Mahdoo Rao Build invested as Peishwa – Death of Tara Bye – Prospect of war with Nizam Ally – Rugonath Rao, as regent, negotiates with the English – Settlement of a dispute respecting the Seedee of Jinjeera – Party dissensions among the Mahrattas – Nizam Ally attacks their territory – destruction of the temples at Toka – Moghuls advance towards Poona – vigorous opposition – treaty concluded – Dispute between Rugonath Rao and Mahdoo Rao – the former retires to Aurungabad, and returns supported by the Moghuls – Submission of Mahdoo Rao – motives – The proceedings of Rugonath Rao occasion general discontent – Nizam Ally breaks the treaty, and assisted by Janojee, attempts the subversion of the Bramin government – Poona is plundered and partially burnt – Rugonath Rao makes an attempt on Hyderabad – returns to the Mahratta territory – Janojee is detached from the confederacy – Moghul army defeated with prodigious daughter – peace concluded at Aurungabad – Mahdoo Rao reproves Janojee for his treachery – Rise of Hyder Ally – his conquests – is opposed by Mahdoo Rao – Judicious and successful operations of the young Peishwa – defeats Hyder with severe loss – Negotiations – intrusted to Rugonath Rao – treaty – Offensive alliance between the Peishwa and Nizam against Janojee – Janojee is compelled to restore three fourths of the districts received as the price of his treachery State of the English in India at this period – Many of the principal events which led to their ascendancy, blended with the Mahratta history – Author’s views in the intended description of these events – The records of the governments of India afford the best historical materials in the world – observations
In the end of September, Mahdoo Rao, the second son of the late Peishwa, then in his seventeenth year, proceeded to Satara,
accompanied by his uncle, Rugonath Rao, and received investiture as Peishwa from the nominal Raja, who remained, precisely in the same state of imprisonment under the obdurate Tara Bye, as before described, until her demise, which happened in the month of December following, at the great age of eighty-six. To the last moment of her existence she maintained her inveteracy against Ballajee Rao and Sewdasheo Rao, declaring that she expired contented, having lived to hear of their misfortunes and death. The Raja’s condition was afterwards so far improved that he was brought down from the fort, and suffered to live a prisoner at large in the town of Satara. At a subsequent period he was permitted by Mahdoo Rao to appoint agents for the management of his Patell dues in several villages, and the collection of his other hereditary claims as Deshmookh of Indapoor.
Sulabut Jung and Nizam Ally were at Beder when news of Ballajee Rao’s death reached them. The latter, as nominal Dewan, had already usurped the entire powers of the government; and deeming the present opportunity favourable for recovering the lost districts from the Mahrattas, he began, under various pretences, to concentrate a large army in the neighbourhood of Aurungabad.
Rugonath Rao, naturally fond of power, contemplated, with no small satisfaction, the prospect of gratifying his favourite inclination, during the minority of his nephew. When the preparations of Nizam Ally gave reason to expect a rupture with the Moghuls, he became desirous of putting an end to some existing disputes between the
Presidency of Bombay and Ramajee Punt, the Soobehdar of the Concan, which had arisen in consequence of protection afforded by the English to their ally, the Seedee of Jinjeera, who had been besieged the preceding season by Ramajee Punt, assisted by a corps of Portuguese. The conduct of the Bombay government, on this occasion, was equally judicious and spirited. They saved a petty chief, by whom they had frequently been much accommodated, prevented his throwing his island into the hands of any other European power, and compelled the Mahrattas to respect the British flag, which was hoisted at Jinjeera, when Ramajee Punt, after every representation, persevered in his intention of reducing the place. Mr. Crommelin was president in council at this juncture, and an agent having arrived on the part of Rugonath Rao, for the purpose of accommodating all differences, an agreement was concluded by the Bombay government, and Govind Sew Ram on the part of the Peishwa156. A gentleman was also sent to condole with Mahdoo Rao on the occasion of his father’s death; a customary form which civility requires. The agreement itself was rather an assurance of civility and friendship than a definite treaty, but Rugonath Rao, being ill-prepared to
resist the expected invasion of the Moghuls, wished eventually to obtain from Bombay some European soldiers and guns, and prolonged the negotiation for that purpose, by sending another wukeel to Bombay, on pretence of making some alterations in the agreement, but in reality to negotiate for military aid.
