“Two pearls have been dissolved, 27 gold coins have been lost and of the silver and copper the total cannot be cast up”- Message to Balaji Baji Rao after Panipat

The 3rd Battle of Panipat had dealt one of the worst blows ever to the Maratha empire. Balaji Baji Rao, the Peshwa, could not recover from the debacle and died broken hearted in the very city of Pune that he so lovingly built. The Marathas lost the entire northern territories of India from Delhi onwards, and the empire ran up into huge debts.



It was at such a critical juncture that Madhavrao I became the Peshwa on June 23, 1761, at a very young age of 16. Due to his rather young age, his uncle Raghunathrao was appointed as his regent to assist him in administrative affairs. Madhavrao I managed to bring the administration back on track, and also secured the treasury that was being looted. He had the unenviable task of rebuilding the Maratha empire that had suffered a body blow after Panipat and setting right the rot in the administration. Madhavrao I’s reign however, would be remembered for the creation of the semi-autonomous Maratha states in the Deccan and the north- it was a tactical decision to keep the Maratha empire intact.

While the Peshwas ruled over Pune, in the western part of India, Pilaji Rao Gaekwad captured Baroda from the Mughals in 1721, leading to the establishment of the Gaekwad dynasty there. The Peshwa authority by now had considerably eroded post Panipat, and the semi-autonomous dynasties like the Gaekwads began to assert themselves even more.



In central India, Ranoji Scindia, a patil from Satara district, commanded the Maratha invasion of Malwa, under Peshwa Baji Rao and became a subedar of the province in 1736. He established his own capital at Ujjain in 1731, and later in 1810 moved it to Gwalior, which would be the seat of the Scindia dynasty.



In Maharasthra itself, the Bhonsles established semi-autonomous fiefs at Nagpur, Satara and Kolhapur, while smaller semi-autonomous provinces like Dhar, Sangli, Aundh etc sprang up.