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

==== In sum, both empires committed serious atrocities in war, but the scope and nature differed. The Mughal Empire – especially under Aurangzeb – engaged in large-scale, ideologically driven campaigns: mass slaughters of rebel towns (e.g. ~30,000 at Chittoren.wikipedia.org<ref>{{cite web|title=en.wikipedia.org|url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Chittorgarh_(1567%E2%80%931568|publisher=en.wikipedia.org|access-date=2025-11-20}}</ref>#:~:text=After%20capturing%20the%20fort%20on,23)) and temple destructions proclaimed as holy waren.wikipedia.org<ref>{{cite web|title=en.wikipedia.org|url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Chittorgarh_(1567%E2%80%931568|publisher=en.wikipedia.org|access-date=2025-11-20}}</ref>#:~:text=,and%20have%20destroyed%20temples%20in).  In contrast, the Marathas’ campaigns, while often bloody (hundreds of thousands killed in Bengalacademia.edu<ref>{{cite web|title=academia.edu|url=https://www.academia.edu/101844893/HISTORICAL_OVERVIEW_OF_BENGAL_AND_SOCIAL_EXCLUSION?uc-sb-sw=12311588#:~:text=would%20put%20the%20man%20to,in%20the%20Bargi%20raids%2C%20including|publisher=academia.edu|access-date=2025-11-20}}</ref>), were primarily aimed at extracting tribute and weakening enemies; they lacked an overarching policy of religious conversion or systemic ethnic cleansing.  Both regimes levied heavy taxes, but Mughals did so through state bureaucracy (with jizya on Hindus under Aurangzeb), whereas Marathas relied on irregular tribute (chauth) often enforced by violenceacademia.edu<ref>{{cite web|title=academia.edu|url=https://www.academia.edu/101844893/HISTORICAL_OVERVIEW_OF_BENGAL_AND_SOCIAL_EXCLUSION?uc-sb-sw=12311588#:~:text=Maratha%20invasions%20forced%20the%20Nawab,16%20The%20Bargi|publisher=academia.edu|access-date=2025-11-20}}</ref>en.wikipedia.org<ref>{{cite web|title=en.wikipedia.org|url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maratha_Empire#:~:text=the%20Marathas%20perpetrated%20atrocities%20against,70|publisher=en.wikipedia.org|access-date=2025-11-20}}</ref>. ====

Conclusion: The evidence suggests Mughal-era atrocities (notably under Aurangzeb) were on a larger and more ideologically punitive scale than those of the Marathas.  Maratha forces certainly committed brutal massacres and temple raids in wartime (notably in Bengal and the Deccan), but these acted as war exactions rather than a state creed.  Scholarly sources and contemporaneous chronicles confirm that while both empires were ruthless to civilian populations in battle, Maratha violence did not match the systematic religious persecutions and empire-wide massacres recorded under the Mughalsen.wikipedia.org<ref>{{cite web|title=en.wikipedia.org|url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Chittorgarh_(1567%E2%80%931568|publisher=en.wikipedia.org|access-date=2025-11-20}}</ref>#:~:text=After%20capturing%20the%20fort%20on,23)academia.edu<ref>{{cite web|title=academia.edu|url=https://www.academia.edu/101844893/HISTORICAL_OVERVIEW_OF_BENGAL_AND_SOCIAL_EXCLUSION?uc-sb-sw=12311588#:~:text=would%20put%20the%20man%20to,in%20the%20Bargi%20raids%2C%20including|publisher=academia.edu|access-date=2025-11-20}}</ref>.

Sources: Historical studies and primary accounts of Mughal and Maratha campaignsen.wikipedia.org<ref>{{cite web|title=en.wikipedia.org|url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Chittorgarh_(1567%E2%80%931568|publisher=en.wikipedia.org|access-date=2025-11-20}}</ref>#:~:text=After%20capturing%20the%20fort%20on,23)sikhmissionarysociety.org<ref>{{cite web|title=sikhmissionarysociety.org|url=https://www.sikhmissionarysociety.org/sms/smsarticles/advisorypanel/inderjeet-singh/understanding-the-martyrdom-of-guru-tegh-bahadar-using-17th-and-18th-century-sources/#:~:text=Guru%2C%20to%20display%20some%20miracle,15|publisher=sikhmissionarysociety.org|access-date=2025-11-20}}</ref>academia.edu<ref>{{cite web|title=academia.edu|url=https://www.academia.edu/101844893/HISTORICAL_OVERVIEW_OF_BENGAL_AND_SOCIAL_EXCLUSION?uc-sb-sw=12311588#:~:text=would%20put%20the%20man%20to,in%20the%20Bargi%20raids%2C%20including|publisher=academia.edu|access-date=2025-11-20}}</ref>en.wikipedia.org<ref>{{cite web|title=en.wikipedia.org|url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maratha_Empire#:~:text=the%20Marathas%20perpetrated%20atrocities%20against,70|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/Third_Anglo-Mysore_War#:~:text=after%20they%20had%20committed%20treason%2C,funds%20to%20help%20restore%20the|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_massacres_in_India#:~:text=2.%20,course%20of%20which%20about%2030%2C000|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_massacres_in_India#:~:text=3.%20,Cambridge%20Economic%20History%20Of%20India|publisher=en.wikipedia.org|access-date=2025-11-20}}</ref>. These include academic histories of Rajasthan/Bengal, Mughal-era chronicles, and modern analyses of regional conflicts. Each claim above is supported by cited scholarship or contemporary reports.