The English East India Company, from the example of their great commercial rivals the Dutch, had early been desirous of obtaining territory. Partly from this circumstance, and the representations of their servants for the last twenty years, they had been exceedingly solicitous to obtain possession of the island of Salsette and the fort of Bassein, not only on account of the advantages expected from the revenue, but as advanced positions essentially necessary to the security of the island and harbour of Bombay. The overtures of Rugonath Rao, therefore, met with the readiest attention; but although he offered to cede territory yielding a revenue of one lack and a half of rupees at Jumboseer, and to make several other concessions, yet as the favourite island of Salsette was not of the number, the alliance was suspended.
As the danger from the threatened invasion increased the overtures were renewed, even Salsette was offered, and though not by an accredited agent, the President and Council were sanguine in their hope of accomplishing their object; especially, as by every succeeding day’s account, the Mahrattas, without aid from the English, were likely to be completely worsted.
No period indeed for the last forty years had
been more favourable for the restoration of the Moghul authority in the Deccan. The loss of the battle of Panniput was imputed by the Mahratta Sillidars solely to the misconduct of the Bramins; the Bramins of the Desh, or country above the Ghauts, acknowledged the fact, but declared that it was to be ascribed entirely to the mismanagement of their brethren of the Concan. The violent party feelings, which arise under every government, on occasions of reverses, were heightened in the loose confederacy of this nation, by the prejudices of ignorance and of cast; under such circumstances, where so very few could distinguish between misfortune and misrule, dissension was a natural consequence. Nizam Ally was not yet sufficiently apprized of those dissensions157 to reap advantage from them;- but even if he had possessed the requisite information, one of his first acts, the destruction of the Hindoo temples at Toka,, a village upon the Godavery, would have prevented his being joined by any party. It was nevertheless celebrated by the Mahomedan soldiery as a triumph, and Nizam Ally was pushing on towards
Poona, when Ramchundur Jadow158 and most of the Mahrattas in the Moghul service, disgusted by the insult offered to their religion, deserted to the Peishwa, and carried with them Meer Moghul the youngest son of Nizam Ool Moolk.
The Moghuls, although they continued to advance, were opposed with increasing spirit; and after they were within fourteen miles of Poona, Nizam Ally was induced to listen to overtures, and relaxed in an original demand for the restoration of the whole territory conquered by Ballajee Rao. An accommodation took place, by which cessions to the amount of twenty-seven lacks of rupees of annual revenue from Aurungabad and Beder, were relinquished by Rugonath Rao as the price of peace; and the negotiation for European assistance from Bombay, was abruptly terminated by extravagant and impertinent proposals from Ramajee Punt.
After the conclusion of the treaty the young Peishwa, attended by Trimbuck Rao Mama, maternal uncle of the late Sewdasheo Chimnajee Bhow, was sent into the southern territory for the collection of revenue159, and Nizam Ally returned towards Beder, where he
imprisoned Sulabut Jung in the month of July160, and about fifteen months afterwards, secured his usurpation, by the murder161 of a brother, whose natural imbecility, would have prevented his ever becoming a formidable rival, whilst unsupported by a foreign power.
Shortly after the return of Mahdoo Rao to Poona, disputes arose between him and his uncle, in consequence of Mahdoo Rao’s desire to be admitted to a share in the administration. Rugonath Rao, as well as Sukaram Bappoo, and several other ministers, were much offended at his presumption: conceiving that affairs could not be conducted without them, they threw up their situations, but Sukaram Bappoo, whose object was to keep well with both parties, resigned, as if a matter to which he was compelled, and always contrived, as far as he was himself concerned, to keep open the door of reconciliation. Mahdoo Rao, in the promptest manner, requested Trimbuck Rao Mama to act in the situation of Dewan, which he accordingly undertook, assisted by Gopaul Rao Govind Putwurdhun, Jagheerdar of Merich; and it is worthy of remark, as extremely creditable to the selection of so young a man, that Ballajee Jenardin Bhanoo, already mentioned, and afterwards well known as Nana Furnuwees, and Hurry Punt Phurkay, were
at this period employed as personal Carcoons by Mahdoo Rao.
