Women in the Maratha Empire: A Historical Study of Political and Social Participation

Abstract

The history of the Maratha Empire is generally narrated through military campaigns, territorial expansion, administrative institutions, and the political achievements of male rulers and commanders. However, women occupied significant positions within the political, social, economic, religious, and cultural life of Maratha society. The present research paper examines the political and social participation of women during the rise and expansion of Maratha power from the seventeenth to the eighteenth century. Particular attention is given to Jijabai, Maharani Tarabai, Yesubai, and other royal and non-royal women whose activities demonstrate different forms of female agency. The study also considers women’s participation in household management, property relations, religious patronage, social networks, and the maintenance of political alliances. The research is historical and analytical in nature and is based on primary and secondary historical sources, including chronicles, correspondence, administrative documents, biographies, and modern historical scholarship. The study finds that women’s political participation was most visible during periods of succession crisis and military instability, but their influence was not confined to exceptional circumstances. Kinship, marriage, household authority, property, patronage, and religious activity created important spaces for female participation. At the same time, women operated within a patriarchal and caste-stratified social order that placed considerable restrictions on their autonomy. The study therefore argues that the history of the Maratha Empire becomes more comprehensive when women are understood not merely as members of ruling families but as participants in political processes and agents within the social history of early modern Maharashtra.