The Marathas of western India came into prominence in the seventeenth century, when Shivaji carved out an independent kingdom. In the eighteenth century the Marathas established an India-wide empire, with their Brahman leaders entrenching religious orthodoxy at the heart of their state. Later, it was from Maharashtra – the “crucible of Indian nationalism” – that India’s leading nationalists emerged, as did Babasaheb Ambedkar and V.D. Savarkar.