Trimbuck Rao’s acceptance of the office of minister, excited great jealousy towards him in the mind of Sukaram Bappoo, and an irreconcileable aversion on the part of Rugonath Rao. This state of feeling, aggravated by the strongest animosity between Anundee Bye, the wife of Rugonath Rao, a woman of a very violent character, and Gopika Bye, the widow of the late and mother of the present Peishwa, inflamed the parties to open hostility. Rugonath Rao having quitted Nassuck, to which place he had retired, proceeded to Aurungabad, where he was received with the greatest attention by Moraud Khan, governor of that city, immediately assisted with Moghul troops, and in a very short time was joined by a large body of Mahrattas. With this force he proceeded towards Poona, and half way between Poona and Ahmednugur, attacked the army of his nephew, which, being very inferior, immediately gave way. Nizam Ally was advancing to the support of Rugonath Rao; Janojee Bhonslay, without avowing his intentions, was approaching from Berar, and every appearance indicated the probability of a great revolution in the Poona government; when Mahdoo Rao, with remarkable foresight and decision, immediately resolved on throwing himself into the power of his uncle, as the only means of preventing a complete division in the state. Whilst his associates were directed to seek their own safety, Mahdoo Rao presented himself before his uncle, urged his reasons
for making the concession with much propriety; and although, the latter placed him in confinement, he was obliged to yield him that respect which, at the height of his prosperity, Rugonath Rao himself could never command. As the price of the Moghul alliance, he had promised to restore the forts of Doulutabad, Sewneree, Asseergurh, and Ahmednugur, and territory, from the cessions made in January 1760, yielding a revenue of fifty-one lacks of rupees, or an equivalent to that amount. Nizam Ally finding that a reconciliation had taken place, affected great satisfaction; and having come to Pairgaom on the Beema, a friendly interchange of civilities took place, and orders were issued for the delivery of the districts stipulated; but these orders, for reasons hereafter explained, were suspended, and none of the promised forts, except Doulutabad, were ever relinquished162.
Rugonath Rao being now uncontrolled, appointed Sukaram Bappoo and Neelkunt Mandeo Poorundhuree, his principal ministers, bestowing on the former a Jagheer of nine lacks of rupees, and conferring on the latter the command of the important fort of Poorundhur, which, since first obtained by Ballajee Wishwanath, had been hitherto carefully retained in the Peishwa’s family. Rugonath Rao’s next proceeding was still more imprudent. On the demise of Jug Jewan Pritee Needhee, he had been succeeded by his nephew, Sreenewass Gungadhur; more commonly known by his original name, Bhowan Rao; but Rugonath Rao having displaced
him, raised his own infant son, Bhaskur Rao, to the dignity of Pritee Needhee, and appointed Naroo Shunkur, (Raja Buhadur,) the same officer, who, for a time, commanded in the citadel of Delhi, to the office of Mootaliq, which was, in effect, conferring the office of Pritee Needhee upon him. Ramchundur Jadow, who had, in the preceding year, deserted the Moghul standard, was restored to the rank of Senaputtee, formerly held by his great grandfather, the famous Dhunnajee; but, as he was disappointed in a promise made to him of receiving, as Senaputtee, the sovereignty of Guzerat, he took the first opportunity of making his peace with Nizam Ally. Kanhojee Mohitey was appointed Sur-Lushkur, and Wittul Sewdeo (Vinchoorkur)163 was also raised to high rank. The situation of Peishwa’s Furnuwees, which, since the time of Ballajee Wishwanath, had been continued in the family of Bhanoo, was taken from Moraba Baboo Rao, and conferred on Chintoo Wittul.
These changes occasioned much discontent, but when Rugonath Rao, in order to gratify his revenge towards Gopaul Rao Putwurdhun, attacked and took the fort of Merich, it caused disaffection in many persons, who were before disposed to support him in the government during the minority of his nephew;
and Gopaul Rao, with several others, who had suffered by his measures, readily listened to overtures, which were made to them by Wittul Soondur, the minister of Nizam Ally164. This minister was a Bramin, of the Yajurwedee tribe, who was raised to the office of Dewan, with the title of Raja Pertabwunt, at the period when Nizam Ally confined his brother. Jealous, it is said, of the arrangement concluded by Moraud Khan165, Wittul Soondur persuaded Nizam Ally that he had now an opportunity of completely reducing the Mahrattas; and that the most adviseable policy was to overturn the government of the Concan Bramins, to declare Janojee Bhonslay regent, of which situation, (the Raja of Satara being incompetent to the task of governing,) it should be pretended, that Janojee, by the death of Tara Bye, became the proper representative. To this scheme, Janojee readily acceded; but Nizam Ally, whose duplicity rendered him true to no plan, whilst his minister was thus negociating, secretly renewed a correspondence with the Raja of Kolapoor, by which he intended to have an eventual competitor in reserve, in case Janojee’s claims should prove inconvenient166. Every thing seemed to promise success; Meer Moghul having been neglected by Rugonath Rao, returned to his brother; Moraba Furnuwees, Sewdasheo
