"The Maratha polity disintegrated through internal stress." Critically Examine.

Answer:

The Maratha confederacy collapsed before British power between 1775 and 1818, and internal stress was the principal cause. Rivalry among the great houses, a fiscal system resting on tribute rather than administration, and repeated succession disputes fatally weakened it from within.

The internal stresses

• The confederacy divided among the Peshwa, Scindias, Holkars, Bhonsles and Gaekwads.
• These houses fought one another, as at Lakheri in 1793, instead of the common enemy.
• Chauth and sardeshmukhi gave revenue without administrative responsibility.
• Succession disputes after Madhav Rao I's death in 1772 paralysed the centre.
• Nana Phadnavis's death in 1800 removed the last unifying statesman.
• Baji Rao II's Treaty of Bassein in 1802 accepted subsidiary alliance and split the confederacy.

The external factor

• British diplomacy exploited these divisions systematically, house by house.
• Superior artillery, discipline and finance told decisively in the field.
• Wellesley's subsidiary alliance system dissolved the confederacy from within.

The three wars

• The First War (1775-82) ended inconclusively at Salbai, leaving Maratha power intact.
• The Second (1803-05) followed Bassein and broke Scindia and Bhonsle.
• The Third (1817-18) ended the Peshwaship and annexed its territory.
• The Peshwa was pensioned to Bithur and the confederacy ceased to exist.

The statement is therefore substantially justified. As Jadunath Sarkar and Satish Chandra both concluded, the Marathas were undone less by British arms than by their own fragmentation, for a confederacy of rival chiefs living on tribute could not withstand a single organised power.