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Ruler

Peshwa Madhavrao I

Peshwa who rebuilt Maratha power after Panipat

1745—1772

14 Feb 1745 – 18 Nov 1772; Peshwa from 1761

Madhavrao became Peshwa at sixteen, months after the disaster at Panipat. In eleven years he beat the Nizam, held back Hyder Ali, mastered his own uncle, cleaned up the courts and revenue, and put Maratha troops back in Delhi. He died of consumption at twenty-seven.

01A boy after Panipat

Madhavrao was born on 14 February 1745, the second son of the Peshwa Balaji Bajirao, called Nanasaheb. His elder brother Vishwasrao died at Panipat on 14 January 1761, and his father, broken by the news, died that June. Madhavrao was given the robes of Peshwa with his uncle Raghunathrao as guardian. The Nizam saw his chance and marched; in 1763 his army plundered Pune. The young Peshwa fell out with his uncle, was forced to submit to him in 1762, and still led the army that caught the Nizam’s rearguard at Rakshasbhuvan on the Godavari on 10 August 1763 and beat it badly.

02Hyder Ali and the north

Hyder Ali of Mysore had pushed north into Maratha lands during the troubles. Madhavrao led campaigns against him in 1764–65, 1767 and 1769–72, and forced him to give up territory and pay tribute. In 1768 Raghunathrao rose again; Madhavrao beat him at Dhodap and kept him under guard in Shaniwar Wada. In the north his commanders, Mahadji Shinde among them, rebuilt Maratha power, and in January 1772 they escorted the emperor Shah Alam II back into Delhi under Maratha protection. Eleven years after Panipat the Marathas held the capital again.

Delhi (Indraprastha)
Place · Indraprastha of the Pandavas; Lal Kot c. 1052 by the Tomara Anangpal; many cities sinceDelhi (Indraprastha)The Pandavas’ Indraprastha stood on the Yamuna where the Purana Qila now stands, and the Tomaras and Chauhans built the first walled Delhi at Mehrauli. Seven or more cities have risen on the same ground since.Read →

03At Theur

He kept a hard eye on his own officers. Ram Shastri Prabhune, the chief judge, was free to rule against the powerful, and Madhavrao himself heard complaints from villagers. He was devoted to Shri Chintamani, the Ganesh of Theur near Pune, and when consumption took hold he went there to die. He died at Theur on 18 November 1772; his wife Ramabai became sati. The British historian Grant Duff wrote that the plains of Panipat were not more fatal to the Maratha empire than the early end of this prince.

Battles

Battle of Rakshasbhuvan

Two years after Panipat the Nizam marched on Pune and burnt it. The young Peshwa Madhavrao caught his army at a river crossing and broke it.

August 1763 CE

Places

Delhi (Indraprastha)Standing
The long resistance: Sindh to Tarain

Delhi (Indraprastha)

The Pandavas’ Indraprastha stood on the Yamuna where the Purana Qila now stands, and the Tomaras and Chauhans built the first walled Delhi at Mehrauli. Seven or more cities have risen on the same ground since.

PuneStanding
Maratha ascendancy and the Sikh empire

Pune

The town where Shivaji grew up under Jijabai’s eye, and for nearly a century the seat of the Peshwas, from which Maratha armies rode to Attock and Bengal. Later it became the workshop of Tilak, Agarkar and the Deccan Education Society.

Shaniwar Wada, PuneRuined
Maratha ascendancy and the Sikh empire

Shaniwar Wada, Pune

The palace-fort of the Peshwas, from which the Maratha confederacy was run for nearly ninety years. A fire in 1828 left only the walls and gates.

Theur and the Chintamani TempleStanding
Maratha ascendancy and the Sikh empire

Theur and the Chintamani Temple

One of the eight Ashtavinayak shrines of Shri Ganesh, near the meeting of the Mula-Mutha and Bhima. Peshwa Madhavrao I loved it above all places and died here on 18 November 1772.

On the timeline

  • 18 November 1772

    Peshwa Madhavrao I dies at TheurPolity

    Madhavrao I, who rebuilt Maratha power after Panipat, dies of tuberculosis at twenty-seven before the Chintamani Ganesh at Theur. Grant Duff wrote that the plains of Panipat were not more fatal to the Maratha empire than his early end.