Ramchundur, the son of Ramchundur Shenwee, Bhowan Rao, the dispossessed Prittee Needhee, Gopaul Rao Putwurdhun, and many other persons joined the Moghuls. The former agreement, known as the treaty of Pairgaom, was broken off before the districts were restored, and hostilities recommenced. Rugonath Rao was not prepared for this event, but derived the greatest assistance from his nephew, who, on this emergency, although still retained in a state of confinement, afforded his uncle the full support of his influence and counsel. Mulhar Rao Holkar, and Dummajee Gaekwar, were both present with Rugonath Rao; the army was not sufficient to contend with the undivided force which accompanied Nizam Ally, but they were lightly equipped; and that circumstance, in Holkar’s opinion, made them superior to the enemy. They advanced as if to give battle, but avoided an action, passed the Moghul army, and proceeded to Aurungabad, which they attempted to escalade, but were repulsed: On the approach of Nizam Ally, they went off towards Berar, entered the districts of Janojee Bhonslay, and plundered in their usual manner. They levied a contribution of sixty thousand rupees from Mulkapoor, and, on being pursued, returned to Mungy-Pyetun; thence they turned off in a south easterly direction, and committed great havoc in the Moghul territory. Nizam Ally followed them for some time, but seeing it was impossible to overtake them, he marched straight on Poona, which he determined to plunder; and Rugonath Rao, for the purpose of retaliation, proceeded towards Hyderabad.
As soon as it was known at Poona, that the Moghul army was approaching, most of the people removed as much of their property as they could carry away, and fled to the hill forts, or into the Concan. The Peishwa’s family and the state papers were sent off towards Singurh, but Bappoo Kurundeea, one of Janojee Bhonslay’s officers, advanced so rapidly, that some of the property belonging to the fugitives was taken, the village below Singurh was set on fire by his troops, and many manuscripts and state papers, illustrative of Mahratta history, were totally destroyed.
Nizam Ally encamped at a short distance from the city, and allowed his army to plunder it; after which, all houses not ransomed, were torn down or burned. He next proceeded towards Poorundhur, and from thence ravaged the country as far east as the Beema; but the violence of the rains was such as to induce him to adopt the resolution of cantoning his army until the opening of the season. For this purpose he intended to have gone to Beder, but Janojee Bhonslay persuaded him to alter the destination to Aurungabad.
In the meantime Rugonath Rao had returned to watch his motions; the wall which surrounds the city of Hyderabad had prevented him from making any impression on the Moghul capital167, but he exacted a contribution of one lack and eighty thousand rupees from the suburbs168. He had opened a secret negotiation with the Mahratta
chief’s in the army of Nizam Ally, and found Janojee Bhonslay, the only one whose defection occasioned serious alarm, willing to listen to an accommodation. His ambitious hopes, formed on joining the Moghuls, had been damped from a suspicion of the duplicity of the Dewan, Raja Pertabwunt. Upon a promise, therefore, of receiving territory yielding a revenue of thirty-two lacks of rupees, being a portion of that which was promised to Nizam Ally as the price of his assistance to Rugonath Rao, he agreed to withdraw his support, and soon found a very critical opportunity.
As the Moghul army pursued their route towards Aurungabad, Rugonath Rao followed them some marches in the rear. On arriving at the Godavery, Nizam Ally, with a part of his force, crossed over; leaving the Dewan with the remainder, at Rakisbone, on the south bank of the river until the whole of the stores and baggage had been sent over. At this juncture, Janojee, on pretence of not receiving money to pay his troops, quitted the Dewan, and encamped at a distance. This movement was the signal to Rugonath Rao, who made a rapid march, attacked the Moghuls, and after a sanguinary conflict, finally routed them with immense slaughter. Raja Pertabwunt, the Dewan, was among the slain169.
The resistance was very determined on the part of the Moghuls, and continued for nearly two days. Rugonath Rao was amongst the foremost in every attack, and at one time, almost alone, was completely surrounded and cut off from his troops, but his own determined bravery, and that of his friend Sukaram Hurry, who fought by his side, enabled him to defend himself until rescued by his nephew. Throughout the battle170 the young Peishwa particularly distinguished himself; both by personal energy and the judicious support which he sent not only to his uncle, but to different points of the attack. The loss on both sides was very great, and on that of the Moghuls is said to have amounted to ten thousand men171.
