The Cambridge History of India, Vol. IV: The Mughul Period v4.c21.8

v4.c21.8

The Nizām rightly claimed to enter into the full territorial legacy of Aurangzīb in the Deccan, modified only by the grant of 1718. This completely barred the expansion of the Marāthā race and threatened to coop them up for ever within the narrow limits of Shivājī's small possessions in their homeland. Then began the inevitable clash between a legitimate but static authority and the dynamic spirit of expansion of a new people trying to find its place in the sun, which was witnessed a century and a half earlier when the Elizabethan adventurers burst upon the lawful Spanish government of the New World. There were some distinct centres of friction. The Nizām's possession of Bāglān blocked the easiest path for Marāthā penetration into Gujarāt; similarly, his province of Khāndesh lay across their way to Mālwa. Much of the true home of the Marāthā race, like the districts of Junnar and Ahmadnagar, still owned Mughul sway. In the closing years of his life the triumphant Marāthās swept onwards to raid the eastern Carnatic and also penetrated into the Kanarese country southwards (Savanūr, Bednūr, etc.), and squeezed the Nizām's tribute-payers there, while in the north-east the Bhonsles of Nāgpur conquered the Gond rajas and encroached upon the Deccan province of Berār.