-inaugurates Praja Sabha in reaction to Great Indian Famine (1876-8)

-sends order on the subject, sneaks it through guards

-seats won by pro-Chhatrapati people

-issuance of Charter by it, Peshwa weakened a great deal

-and Chhatrapati freed from "golden cage"

-organizes Empire of Maharashtra > Shiv Sabha to dominate elections

-wildly successful in this regard

-in 1891, a law enacted which reorganizes administration, dissolves Ashta Pradhan and members pensioned off

-embarks on ambitious reform agenda

-reservations for non-Brahmins (meaning Marathas mostly)

-reforms targeted to end famine and ensure food security

-makes railroads, universities, medical colleges

-sells claims over Aligarh to pay for it

-fight for independence achieves fruition with British Raj > Treaty of Bombay (1921)

-British Wars > Hindustani War of Independence (1936-9) happens

-Maratha regiments in Hindustan serve on side with British

-some of them desert, Shahu condemns this

-causes controversy at home, but elites largely pro-British side because of aristocrats getting brutally murdered

-controversy makes itself known in the Praja Sabha

-ultimately Hindustani rebels prevail

-in wake of war, Shahu decides to dissolve British ties, Maharashtra declares itself fully independent

-and forced to reform Praja Sabha, make it more democratic

-faced with British Wars > Zaman Shah Durrani's invasion of India (1800-1)

-forced to make an alliance to beat it off

-devastates many of the northern feudatories but is beaten off

-successful and Fourth Battle of Panipat (1801) sees it through

-in its aftermath alliance with British becomes permanent

-also fights war with Mysore and wins smashingly

-in alliance with British

-with Mysore having invited Afghans in the first place to invade

-followed by British Wars > First Anglo-Hyderabadi War (1804-7), in which Maharashtra allies with British against Hyderabadi

-helps seal the deal with the alliance

-during British Wars > Popular Revolution disarray (1827-35), British authority badly shaken

-uses this opportunity to strengthen position vis a vis British

-also modulates treaty, becomes more autonomous

-and obtains firmer control of Maharashtrian hinterland

-sends troops to the effort in the British Wars > Opium Expedition (1853-4)

-very much iconic in this regard, British blame atrocities of that war on them

-undergoes modernization efforts

-telegraphs and railroads first go up

-also builds a few universities as on British technical models

-and even some light industry based on rivers

1891: Position abolished

-faced with British Raj > Great Indian Famine (1876-8), outflanked and Praja Sabha assembled

-following abolition, Madhavrao III forced into retirement

-but Peshwas keep massive feudal estate, and get to be prominent in Praja Sabha

1946 def.

1951 def.

1956 def.

-nicknamed the "Maharashtrian Edmund Burke"

-for his combination of monarchism, representative government, moderatism, and hatred of the British Raj

-and he takes this so deeply he names his son "Burke"

-crosses the floor from the opposition during the British Wars > Hindustani War of Independence (1936-9)

-and creates a moderate or Madhyam bloc

-and postwar he successfully leads efforts to enact moderate reforms of the Maharashtrian political system

-finally nominated to office as part of efforts to moderately reform the state to conserve it

-in office successfully assembles leading coalition in Praja Sabha

-enacts a series of cost-saving reforms to root out corruption in halls of government

-also extends size of electorate to literacy-based suffrage

-even this wall is eroded by punch cards on ballots serving as unofficial symbols

-and enforces representative government on all of various governmental subdivisions

-initial opposition by Heads of Maharashtra > 1949-1953 Venkatji

-which initially forces him to lurch towards rightist policies

-dissipates after failed 1950 coup

-after which he is driven to believe they wanted to overthrow him in palace coup

-seeks to establish a wall against Hindustani revolutionism

-and forms alliances with a great many countries to establish trade links

-and for this reason goes out of his way to get immigrants from Federation of Bali

-to prevent Hindustani workers from coming or from getting employed

-fosters industrial growth while in office

-with the rise of former landlords to develop great fortunes

-though crushes rising workerist strife

-enacts a series of land reforms

-to prevent revolutionism, he says

-comes with heavy compensation, which old landlords use to rebuild their fortunes as industrialists

-dies in office

-cremated and deposited in Ganga

-from Bengal though because of his hatred of Hindustani republicanism

-remembered as smashing success

-despite some latter-day controversy that