Board Thread:Questions and Answers/@comment-4923787-20130807230514/@comment-32656-20130822113448

No.

Too many opposed to them, too unstable a government. Their state was essentially a alliance/confederation of the Maratha clans, under what amounted to a warlord. There's just no way such a "state" lasts.

Impossible for someone to unite it without dominating it.

If the Brits don't take over, then it doesn't unite. Result would be something akin to the Raj, just with the various princes actually being independent.

The last question, no.