NCERT Solutions for Class 8th Social Science Chapter 3 The Rise of the Marathas
Updated on 2026-09-19
About this chapter
The Marathas are a people of the Deccan plateau, in present-day Maharashtra, identified with Marathi , a language with a continuous literary history since the 12th century . Their political rise was prepared by the bhakti saints — Dnyaneshwar, Namdev, Tukaram, Ramdas — who put the Upaniṣhads and the Bhagavad Gītā into Marathi and gave society a common cultural foundation. Chhatrapati Shivaji (born 1630, Bhonsle clan, son of Shahji and Jijabai) began capturing forts at sixteen, ruled from 1646, founded the Maratha navy in 1657 , was crowned at Raigad in 1674 with the title Shri Raja Shiva Chhatrapati , and carried out the dakṣhiṇa-digvijaya in 1677. He died in 1680, aged fifty. His method was forts plus guerrilla warfare — small groups using speed, surprise and knowledge of the terrain. Ram
- Chapter opening
- Who are the Marathas?
- Guerrilla warfare
- The Marathas after Chhatrapati Shivaji
- Maratha Administration
- In focus: Thanjavur
- End-of-chapter exercise
Quick revision
| Term | What it means | Where it appears | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|---|
| Swarājya | Self-rule — a sovereign kingdom of one’s own, not a governorship held under a sultan | Pages 64, 80 | The idea that drove Shivaji from age sixteen, and later ‘planted the early seeds for India’s freedom movement’ |
| Jāgīr | Land given by a ruler to a noble or soldier as a reward for service; the holder could collect its taxes | Page 64 | Shahji held a jāgīr at Pune — Shivaji grew up there; Shivaji later abolished such land assignments in his own state |
| Guerrilla warfare | Small groups using speed, surprise and knowledge of the terrain to defeat far bigger armies | Page 65 | How a Deccan chief beat the armies of Bijapur and the Mughals; it works only because the Sahyadri terrain is known to the defender |
| Aṣhṭa pradhāna manḍala | The council of eight ministers — Pradhān, Amātya, Sachiv, Mantrī, Sumant, Senāpatī, Nyāyādhīsh, Panḍitrāo | Page 72, Fig. 3.13 | Shows government split into named departments under the Chhatrapatī, not run through personal favourites |
| Chauth and sardeshmukhi | Taxes of 25 per cent, and a further 10 per cent, levied on provinces not directly ruled by the Marathas | Page 73 | Protection in return for revenue, without interfering in internal administration — over time such provinces joined the empire |
| Bārgīr and shiledār | Cavalrymen whose horse and equipment were paid for by the state (bārgīr) or by themselves (shiledār) | Page 73 | Two ways of raising cavalry: state-funded loyalty and self-funded numbers |
| Cartaz | A naval trade pass the Portuguese forced Indian ships to buy; a ship without one was confiscated | Page 74 | The Marathas reversed it — they demanded passes from the Europeans, who then called Kanhoji Angre a ‘pirate’ |
| Ādnyāpatra | ‘The Royal Edict’, written in 1715 by Ramachandrapant Amatya, Shivaji’s finance minister | Pages 61, 74 | The chapter’s main written source: it warns about the European ‘hat-wearers’ and explains why forts are the core of the state |
| Peshwa | Persian for ‘prime minister’; from the 18th century the real centre of Maratha power | Page 70 | Bajirao I and Nanasaheb drove the pan-Indian expansion — but the Chhatrapati became nominal, and chiefs grew autonomous |
| Panchāyat and kotwāl | A local gathering of officials and prominent men that delivered justice; the kotwāl was the city police | Pages 75–76 | Justice was local and appealable to a Maratha chief, and the death penalty was used with notable moderation |
| Moḍī script | A cursive form of Devanagari | Page 78 | The main script of Maratha correspondence — Fig. 3.20 shows Chhatrapati Shahu Maharaj’s own handwriting in it |
| Rājya-Vyavahāra-Koṣha | A treatise Shivaji commissioned giving Sanskrit equivalents for Persian words used in diplomacy | Page 76 | A language policy with a measurable result: foreign loanwords in Maratha diplomacy fell considerably |
Exercises
- Chapter opening — The Big Questions Page 61
- Who are the Marathas? — LET'S EXPLORE Page 63
- Foundation of Maratha Power and the Rise of Chhatrapati Shivaji — THINK ABOUT IT Page 65
- Guerrilla warfare — LET'S EXPLORE Page 66
- The Marathas after Chhatrapati Shivaji — LET'S EXPLORE Page 69
- Maratha Administration — THINK ABOUT IT Page 72
- In focus: Thanjavur — LET'S EXPLORE Page 79
- End-of-chapter exercise — Questions and activities Page 81