Maratha Confederacy

The Maratha Confederacy refers to the Maratha state in its later form, when power was shared among the Peshwa and great Maratha chiefs such as the Scindias, Holkars, Gaekwads and Bhonsles. In the eighteenth century it expanded rapidly at the expense of the Mughal Empire. Its loose structure was weakened by internal rivalry and it was defeated by the British in the early nineteenth century.