Balaji Vishwanath Early life . Balaji Vishwanath Bhat was born into a Marathi family . The community hailed from the coastal Shrivardhan , Konkan region of present - day Maharashtra . He was named " Balaji , " which is a form of the given name Ballal . His family was of modest means , and Balaji began his career as an accountant for the Maratha general , Dhanaji Jadhav , at Janjira . According to Kincaid & Parasnis , Balaji Vishwanath entered the Maratha administration during the reign of Chhatrapati Sambhaji or the regency of his brother , Rajaram . Between 1699 and 1702 , he served as the " Sar - subhedar " or head - administrator at Pune and from 1704 to 1707 as Sarsubedar of Daulatabad . By the ti , ruler of the Marathas , took note of his abilities and appointed Balaji as his assistant ( " c . " 1708 ) . Early Life Maratha Civil War Ascent to Peshwa . Next Shahu turned to subdue the Angres . Tukoji Angre had commanded Chattrapati Shivaji ' s navies and was succeeded in 1690 by his son Kanhoji Angre . Kanhoji received from Tarabai the title of " Sarkhel " or Admiral of the Maratha fleet . Kanhoi seized the opportunity of war between Tarabai and Shahu to effectively free himself of the suzerainty of either . Instead he captured the major trading center of Kalyan and the neighboring forts of Rajmachi and Lohgad . Shahu sent a large force under his " " Peshwa " " or Chief Minister , Bahiroji Pingale . Kanhoji defeated Pingle and imprisoned him at Lohgad , and started to advance towards Shahu ' s capital Satara . Shahu commanded Balaji again to raise another army to subdue Kanhoji . Balaji preferred the path of negotiation and was appointed as Shahu ' s plenipotentiary to negotiate with the admiral . Balaji convinced Shahu to alter Shivaji ' s old constitution of the Maratha state , whereby the nobles were salaried employees of the ruler . Henceforth , nobles would be feudatories with grants of land over which they ruled as vassal princes . In doing so , Balaji planted the seeds of the both the rise and the decline of the Maratha empire / confederacy . ( Granting the nobles vast territories enabled the rapid expansion of the empire from 1713 to 1760 and then onwards . Balaji and Kanhoji met at Lonavala . The newly appointed Peshwa appealed to the old sailor ' s patriotism for the Maratha cause . Angre agreed to become the " Sarkhel " ( admiral ) of Shahu ' s navy with control of the Konkan . Balaji and Angre then jointly attacked the Muslim Siddis of Janjira . Their combined forces captured most of the Konkan coast , including Balaji ' s birthplace of Shrivardhan , which became part of the Angre fiefdom . Delighted with Balaji ' s success , Shahu dismissed Bahiroji Pingale and appointed Balaji Vishwanath as Peshwa on 16 November 1713 . In 1716 , Chhatrapati Shah ' s army chief Damaji Thorat arrested Balaji . The reason for this two - year imprisonment is unknown . Northward Expansion of the Maratha Power . There existed a power vacuum in the Mughal empire , caused by the death of Aurangzeb in 1707 , and that of his successor Bahadur Shah , leading to continual internecine conflict within the imperial family and the leading Mughal grandees . Farrukhsiyar came to the throne in 1713 with the help of the two powerful nobles , Sayyid Hussain Ali Khan and Sayyid Abdullah Khan . Claiming descent from the Prophet Muhammad , the Sayyid Brothers had turned king - makers in the Mughal court . Soon after , differences soon arose between them and the Emperor Farruksiyar . And while the Mughals were intriguing in the civil war between the factions of Shahu and Tarabai , the Marathas themselves became a major factor in the quarrels between the Emperor and the Sayyids . To rid himself of the tutelage of the Sayyids , in 1718 Farrukhsiyar dispatched Sayyid Hussain Ali Khan as Viceroy of the Deccan with orders to restore Mughal authority over the south . Behind the Sayyid ' s back , Farrukhsiyar urged various Maratha chieftain ' s to attack his own viceroy . Hussain Ali Khan found himself harried by the