The Peshwa (also known in Marathi as Peshwe) were Brahmin Prime Ministers to the Maratha Chattrapatis (Kings), who began commanding Maratha armies and later became the hereditary rulers of the Maratha empire of central India from 1749 AD to 1818 AD. They oversaw the greatest expansion of the Maratha Empire around 1760, and also its eventual annexation by the British East India Company in 1818.

Title

The word Peshwa may have originated in Persian, meaning "foremost", and was introduced in Deccan by the Muslim rulers. After his coronation as a Maratha Chhatrapati in 1674, the founder of the Maratha Empire, Shivaji appointed Moropant Trimbak Pingle as the first Peshwa. Duties and authorities of a Peshwa were equal to that of a Prime Minister.

Bhat Family

The position moved to the Bhat family of Shri Vardhan in the Konkan region, upon appointment of Balaji Vishwanath Bhat as Peshwa by the fourth Chattrapati Shahu in 1713. It was the appointment of his son, Baji Rao I as Peshwa in 1719 by Shahu that made the position hereditary in the Bhat family. Shahu, who also appointed Baji Rao's son as Peshwa in 1740, gave considerable authority to the Peshwas to command the Maratha armies, and they responded well during his reign.

By the time of Shahu's

Legacy

The first Bhat family Peshwa was Balaji Vishwanath Bhat, a chitpavan Brahmin. He was succeeded as Peshwa by his son Baji Rao I, who never lost a battle. Baji Rao and his son, Balaji Baji Rao, oversaw the period of greatest Maratha expansion (see map at right), brought to an end by the Maratha's defeat by an Afghan army at the Third Battle of Panipat in 1761. The last Peshwa, Baji Rao II, was defeated by the British East India Company in the Third Anglo-Maratha War in 1818. The Peshwa's territory in central Maharashtra was annexed to the British East India Company's Bombay province, and he was pensioned off.

Peshwa lineage

Peshwa