The hosts came into the fourth one-day international at Edgbaston trailing 2-0 after heavy defeats in Cardiff and Nottingham, knowing only a win would keep their chances of squaring the series alive.
As it turned out, they were outclassed once again by MS Dhoni's men with Rahane making his maiden ODI ton in a sparkling 106 as India made short work of chasing down England's meagre 206 all out.
Rahane, alongside opening partner Shikhar Dhawan (97 not out), put on 183 for the first wicket in good time before India cruised to glory with 19.3 overs to spare.
Under sunny skies in Birmingham, Dhoni won the toss and, with England's failings against spin well publicised, opted to field.
England got off to a torrid start, with captain Alastair Cook, Alex Hales and Gary Ballance - called up after Ian Bell fractured a toe in the warm-up - all departing without reaching double figures as the hosts slumped to 23-3.
Joe Root and Eoin Morgan set about rebuilding the innings, until Morgan departed for 32, caught at leg gully off the bowling of Ravindra Jadeja, who finished with 2-40 from his 10 overs.
Root was next to fall for 44, this time to the spin of Suresh Raina (1-36), attempting an ill-judged reverse sweep.
Moeen Ali, recalled in place of James Tredwell, was the only England man to take on the India attack, making a brisk 67 from 51 deliveries before being bowled by Ravichandran Ashwin (1-48) trying to force the pace late on.
After India wrapped up the tail, Rahane and Dhawan set about the England bowling with purpose, finding the boundary at regular intervals.
England had no answer as Rahane reached his first ODI century with a well-run two to fine leg, before slapping a full toss from Harry Gurney (1-51) to Cook at cover to bring a sublime innings to an end.
Dhawan underlined India's dominance by hitting 10 runs off the final two deliveries to win it in style - the final ball clearing the ropes for six - leaving England in desperate need of a strong showing in the final meeting at Headingley on Friday.