Babar captured Delhi in 1524 but by 1710 Aurangzeb had died fighting the Marathas and by 1730s Delhi was sacked by Nadir shah. There were no Mughals to speak of by 1730. So in reality Mughals only really ruled for less than 200 years which is from 1526 to 1730s. Delhi was a small sultanate when Babar captured it. Even Bihar was not a part of it. So to say that was India would be wrong.

Right after him, during Humayun's reign Mughals were completely kicked out for 15 years or so and they regained power quite at the end of Humayun's life in 1555. So really Mughals only ruled a significant part of India during Akbar's reign and till Aurangzeb - which is 150 years (~1555-1710).

Marathas rose up in 1674 as a kingdom almost as big as Delhi Sultanate and continued until 1818 which is when they lost the 3rd Anglo Maratha War. They even won the first Anglo Maratha war against the Brits but being the Indians that they were, they let them go easily instead of slaughtering their opponents.

So Marathas actually ruled a large part of India for ~150 years (1670s to 1818). This is a fucking revelation

Another lie: Marathas died with Battle of Panipat. WRONG

Actually Marathas were strongest AFTER panipat. Mahadji Scindia was the strongest Maratha that won against Brits and Mughals and really did win good wars against good enemies. Baji Rao is mentioned a lot but he died early so didn't nearly contribute that much. Mahadji never really lost a war and this is the period from 1760s to 1790s. I would say the real golden period of Marathas were after Panipat under Nana Fadnavis.

Conclusion: Marathas ruled a good part of India for 150 years.

Coming to Brits. They pretty much ruled only after 2nd Anglo maratha war from 1800s to 1947 or about 150ish years.

So between Mughals Marathas and Brits - they all ruled India for ~150 years give or take.

Now if you asked me who ruled the most I would've said

Mughals - something like 300 years



Brits - something like 200 years



Marathas - they never ruled India

When in reality all 3 of them ruled India for equal amount of time.

[18 December 2017] What I was told: Mughals ruled India for 300 years and Brits took India from MughalsStatus:BRITS Original post by user RandomAnnan on indianews.reddit.com