Nizam Ally at first endeavoured to aid his Dewan by a cannonade from the opposite side of the river, but without effect. He thus became a spectator of the destruction of his troops, without the possibility of succouring them, and was afterwards obliged to retire within the walls of Aurungabad, lest the Mahrattas should be able to ford the river. This object they accomplished in a few days, and arrived at the city, which they again attacked without success, and a number of them were killed. Immediately afterwards, Nizam Ally visited Rugonath Rao, and with that apparent contrition which he could so well affect, laid all his errors to the fault of his late Dewan, and so worked on the
weakness and good nature of Rugoba, that he not only forgave all that had happened, but, in consideration of the aid with which he had been furnished in his distress, he wished to bestow upon Nizam Ally such part of the cession of fifty-one lacks made by the treaty at Pairgaom as remained at his disposal, after deducting the assignment of thirty-two lacks promised to Janojee. His ministers, however, dissuaded him from following his inclination to its full extent, and he was induced to confine the gift to ten lacks, so that nine lacks172 of the original cession was saved, and a new treaty was concluded with Nizam Ally in October.
At the time of delivering the deeds by which Janojee was paid for his treachery, Mahdoo Rao openly reproached him for his duplicity to both parties, and vehemently condemned the unprincipled and unworthy motives by which he had been drawn in to become a tool for the subversion of a government, which had aggrandized his father’s house, and raised the Hindoos to the power they enjoyed. This manly candour in a young man, educated in a Bramin court, is the more remarkable, when we consider the control under which Mahdoo Rao was still held, but over which his judgment and ability were gradually obtaining the ascendancy.
Bhowan Rao was restored to his rank of Pritee Needhee upon the death of Bhaskur Rao, which happened about the period when the treaty with Nizam Ally was concluded. The fort of Merich was restored to Gopaul Rao; and although Moraba Furnuwees was not immediately appointed to any share of the hereditary duties of his office, it was bestowed on his cousin, Ballajee Jenardin, whom I shall hereafter designate by his common appellation of Nana Furnuwees.
Whilst the Mahrattas had to maintain these struggles in the Deccan, a new power was rising on the ruins of the Hindoo dynasty of Mysore, under the celebrated adventurer Hyder Ally Khan, which to the southward promised, in a very short time, at least to confine the Mahrattas to their native boundary. Busalut Jung, still hopeful of forming an independent kingdom in the Carnatic, took advantage of the absence of the Mahrattas to plan the conquest of their southern districts, and with this view obtained the affiance of Hyder, whom he appointed Nabob of Sera, precisely in the same manner as the Raja Shao used to confer unconquered territories, the right to which, as Colonel Wilks has observed, “could only be inferred from the act of granting.” Busalut Jung, and his new ally, had reduced Ouscotta, Sera, and Bura-Balapoor by the end of 1761, and Busalut Jung, soon after, being apprehensive of an attack from his brother, Nizam Ally, returned to his capital at Adonee; but Hyder prosecuted his conquests. In 1762 he reduced, or exacted tribute from the Polygars
of Chota-Balapoor, Raidroog, Harpoonelly, and Chittledroog. In 1763 he conquered Bednore, and confined the Ranee and her adopted son in the fort of Mudgerry; Fuzzul Oollah Khan, one of his officers, overran Soonda, and early in the ensuing year Hyder defeated the Nabob of Savanoor. He left Fuzzul Oollah Khan in that quarter, to occupy as much as possible of the Mahratta country, whilst affairs of government required his own return to Bednore. Fuzzul Oollah Khan accordingly took Dharwar, and established Hyder’s posts nearly as far north as the Kistna173.