Marathas who resorted to their traditional guerilla tactics . Unable to defeat the Marathas in a pitched battle and weary of chasing after constantly marauding Maratha horsemen , Hussain Ali Khan sought to make peace with the Marathas . In July 1718 Balaji negotiated a Maratha - Mughal treaty with Hussain Ali Khan , demanding the Maratha right of " " chauth " " ( literally : 1 / 4th of revenues ) and " " sardeshmukhi " " ( an additional 10 % of revenues ) of the old Mughal provinces of the Deccan . To this Balaji Vishwanath added the demand of chauth and sardeshmukhi over the rich provinces of Gujarat and Khandesh , and the restoration of Chattrapati Shivaji ' s conquests in Karnatak , in return for which Balaji promised that Shahu would acknowledge the nominal overlordship of the Mughal Emperor , and the Marathas would provide a force of 15 , 000 armed horsemen to the Mughal Empire . To these egregious demands Sayyid Hussain Ali Khan readily agreed , with a view to use the Maratha soldiers to their advantage in their struggle with the Emperor . Farrukhsiyar refused to ratify this treaty and sought to depose and murder the Sayyids . The plot was betrayed to Sayyid Abdulla Khan who was in Delhi , who succeeded in neutralizing other powerful Mughal nobles like Chin Qilich Khan ( later Nizam - ul - Mulk and Sarbuland Khan ( governor of Patna ) with promises of rich governorships of Malwa and Kabul respectively . In September 1718 , accompanied by Balaji Vishwanath and supported by ( now ) sixteen thousand Maratha horsemen commanded by the gallant Parsoji Bhosale Hussain Ali Khan arrived in Delhi . Most of Farrukhsiyar ' s supporters fled but the Emperor ' s partisans resisted but were overcome at the cost of two thousand Maratha soldiers . Farrukhsiyar was dethroned , blinded and imprisoned by the Sayyid ' s , who substituted in his place a more pliable puppet , Rafi - ul - darjat in February 1719 . ( This hapless prince was dying of tuberculosis and was in turn replaced after a reign of only three months by his older brother Rafi Ud - Daulah . ) Rafi - ul - Darjat duly ratified the Maratha treaty . Shahu and his successors were recognized by the Mughal Emperors as the rightfully heirs to Chattrapati Shivaji . End of Balaji Vishwanath . Balaji returned in triumph from Delhi to Satara , having also secured the release after decades of Mughal captivity , the mother ( Yesubai ) , wife ( Savitribai ) and half - brother ( Madan Singh ) of Shahu . Weary from his labors and the tiresome journey back from the imperial capital , Balaji Vishwanath ' s health began to fail . In October 1719 he obtained leave from Shahu to retire to the village of Saswad near Pune that had been granted by Shahu to the Peshwa . On 11 March 1719 he celebrated the marriage of his son Visaji , the future Peshwa Baji Rao I with Kashibai . Balaji Vishwanath died on 12 April 1720 . He was succeeded by his elder son , the celebrated Baji Rao I , who was appointed " Peshwa " by Chattrapati Shahu . Administrative Achievements . Balaji Vishwanath also laid the foundation for the complex administrative system of the Marathas that held sway for a century after his death . The Maratha tax collection system from a wide swathe of nominally Mughal provinces was based on a wide spread network of agents and collectors . " To it as much as to their victories in the field the Marathas owed the spread of their empire " ( ) . The mechanism of revenue collected was supported by credit facilities from established banking families . Personal life . Balaji married Radhabai Barve ( 1700 – 1752 ) and had two sons , Baji Rao I and Chimaji Appa . He also had two daughters . The older , Bhiubai married Abaji Joshi of Baramati , brother of the banker Balaji Naik famed as Bajirao I ' s " most tormenting creditor " . The younger , Anubai married Venkatrao Ghorpade of Ichalkaranji . Their heirs ruled the state of Ichalkaranji till 1947 . Memorials . A statue of Balaji Vishwanath stands at his ancestral village of Shrivardhan near Raigad in coastal Maharashtra .