Struggling to bud, surrounded by locusts, an empire had finally blossomed in the 17th century AD to encompass a huge chunk of the Indian subcontinent. Known to the world as the Maratha empire, they were the warriors who prevented the existence of a continuous Islamic belt from Morocco to Indonesia. What addition of a billion more adherents to Islam would have done to the world power balance or what would have happened to the Indian legacy like yoga, Ayurveda, is not difficult to guess!!
When the intolerant Mughal emperor embarked on a conquest to Islamise India, The Marathas, inspired by the great Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, fought Aurangzeb and saved India from following the fate of Persia OR may I say Uzbekistan or Turkmenistan… well, there are so many examples!!
In less than a century, the saffron flag in the able hands of Peshwas fluttered from the Attock in the North to Cuttack in the South. The Mughals who once threatened their rise now sought their protection!!
Read:
Ankit Pandey's answer to The Legendary Peshwa Bajirao
Ankit Pandey (अंकित पांडे)'s answer to Who suffered the biggest fall from grace in India’s History?
However, this immediate rise led to contention and ill will from several other Indian kingdoms who along with the Afghan armies of Abdali led to the defeat in the Battle of Panipat. The Maratha control over North had shattered. The crown prince of the Marathas, prince Vishwasrao had martyred, their leader was in grief with the annihilation of his most elite unit. Local powers started to question the authority of the Marathas. Marathas themselves were in the state of a civil war!!
However, the Marathas did not lose their hope. The ambitions had not died!!
Martyred Vishwasrao’s younger brother, Peshwa Madhavrao, a 16-year-old boy sat on the throne. His age did not undermine his greatness!! Firstly, he brought the empire back from ruins by improving the economic policies and ending the civil war with his astute diplomatic skills. With an aim to take revenge with all those who had led to the death of his countrymen and to regain the dominance in North India, an army led by the great Maratha general, Mahadji Shinde, was sent to knock the gates of the Delhi once again. While he himself led another contingent of the army to subdue the rise of Hyder Ali of Mysore and Nizam of Hyderabad in the South.
Soon the Marathas subdued the powers in the South, while the Rohillas in the North who had supported the Afghans were decimated and their capital was razed to the ground. The rising British power was defeated in the first Anglo Maratha war and the Mughals were once again under the whims of Marathas. Marathas had recovered to become the most powerful Indian empire of its time once again.
Prof G. S. Chhabra wrote:
Young though he was, Madhav Rao had a cool and calculating head of a seasoned and experienced man. The diplomacy by which he could win over his uncle Raghoba when he had no strength to fight and the way he could crush his power when he had the means to do so later on proved in him a genius who knows when and how to act. The formidable power of the Nizam was crushed, Hyder Ali, who was a terror even to the British, was effectually humbled and before he died in 1772, the Marathas were almost there in the north where they had been before Panipat. What could not have the Marathas achieved if Madhav had continued living just for a few years more? Destiny was not in favor of the Marathas, the death of Madhav was a greater blow than their defeat of Panipat and from this blow, they could never again recover.
Almost all of us today know about Akbar who ascended the throne at a tender age and then reclaimed the Mughal empire that was started by his grandfather, but how many of us know about this brave leader?? In a decade, this brilliant young gem of the Maratha empire had attained what his grandfather, Peshwa Bajirao had once attained. But how many of us remember him today??
When our history books dedicated a chapter for each of the Mughal, why were the Peshwas left behind?? Was their rule so insignificant?? At least I don’t think so!!
Edit:
Soikot Banerjee has rightly pointed out while sharing this answer-
People ask, “What is the need of that 212 m tall Shivaji Statue?” Well if you make the invaders like Abdali and Ghazni more famous than the saviors, the only way out is to force you to think again. People across the world will now recognize Shivaji and will hear about his extraordinary feats.