The Peshwas and the chiefs were men of learning and were ever eager to collect rare manuscripts of religious scriptures such as the Puranas and the Upanishads.
They also gave handsome grants to scholars engaged in sastric and Vedic studies. However, it seems, there was no appreciable advancement in Sanskrit studies.
But, most of the Brahmans, traders and upper class Marathas acquired knowledge of three R’s i.e. reading, writing and arithmetic which helped them to perform their daily duties. But these higher classes had hardly any knowledge about the countries and people outside India.
To quote Rajwade, “there was none at Pesva’s court who showed awareness of the existence of European sciences, none knew of schools, colleges, conferences, museums, associations in which study of critical sciences was encouraged”.