Balaji Vishwanath
Shrivardhan is one of the oldest towns in Maharashtra. It is a town of Peshwas. The Bhat Deshmukhs of Shrivardhan - later popularly known as Peshwas - witnessed the rise and the fall of Marathas after the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj period. Though the capital of Peshwas was Pune, the actual institution of Peshwa (prime-ministership under a symbolic king) was born in Shrivardhan in 1713. Balaji Vishwanath (the first Peshwa) took control of the position and gained "de facto" rule in the Maratha empire under the now-symbolic rule of the Chatrapati king. The Peshwas administered the Maratha kingdom for more than 100 years, a period which ended in 1818 following the defeat of the last Peshwa in the Third Anglo-Maratha War. The third Peshwa, Balaji Bajirao, built a huge house here in 1750, which has recently been renovated. The statue of Balaji Vishwanath was also installed here in 1988.