The Mahrattas were not unconcerned spectators of the rapid progress of Hyder Ally, and a large army was assembling at Poona to be directed against him. Mahdoo Rao insisted on his right to command this army, whilst his uncle remained at Poona to conduct the government; Sukaram Bappoo joined in supporting the Peishwa’s pretensions, on this occasion, till at last Rugonath Rao yielded his consent, but quitted Poona in anger, and retired to Anundwelee near Nassuck174. The discussions prior to this arrangement, delayed the advance of the Mahratta army beyond the time which mere preparation required, and Gopaul Rao Putwurdhun, who had crossed the Kistna in advance, was defeated with great loss by Fuzzul Oollah Khan. Early in the month of May, Mahdoo Rao entered the Carnatic with an army of thirty-thousand horse, and about the same
number of infantry. Fuzzul Oollah Khan, leaving a strong garrison in Dharwar, fell back on Hyder’s army, which had quitted an intrenched camp, prepared at Annawutty, and advanced to a strong position; where when joined by Fuzzul Oollah Khan, the whole army under Hyder’s personal command has been estimated at twenty thousand horse, and forty thousand foot, of which one half were disciplined infantry. Mahdoo Rao’s superiority in cavalry enabled him to obtain more correct intelligence than his adversary, and assisted by the experience of Sukaram Bappoo, it was determined, not to attack Hyder’s united force in the position he had chosen. Detachments were therefore employed in driving out his garrisons from the towns and villages north of the Wurdah. This plan of operations induced Hyder to try a stratagem for bringing on a general engagement, for which purpose he moved out with twenty thousand men, intending to retire and draw the Mahrattas towards his reserve, which remained in its first position under Fuzzul Oollah Khan. Such a shallow artifice, proves how little he then knew of his enemy. The Mahrattas, as is their usual practice, showed a few men, small bodies began to skirmish and drew Hyder forward, until their parties, still retiring, but gradually thickening, at last presented solid masses of horse, moving round between him and his camp. Hyder was obliged to change his intended feint of retiring, into steady dispositions for a retreat to his camp, which was not effected without considerable loss. Next day his army fell
back to the entrenched position at Annawutty175; and Mahdoo Rao, as the rains had set in, fixed his head quarters at Nurrindra176, north of the Wurdah, sending his horse for shelter into all the villages twenty miles round. After the defeat of Hyder, Abdool Muzeed Khan, and Moorar Rao Ghorepuray, joined the Peishwa, who, as Ramchundur Jadow had rejoined Nizam Ally, formally restored Moorar Rao to his rank of Senaputtee, as the representative of the family of Ghorepuray, a circumstance the more creditable to the Peishwa, as he declared it but an act of justice to the descendant of the gallant Suntajee, so ill-requited in the reign of Raja Ram.
As soon as the season permitted, Mahdoo Rao laid siege to Dharwar, which capitulated after a breach had been made. The whole country north of the Wurdah was then in his possession, except Moondogoor, which continued rain prevented his investing; but when the weather cleared up it was speedily reduced. Perceiving that the war would terminate successfully, he requested Rugonath Rao to join and assume the command, – a remarkable instance of self-command in a general so young, and obviously proceeding from motives purely conciliatory, though at the same time more creditable to the heart of the individual than the judgment of the prince. Rugonath Rao accordingly
left Nassuck, and arrived as the artily was about to cross the Wurdah177.
Mahdoo Rao’s intention was to cut away the thick woods which surrounded Annawutty, and get between Hyder and Bednore, which the Mahrattas had no sooner begun to carry into execution than Hyder decamped with precipitation. The country was so close that, for the two first days, the Mahrattas could only harass the rear of Hyder’s army; but on the third day, the country becoming more open, a body of the Peishwa’s troops were moved between Hyder and Bednore, which compelled him to stand an action178. His troops were attacked with impetuosity, and many of them immediately sought shelter in the woods. Hyder reached Bednore with only two thousand five hundred horse, and ten thousand infantry, the rest of his army being for the time dispersed, and several thousands of them destroyed. As the Mahrattas advanced, all the garrisons surrendered on the first summons, except Anuntpoor, which held out for some time, until Hyder had got together some of his dispersed army, when he entered upon a negotiation with Rugonath Rao, to whom both the conduct and conclusion of the treaty were wholly intrusted179. Hyder engaged to restore all districts and places wrested from Morar Rao Ghorepuray, to relinquish all claims on the Nabob of Savanoor, and to pay thirty-two lacks of rupees to the Peishwa180.
The terms were by no means approved of by Mahdoo Rao; but having once granted full authority to his uncle, he adhered to the agreement, and made no objection where an attempt to remedy what was defective would have been a departure from good faith181. He quitted the Carnatic, and recrossed the Kistna in the end of February.
Mahdoo Rao, whilst anxious to conciliate his uncle, and willing to relinquish as large a share of power, as was consistent with the dignity of his situation, and his duty to the state, had to contend with the intrigues of party, and to resist the counsel of his mother, Gopika Bye, who, naturally jealous, and inflamed by the violent behaviour of Anundee Bye, the wife of Rugonath Rao, advised her son, as a measure of self-preservation, to place his uncle under restraint. Mahdoo Rao, however, long entertained hopes of being able to avoid such an extreme measure. Rugonath Rao, though frequently perverse, was not untractable, except when exposed to the influence of his wife; he probably would have acceded to his nephew’s views, but for the malicious and desperate woman, by whom his ambition and resentment were alternately excited. The Peishwa was sensible that Rugonath Rao could, at this period, obtain the aid either of Nizam Ally or of Janojee Bhonslay, and as affairs then existed, perhaps of both. For although Nizam Ally boiled with resentment against Janojee, on
account of his treacherous defection, there was, as yet, no breach between them which could not have been speedily accommodated, for purposes of mutual aggrandizement Nizam Ally, during this year, had made a successful campaign south of the Kistna, and had reduced his brother, Busalut Jung, to submission and obedience. The conquests of Hyder Ally and the Nabob of the Carnatic, or rather his supporters, the English, prevented him from extending his sway over those countries to the southward of the Kistna, conquered by Aurungzebe, and forming a part of that viceroyalty which his father had seized, and to which he had succeeded by usurpation and murder.
