Peshwa

Originally, title given to the brahmin
ministers who served as advisers to the
kings in the Maratha empire.
Traditionally, these ministers were
Chitpavan brahmins, which gave this
small group influence far disproportionate to its numbers. During the resurgence of the Maratha confederacy in the
early eighteenth century, the Peshwas
became de facto rulers, although they
continued to govern in the name of the
Maratha kings. At this time, the position
of Peshwa became hereditary. After the
Maratha confederation split into different royal states around 1770, the
Peshwas retained control over the
ancestral Maratha homeland in the
western part of the state of
Maharashtra, where they reigned until
it was conquered by the British in 1818.