the descendant of the Maratha clan and was born into the Bhonsle family. He was the grandson of the influential general of Ahmadnagar Sultanate.
  • Shivaji was named after a local deity, the goddess Shivai.
  • His father, Shahaji Bhonsle, was a Maratha general who served the Deccan Sultanates. His mother was named Jijabai, and her family were descendants of a Yadav royal family of Devagiri.
  • Shivaji was a proud Hindu. However, during his childhood years, India was under Muslim rule. These Muslim rulers oppressed Hindus, and wanting to defy these oppressions, he declared himself as the divinely appointed one who would free the Hindus.

ORIGIN OF THE MARATHA EMPIRE

  • In 1655, after collecting a band of followers, Shivaji started to seize the Bijapur outposts and destroyed those who supported the sultans.
  • This action won him the admiration of the Hindus. He continued his daring fights and battles until the other sultans started to be threatened by him.
  • In 1659, he killed Afzal Khan, a known general who served the Bijapur Sultanate in India, resulting in Shivaji’s acquisition of the Bijapur army.
  • He continued his quest but was arrested in Agra, where he and his son faced execution. He escaped by feigning illness and sending out fruits in enormous baskets where he and his son hid, passed by the guards, and went back to his followers.
  • In two years, he was able to win back their lost territory, and he expanded his domain until he was crowned as an independent sovereign in 1674. The Hindus who suffered suppression from the Muslim sultanate rallied to him as their leader. Shivaji used the title Chhatrapati, which means “emperor”.
  • Chhatrapati Shivaji, being an oppressed Hindu while growing up, respected other religious beliefs and protected their places of worship. He even had many Muslims who were in his service. He allied with sultans and consequently blocked the Mughals’ grand design to spread their rule over the entire subcontinent.

THE MARATHA CULTURE

  • MILITARY
    • Shivaji raised a small yet effective land army. He also emphasized infantry more than cavalry because of the rugged, mountainous terrain they were in and the inability to access the horse market, as the North Indian Mughal dominated it.
    • The Maratha army used weapons like muskets, firangi swords, clubs, bows, spears, etc. Its infantry and cavalry were known for their agility due to their light equipment.
    • During Shivaji’s era, the Maratha army was systematic and disciplined. He abolished land grants for military officers as payment for their services and used a salary or cash payment system.
    • After the Marathas encountered the French on the battlefield in the 1750s, they realized that they needed to adapt the western style of disciplined infantry. They invested heavily in artillery and equipped their infantry. Shivaji employed Ibrahim Khan Gardi, who played a major role in reconfiguring the Maratha artillery. During the Third Battle of Panipat, 8,000 to 9,000 Maratha army men were artillery, known as the Gardi Infantry. They also had 200 cannons and several handguns.
    • Shivaji was also the first Indian ruler to realize the importance of protecting the coastline. He established a powerful Maratha navy and built naval forts at Jaigarh, Vijaydurg, Sindhudurg, and many other places. He was considered the Father of the Indian Navy.
  • PEOPLE
    • The Marathas were the majority of the people in India. They were the champions of Hinduism and a Marathi-speaking warrior group from present-day Maharashtra.
    • The Maratha group consisted of Maratha and Kunbi descendants and were predominantly peasant cultivators, landowners, and soldiers.
  • RELIGION
    • Maratha and Kunbis are Hindus who worship one or more gods as a “family deity”. However, Shiva was the most important god for them, but they worshipped others, as well. Some of these included Khandoba, guardian of the Deccan, and Bhairav, the village protector.
    • They also worshipped Shiva’s consort, Parvati, in the form of local mother goddesses, such as Bhavani and Janni Devi.
    • Marathas believed in the evil eye, witchcraft, ghosts, and evil spirits that can harm the living.
  • RITES OF PASSAGE
    • Marathas followed a birth ceremony that took place after a child’s birth. They performed special rituals because they believed evil spirits might attack a newborn child on its sixth or seventh day after being born. After ten days, a purification ceremony was performed. The Maratha children would also have a hair cutting ceremony on their first birthday.
    • Marathas followed the Hindu customs on their rites for the dead. They usually bathed the dead and wrapped the body in a white shroud. They would then burn the body near a river or stream and placed the ashes in the water.
  • FAMILY
    • Maratha’s basic kin unit was called kuli, meaning family. Kuli is a lineage of an extended family who worshipped a symbol called devak, which can be a cobra, an elephant, or the blade of a sword. It is forbidden to marry someone who worships the same devak.
    • However, they can wed someone within the village or a cross-cousin. A man can also have many wives.
    • Marriages were arranged, and a bride price had to be paid to the girl’s family. The marriage ceremony was elaborate and could last for days. It had 24 separate ceremonies. The most important was the installation of devak.

THE END OF THE EMPIRE

  • The Maratha empire lasted for more than a hundred years. Its decline began during the Third Battle of Panipat in 1761.
  • They were conquered by the British East India Company, which had been inching its way into India since the early 18th century by building trading posts in Mumbai, Madras, and Calcutta.
  • The British defeated the Marathas in The Third Anglo Maratha War, where they had to surrender their full power to their conqueror.
  • The British victory resulted in the Treaty of Gwalior on November 5, 1817.

Maratha Empire Worksheets

This is a fantastic bundle which includes everything you need to know about the Maratha Empire across 26 in-depth pages. These are ready-to-use Maratha Empire worksheets that are perfect for teaching students about the Maratha Empire which began in 1674, with the coronation of Shivaji, and ended in 1818, after the British East India Company won the Third Anglo Maratha War. The Maratha Empire encompassed a large area of the Indian subcontinent during its peak.

Complete List Of Included Worksheets

  • Maratha Empire Facts
  • Chhatrapati Shivaji
  • Starting a Maratha Family
  • Marathas’ Deities
  • The Maratha Inquiry
  • The Maratha History
  • Fact or Bluff
  • The Analysis of a Painting
  • Facts about the Marathas
  • Marathas’ Way of Life
  • Shivaji’s Wisdom

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Link will appear as Maratha Empire Facts & Worksheets: https://kidskonnect.com - KidsKonnect, June 4, 2021

Use With Any Curriculum

These worksheets have been specifically designed for use with any international curriculum. You can use these worksheets as-is, or edit them using Google Slides to make them more specific to your own student ability levels and curriculum standards.

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