Mughal Empire and Maratha History
What this domain tests
Mughal state-building from Babur to Aurangzeb and Maratha power from Shivaji to the Peshwas. The exam tests institutions (mansabdari, zabti, Ashta Pradhan), military strategy, revenue claims and the reasons for Mughal decline and Maratha expansion.
Core concepts
- Mughal administration: mansabdari ranked officers by zat and sawar; zabti assessed land revenue; jagir assignments paid officials. Akbar's Rajput alliances and Din-i-Ilahi are debated, not merely celebrated.
- Maratha institutions: Shivaji's Ashta Pradhan council, forts, cavalry, and revenue claims of chauth (25%) and sardeshmukhi (10%). Coronation at Raigad in 1674 asserted sovereignty.
- Expansion and limits: Bajirao I's northern campaigns; the Maratha confederacy's failure to cohere; Panipat in 1761 checked expansion but did not destroy Maratha power.
Worked example
Question: Distinguish chauth and sardeshmukhi. Reasoning: chauth was a 25% levy on revenue claimed from territories outside direct Maratha administration, presented as protection money; sardeshmukhi was an additional 10% claimed by the sardeshmukh as a hereditary right. They were overlapping claims, not identical taxes; both required enforcement and were resented where Maratha power was contested.
Traps that cost marks
Calling Shivaji's state a modern nation-state; assuming Mughal rule was uniformly centralised; confusing the 1526 and 1761 Battles of Panipat; mixing Shivaji with Sambhaji or Rajaram; treating Maratha expansion as a single unified empire.