Editing Openai/691ef1a1-976c-800d-bd1d-06358880de2a (section)

==== Put on “equal footing,” the data suggest the Mughal wars caused equal or greater casualties per unit time or area than Maratha campaigns.  For example, the Bargi raids (~1742–1751) cost ~0.4 million lives in ~10 yearsen.wikipedia.org<ref>{{cite web|title=en.wikipedia.org|url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maratha_invasions_of_Bengal#:~:text=There%20were%20a%20total%20of,report%20mass%20%20128%20and|publisher=en.wikipedia.org|access-date=2025-11-20}}</ref> (~40,000/year).  Aurangzeb’s Deccan war, by comparison, killed on the order of 1 million over 10 yearshistorymarg.com<ref>{{cite web|title=historymarg.com|url=https://www.historymarg.com/2023/10/military-strategy-of-mughals-under.html#:~:text=The%20conquest%20of%20the%20Deccan%2C,any%20and%20all%20of%20its|publisher=historymarg.com|access-date=2025-11-20}}</ref> (~100,000/year).  Thus even per-year, the Mughal campaign was deadlier.  Likewise, the Deccan war’s 4–5 million total deaths over 27 yearsen.wikipedia.org<ref>{{cite web|title=en.wikipedia.org|url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_wars_by_death_toll#:~:text=Deccan%20wars%20%20%204,56%20%5D%201554%E2%80%931721|publisher=en.wikipedia.org|access-date=2025-11-20}}</ref> exceed Bengal’s toll by an order of magnitude, despite the Deccan war covering a much larger area. ====

Adjusting for territory, the Mughal Empire’s larger size further amplifies this: Mughal armies operated across up to ~4.0 million km²commons.wikimedia.org<ref>{{cite web|title=commons.wikimedia.org|url=https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Mughal_Empire#:~:text=Area|publisher=commons.wikimedia.org|access-date=2025-11-20}}</ref>, whereas Maratha forces often raided smaller regions (e.g. West Bengal’s ~300,000 km²).  Even if we spread the total casualties over empire area, the Mughal campaigns still emerge as extremely lethal per square kilometer.  For instance, Bengal’s ~400k deaths over ~10 years in ~250–300k km² is roughly 1.6 persons killed per km² per year, whereas Aurangzeb’s 1M/year in ~4M km² is about 0.25 per km² per year (still vast given sustained conflict).  Qualitatively, the Mughal Empire’s wars inflicted mass famine, disease and battle deaths over decades, whereas Maratha raids, while horrific, were briefer.

In conclusion, there is no clear evidence that Maratha “atrocities” outpaced Mughal violence when adjusted for scale.  The Mughals’ longer rule and larger army meant they inflicted at least comparable or higher rates of death in their wars.  Both sides committed atrocities in context of war, but data (e.g. ~100k deaths/year under Aurangzeb vs. ~40k under Bargi raidshistorymarg.com<ref>{{cite web|title=historymarg.com|url=https://www.historymarg.com/2023/10/military-strategy-of-mughals-under.html#:~:text=The%20conquest%20of%20the%20Deccan%2C,any%20and%20all%20of%20its|publisher=historymarg.com|access-date=2025-11-20}}</ref>en.wikipedia.org<ref>{{cite web|title=en.wikipedia.org|url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maratha_invasions_of_Bengal#:~:text=There%20were%20a%20total%20of,report%20mass%20%20128%20and|publisher=en.wikipedia.org|access-date=2025-11-20}}</ref>) suggest Mughal campaigns killed more people per time and area.  Thus on equalized terms, Mughal-era campaigns appear at least as devastating as Maratha raids (if not more so), according to available historical estimateshistorymarg.com<ref>{{cite web|title=historymarg.com|url=https://www.historymarg.com/2023/10/military-strategy-of-mughals-under.html#:~:text=The%20conquest%20of%20the%20Deccan%2C,any%20and%20all%20of%20its|publisher=historymarg.com|access-date=2025-11-20}}</ref>en.wikipedia.org<ref>{{cite web|title=en.wikipedia.org|url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maratha_invasions_of_Bengal#:~:text=There%20were%20a%20total%20of,report%20mass%20%20128%20and|publisher=en.wikipedia.org|access-date=2025-11-20}}</ref>.

Sources: Contemporary chronicles and modern historians report these figures.  For example, Bengal records and Dalrymple report ~400,000 killed in the Maratha Bargi invasionsen.wikipedia.org<ref>{{cite web|title=en.wikipedia.org|url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maratha_invasions_of_Bengal#:~:text=There%20were%20a%20total%20of,report%20mass%20%20128%20and|publisher=en.wikipedia.org|access-date=2025-11-20}}</ref>en.wikipedia.org<ref>{{cite web|title=en.wikipedia.org|url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_wars_by_death_toll#:~:text=Maratha%20invasions%20of%20Bengal%20,458%20%20South%20America|publisher=en.wikipedia.org|access-date=2025-11-20}}</ref>; and Stanley Wolpert (as quoted in secondary sources) estimates ~100,000 deaths per year in Aurangzeb’s final Deccan warshistorymarg.com<ref>{{cite web|title=historymarg.com|url=https://www.historymarg.com/2023/10/military-strategy-of-mughals-under.html#:~:text=The%20conquest%20of%20the%20Deccan%2C,any%20and%20all%20of%20its|publisher=historymarg.com|access-date=2025-11-20}}</ref>.  Authoritative compendia of war-deaths likewise tabulate 4–5 million killed in the Mughal–Maratha Deccan conflictsen.wikipedia.org<ref>{{cite web|title=en.wikipedia.org|url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_wars_by_death_toll#:~:text=Deccan%20wars%20%20%204,56%20%5D%201554%E2%80%931721|publisher=en.wikipedia.org|access-date=2025-11-20}}</ref> versus 0.4 million in the Bengal raidsen.wikipedia.org<ref>{{cite web|title=en.wikipedia.org|url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_wars_by_death_toll#:~:text=Maratha%20invasions%20of%20Bengal%20,458%20%20South%20America|publisher=en.wikipedia.org|access-date=2025-11-20}}</ref>.  These allow the above per-decade and per-area comparisons.