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. War with the Marathas  Activity Imagine that you From the late eighteenth century, the Company also sought to curb and eventually destroy Maratha power. have come across With their defeat in the Third Battle of Panipat in 1761, two old newspapers the Marathas’ dream of ruling from Delhi was shattered. reporting on the Battle of Shrirangapatnam They were divided into many states under different chiefs and the death of Tipu (sardars) belonging to dynasties such as Sindhia, Holkar, Gaikwad and Bhonsle. These chiefs were held together Sultan. One is a British in a confederacy under a Peshwa (Principal Minister) paper and the other is who became its effective military and administrative head from Mysore. Write the headline for each of the based in Pune. Mahadji Sindhia and Nana Phadnis were two newspapers. two famous Maratha soldiers and statesmen of the late eighteenth century. The Marathas were subdued in a series of wars. Confederacy – Alliance In the first war that ended in 1782 with the Treaty of Salbai, there was no clear victor. The Second Anglo- Maratha War (1803–05) was fought on different fronts, resulting in the British gaining Orissa and the territories north of the Yamuna river including Agra and Delhi. Finally, the Maratha power came to end with the Third Anglo-Maratha War of 1817–19. The Peshwa was removed and sent away to Bithur near Kanpur with a pension. The Company now had complete control over the territories south of the Vindhyas. The claim to paramountcy It is clear from the above that from the early nineteenth century, the Company pursued an aggressive policy of territorial expansion. Under Lord Hastings (Governor-General from 1813 to 1823), a new policy of Fig. 11 – Lord Hastings “paramountcy” was initiated. Now the Company claimed that its authority was paramount or supreme, hence its power was greater than that of Indian states. In order to protect its interests, it was justified in annexing or threatening to annex any Indian kingdom. This view continued to guide later British policies as well. This process, however, did not go unchallenged. For example, when the British tried to annex the small state of Kitoor (in Karnataka today), Rani Channamma took to arms and led an anti-British resistance movement. She was arrested in 1824 and died in prison in 1829. Fig. 12 – A Statue of the QueeBut Rayanna, a poor chowkidar of Sangoli in Kitoor, Kitoor (Karnataka) carried on the resistance. With popular support, he destroyed many British camps and records. He was caught and hanged by the British in 1830. You will read more about several cases of resistance later in the book. 18 OUR PASTS – III Reprint 2024-25