Trace the trajectory of Maratha polity from Shivaji to Peshwa Balaji Baji Rao. What was the impact of the Third Battle of Panipat (1761) on the Maratha State? Analyze.

Shivaji's centralised state. Crowned in 1674, Shivaji built a kingdom deliberately opposed to the jagir principle. The ashtapradhan were salaried officers, not hereditary ministers; offices were not to pass by descent; revenue was assessed directly and paid in cash; forts were held by three officers of different castes to prevent any one from turning the fort into a private domain. Chauth and sardeshmukhi were levied on neighbouring territory. Service was open to Muslims, and a navy was maintained.

The drift begins. After Sambhaji's execution in 1689 and the long war with Aurangzeb, Shahu's release in 1707 produced a divided succession. Balaji Vishwanath, Peshwa from 1713, secured imperial recognition of Maratha rights to chauth and sardeshmukhi over the Deccan in 1719 — but by relying on the great sardars to collect them.

Baji Rao I (1720-40) carried Maratha power north into Malwa, Bundelkhand and Gujarat, took Bassein from the Portuguese and raided Delhi in 1737. Expansion was financed by assigning revenue rights to commanders, which entrenched them locally.

Balaji Baji Rao (1740-61) completed the transformation. The Peshwa displaced the Chhatrapati, who became a figurehead at Satara, while Sindhia, Holkar, Gaekwad and Bhonsle became hereditary rulers in their own territories. The polity was now a confederacy whose members cooperated when interests aligned — the exact opposite of Shivaji's design.

Panipat, 14 January 1761. Ahmad Shah Abdali defeated Sadashivrao Bhau. The causes were diplomatic before they were military: the Marathas had alienated the Rajputs, the Jats and the Sikhs by exacting chauth, so they fought without local allies, while Shuja-ud-daula of Awadh and the Rohillas joined Abdali. Supply lines failed and the army was encumbered by non-combatants.

Impact, assessed honestly.

• Immediate and severe. A generation of leadership was destroyed, including Vishwasrao and Sadashivrao Bhau, and Balaji Baji Rao died within months.
• But not fatal. Madhavrao I restored Maratha authority within a decade, and Mahadji Sindhia had the Mughal emperor under Maratha protection by 1771.
• The lasting damage was structural. Panipat confirmed the confederacy's looseness and destroyed the prospect of a Maratha imperial settlement of India. The vacuum it left was filled not by Abdali, who withdrew, but by the English Company — which is why 1761 matters more for what it prevented than for what it destroyed.