Chhatrapatis of Kolhapur

The junior line

After the death of Shivaji's son Rajaram, a succession dispute between his widow Tarabai and the senior Satara line was settled in 1731 by partition: Satara held the senior title and the Peshwas ruled in its name, while Kolhapur became a separate state under the junior Bhonsle branch. Kolhapur entered British protection in 1812 and acceded to India in 1949.

Shahu IV

Shahu Maharaj, who ruled from 1894 to 1922, is the reason the state is remembered. In 1902 he reserved half of all appointments in Kolhapur's administration for candidates from communities other than the brahmins who then monopolised them — the earliest such measure in India, and the direct ancestor of the reservation policies of the Indian republic.

He also founded hostels for students of every caste and community, made primary education free and compulsory, opened public wells and temples to untouchable communities, banned untouchability in state institutions, and legalised inter-caste marriage and widow remarriage in his territory. He supported B. R. Ambedkar's early work, funding his newspaper Mooknayak.

The Mahar and Dalit movements of western India were substantially shaped by this patronage. That the most consequential anti-caste reforms of the period came from a princely state rather than from British India is a fact usually left out of the standard narratives of Indian reform.