Marathas were a ferocious and militant Hindu community living in the Deccan, south India. They were especially organised under their dynamic leader Shivaji who laid the foundation of a Maratha Empire in the 1670s. Aurangzeb fought against them for about 25 years but failed to crush them. They defeated a huge Mughal army outside Delhi in 1737, and later occupied it in 1760. They were defeated by the Afghan army of Ahmed Shah Abdali in 1761, in the third battle of Panipat.