The Mughal viceroy of the Deccan, Nizam-ul-Mulk Asaf Jah I, had created a "de facto" autonomous kingdom in the region. He challenged Shahu's right to collect taxes on the pretext that he did not know whether Shahu or his cousin, Sambhaji II of Kolhapur, was the rightful heir to the Maratha throne. The Marathas needed to assert their rights over the nobles of newly acquired territories in Malwa and Gujarat. Several nominally-Maratha areas were not actually under the Peshwa's control; for example, the Siddis controlled the Janjira fort.