By the 1730s the Mughal Empire lay in ruins.

The rulers of Delhi, the ‘Padshahs of the world’ had been humbled and the successors of Aurangzeb lived in terror of the revolutions convulsing the subcontinent of India.

The spectre of religious fanaticism in the late 1600s had led to a revolt by the Hindu populace of India from the foothills of the Himalayas, the Rajputs of Rajasthan, The Jaats of Bharatpur, the Bundelas of Central India, the Satnamis of North India, The Kolis and Bhils of Gujarat, The Bedars of South India and the Ahoms of Eastern India.

None however provoked as much terror and fear in the hearts of their enemies as the slogan of the Hindu padshahi coined by the first great leader Shivaji of the irresistible cavalry pouring from the arid hills of Western India. These were the Hindu Marathas. From the inspiration of Shivaji and Sant Ramdas they unleashed such energies into India that the Mughal Empire fell in ruin.

Following the death of Shivaji and the 25 year war of liberation the Marathas freed their homeland from Mughal tyranny when the son of the prime minister, a 19 year old lad named Baji Rao made an inspired speech in the court of the Maratha king.

‘Strike, strike at the heart of the rotting tree and the branches will fall of themselves. Then this land of the Hindus will be free’

He then embarked on a ceaseless twenty year campaign in a strike northwards, every year inching nearer to Delhi and the extinction of the Mughal Empire. It is said that the Mughal emperor was in such terror that he refused a meeting with Baji Rao, fearing to sit in his presence. The holy pilgrimage routes of the Hindus from Mathura, to Benares to Somnath were made free of harassment.

The greatest of the warriors of the empire, Mughal, Pathan and Central Asian alike were defeated by Baji Rao: Nizam ul Mulk, Khan I Dauran, Muhammad Khan are but a few of the names of the warriors who failed before the Marathas. The Battles of Bhopal, Palkhed, the victories over the Portuguese invaders in Western India are amongst his great achievements.

He died at the untimely age of 39 in 1739, in military camp surrounded by his army.

He has been described as the incarnation of Hindu energy, ceaselessly striving for 20 years to establish the Hindu Padshahi. His sons continued his mission of carrying the saffron flag to the gates of Afghanistan in 1758 to the fort of Attock in the North and simultaneously marching to the Southern shores of India. He represents the creative and destructive power of Dharma as he unleashed the urge of a people yearning to be free and remains as a symbol of victory to the modern day.