History Ch - 8 Eighteenth-Century Political Formations — Social Studies STD 7 — Question

Marathas under the leadership of Shivaji (1627-1680) carved out a stable kingdom with the support of powerful warrior families (deshmukhs).
The backbone of Maratha army were Kuntis, a group of highly mobile peasant-pastoralists. Shivaji used these forces to challenge the Mughals in the peninsula.
Marathas developed a very successful military organisation under the Peshwas. Maratha King was recognised as the overload of the entire Deccan Peninsula.
Declining Mughal Empire also provided opportunity to expand Marathas in the North India. They raised Delhi in 1737 and expanded in Rajasthan and Punjab in North, into Bengal and Orissa in the East, and into Karnataka and the Tamil and Telugu countries in the South. These regions paid tribute to the Marathas. Along with military campaigns, the Marathas also developed an effective administrative system to stablise their kingdom.