Under these circumstances, with regard to Nizam Ally and Janojee, Mahdoo Rao deemed it his safest policy to conciliate the one at the expence of the other. He soon found that Nizam Ally would readily enter on an offensive affiance against Janojee, with the ultimate hope of engaging the Mahrattas, in co-operation against Hyder.
A secret compact was accordingly entered into, about the beginning of the ensuing year, the particulars of which, if ever committed to writing, have not been discovered, but the objects of it become tolerably obvious from a variety of facts. The united armies of the Peishwa and Nizam Ally invaded Berar, compelled Janojee Bhonslay to sue for peace, and to restore three-fourths of the districts182 he had gained by his
double treachery during the former war; a politic moderation on the part of Mahdoo Rao, who still left Janojee something to lose, but made it apparent, from what follows, that the Moghuls rather than the Mahrattas were gainers by the invasion. Of the districts which were thus restored on the 4th February, nearly two-thirds, or a tract of territory equivalent to fifteen lacks of rupees of annual revenue, was given up to the Nizam on the 16th of the same month, and stated in the accounts of the Poona government, as ceded “for the firm establishment of peace and friendship.” It is more than probable the agreement pointed to conjoint operations for the ensuing season in the Carnatic; but circumstances occurred in the meantime, which materially changed the relative situations of the contracting powers.
The English East India Company, after they had overcome their rivals the French, and found time to contemplate the situation into which they had been hurried, by national hostility, the treachery of the native powers, the ambition of their servants, and the bravery of their troops, were astonished and alarmed at the height to which they had ascended, and would have relinquished a part of their acquisitions, in order to purchase security for the remainder. But those who fully understood their situation, were convinced that they had already gone too far to recede, and that they must be prepared not only to resist, but to punish aggression.
All the states in India were inimical to Europeans of every nation, and even when bound down by
treaties, they were, at best, but faithless friends, who would never maintain an alliance, unless when controlled, either immediately or remotely, by their interests or their fears. Their jealousy, no less than their prejudice, would have prompted them to extirpate the foreigners, and the English had, therefore, only the choice of offensive or defensive war. To have adopted the latter would have lost them the advantage of all favourable conjuncture, and must have obliged them to oppose the united armies of the natives, instead of having to contend with their divided force. They might, indeed, have avoided the contest, by resigning the trade, privileges, and dominion they had acquired; but those mistaken philanthropists, who imagine that the happiness of India would have been secured by such a sacrifice, require no other answer than is afforded by the series of mismanagement and devastation, which it has already been my duty to record.
It is not my province to trace the rise of the British power in India, but many of the principal events which led to our ascendancy in that quarter, are blended with the Mahratta history; and these, as hitherto, I shall endeavour to describe, without favour to my own nation, and without the equally unjust bias which is apt to arise from a desire to guard against so natural a partiality.
The records of the Company’s governments in India are, probably, the best historical materials in the world: there we find the reasons for every undertaking; the steady rules intended for conduct; the hurried letter from the scene of action;
the deliberations of the council, the separate opinions of the members composing it, and their final judgment. The scrutiny, censure, or approval of the Court of Directors from a remote situation, and after a long interval, bring to recollection all that was done and all that was speculated; what has occurred in India in the meantime, and what opinions have stood the test of events. Many inconsistencies appear, both in the orders of the Directors at home, and in the measures of their governments abroad, which frequently arose from causes irremediable or excuseable, such as the distance of the supreme power, and the defective information at the different presidencies. The divided nature of the authority in India was also, for a long time, a source of great evil; and even after the act of Parliament had passed, which vested a control in the president and council of Bengal, the defects, as might have been expected, were not immediately remedied; for it generally requires time, and a judicious exercise of power, to fit any new law to the end for which it is framed.
