History glossary
Marathas
a western Indian power whose resistance and expansion challenged late Mughal authority.
- Category
- Political and military power
- Region
- Western India and the Deccan
- Date range
- Seventeenth and eighteenth centuries
What it means
The Marathas were a western Indian political and military power that grew from regional resistance into a major force. Their mobility, hill forts, revenue raids and later expansion made Mughal control in the Deccan and beyond increasingly difficult.
