The Maratha State: Some Preliminary Considerations

Maratha power was one of the most important across much of India through much of the eighteenth century. It was the last of the Indian kingdoms to be defeated by the British colonial regime, and even after the defeat of the last ruler, the area ceded by him was treated as a separate administrative unit for almost a decade. A number of labels have been applied to the Maratha state, including marauder, confederacy and more prosaically, just empire, but none of these labels have been subjected to rigorous theoretical analysis. This article is an attempt to apply three of the models of the state that have already been applied elsewhere, to the Marathas. It is perhaps important to state here that the models of the state are being used as a methodological tool, to enable a better understanding of the subject. The article is, therefore, in the nature of an exploratory exercise, rather than a clear application of a model, and so, there is no attempt at defining the Maratha state in terms of one specific model.

Английский

Indian Historical Review. – 2014. – Vol. 41, № 1. – P. 35–46.