Arrange the following in chronological order of their rule and select the correct answer from the code given below.
1. Bajirao I
2. Balaji Bajirao
3. Balaji Vishwanath
4. Madhav Rao I

Question

UnlockIAS · Accepted Answer

Correct — B, 3, 1, 2, 4. The four are successive Peshwas of the Bhat family and they ruled in this order: Balaji Vishwanath (1713-1720), Bajirao I (1720-1740), Balaji Bajirao or Nanasaheb (1740-1761) and Madhavrao I (1761-1772). The sequence is also a clean father-to-son line — Balaji Vishwanath was Bajirao I's father, Bajirao I was Balaji Bajirao's father, and Madhavrao I was Balaji Bajirao's son — so remembering the family tree alone fixes the order. Balaji Vishwanath was appointed Peshwa by Chhatrapati Shahu in 1713 and made the office hereditary in his house; Madhavrao I took charge in 1761 in the wreckage left by the Third Battle of Panipat (14 January 1761) and is credited with the Maratha revival before his early death in 1772.

Why the other options are wrong — (a) It puts Bajirao I ahead of Balaji Vishwanath, i.e. the son before the father. Bajirao I became Peshwa in 1720 only on the death of his father Balaji Vishwanath, who had held the office from 1713.  (c) It gets the first two right but then reverses Madhavrao I and Balaji Bajirao. Balaji Bajirao ruled 1740-1761; Madhavrao I succeeded him in 1761 after Panipat, so Madhavrao I cannot come before him.  (d) It combines both mistakes — Bajirao I placed before his father Balaji Vishwanath, and Madhavrao I placed before Balaji Bajirao. Only one of the four names is in its right slot.

Concept: The Peshwa was originally the chief minister of the Maratha Chhatrapati. Under Chhatrapati Shahu the office passed in 1713 to Balaji Vishwanath of the Bhat family and thereafter became hereditary, so that real executive power drifted from the Chhatrapati at Satara to the Peshwa at Pune. Through the eighteenth century the Peshwas — not the Chhatrapatis — directed Maratha expansion, and the Maratha polity became a confederacy of houses (Scindia, Holkar, Gaekwad, Bhonsle of Nagpur) loosely coordinated from Pune.

State PCS 2025 Q12 — History PYQ with Answer

State PCS 2025 Q12 — History PYQ with Answer