Much corruption and many reprehensible acts arc to be found, especially before the affairs of India had attracted the full attention of the British legislature and nation; but not only is every act and every deliberation, which other governments have generally the power to conceal, recorded in detail at the different presidencies, but the personal animosity of individuals, composing the governments, has given the most glaring interpretation to mere errors, and has sometimes occasioned
gross misrepresentation of facts. On the other hand, many services, performed without any great degree of exertion or ability, have, in consequence of their results, been extravagantly praised, and given a tone to Indian despatches which prejudices sober judgment, and obscures the honour of toils and of virtues, to which, in every department, both civil and military, our countrymen in India have founded claims as just, as the instruments of any government, ancient or modern.
156. It consisted of seven or eight articles regarding detention or stoppage of vessels, wrecks, deserters, and the restoration of all territory taken from the Seedee by Ramajee Punt. The Seedee afterwards took an improper advantage of the protection afforded, by committing several acts of violence in the Mahratta territory, of which the English were obliged to mark their disapprobation in the strongest manner.
157. The Bombay government appear to have been at least as well informed as Nizam Ally, and it is much to be regretted they do not oftener mention the Mahrattas. “We well know,” say they, in their secret consultation of 14th December 1761, “that Nizam Ally is now near Poona, that the Bramins cannot raise a force sufficient to oppose them, from the backwardness of their own officers (who look upon the situation of Nanna’s family as desperate), and the low state of their finances; Tarra Boy (the Sow Rajah’s widow) and all the Morattas at the bottom, are against them, and would show it at a proper occasion.”
158. Descendant of Dhunnajee Jadow. Jadow, of Sind Kheir, has, I believe, maintained his allegiance to the Moghuls since the murder of his ancestor Lookhjee Jadow Rao, by the son of Mullik Umber.
159. Mahratta MSS. and Poona Records. Colonel Wilks does not mention this expedition into the Carnatic, and I therefore conclude Mahdoo Rao did not go far beyond the Kistna, if he crossed that river at all.
160. 14th Zeehije A.H. 1175. according to the Mahomedan accounts, which I have adopted, because Sulabut Jung was with the army near Poona. By the English authorities he is said to have been confined on the 18th July 1761.
161. 8th Rubbee-ul-uwul A.H. 1177.
162. Khuzaneh Amirah. Hudeequ-i-Alum. Mahratta MSS.
163. He was appointed Punt Raj Adnya, an office created during Shao’s government, about the period of the revenue arrangement. It was intended as an office of control and inspection under the Raja, but it soon dwindled into a mere sinecure; as the latter, and with considerable emoluments, it still exists.
164. Mahratta MSS.
165. Hudeequ-i-Alum.
166. Mahratta MSS. Oral information, Hudeequ-i-Alum, and original letters from Nizam Ally, procured from the Raja of Kolapoor. The letters are addressed to Jeejee Bye, the widow of Sumbhajee, who acted as Regent during the minority of her adopted son, named Sivajee.
167. Hudeequ-i-Alum, and Mahratta MSS.
168. Mahratta MSS.
169. He was accidentally hit by one of his own men, before be received his death. wound from a party of Mahrattas under Dummajee Gaekwar. Moraud Khan, his rival, is accused of having hired the man who wounded him, but this accusation seems more than questionable. A party of Afghans, in Holkar’s service, with their usual ferocity, cut off the Dewan’s head, which they carried in triumph on the point of a spear.
170. It is called the battle of Taindulza by the Mahrattas.
171. This is the lowest computation in any Mahratta manuscript. The Moghul historians have not enumerated the loss sustained by Nizam Ally’s army.
172. Mahratta MSS. Original accounts from the Poona Records, and oral information. The Mahratta manuscripts state the nine lacks of rupees withheld, as territory taken, and it is only by comparison with both Mahomedan and Mahratta evidence, collated with very intricate and voluminous accounts in the Poona Records, that I have been able to find out and simplify these complicated transactions.
173. Wilks.
174. Mahratta MSS.
175. Wilks and Mahratta MSS.
176. Mahratta MSS. This place (Nurrindra) is not to be found by that name in any map that I have seen.
177. Mahratta MSS.
178. Wilks.
179. Mahratta MSS.
180. Wilks. The only Mahratta MSS. where I find any mention of the terms, states, fifteen lacks of tribute, and the expenses of the war to be defrayed by Hyder.
181. Mahratta MSS.
182. The amount restored was rups. 2,450,269 10a 1p. (Poona Records.)
This collection transcribed by Chris Gage