Selections from the Peshwa Daftar 29.intro.2

29.intro.2

AFFAIRS OF NORTHERN INDIA : PESHWA MADHAVRAO I (1761-1772)

This selection deals mainly with the efforts made by Madhavrao I to retrieve the situation created by the catastrophe at Panipat. The first few letters give an illuminating picture of the actual state of the country when the Marathas, after their crushing defeat at the hands of the Abdali, had evacuated Hindustan and retired to safer positions beyond the Chambal. One remarkable fact which stands out prominently in these papers is, that the victory of 14th January 1761 availed the Abdali king comparatively little. For three years he negotiated for the friendship of the Marathas from beyond the Indus and ultimately ratified a formal peace with them in 1764. The Maratha chiefs in Bundelkhand lost no time in regaining their original position and once more pushed their conquests beyond the Jumna as soon as the Afghan army had evacuated the Punjab. The Peshwa's conflict with his uncle, and the various phases through which it subsequently passed, seriously hampered Maratha interests in the North, whence repeated but fruitless requests for military help and financial support appear to be pouring into the Deccan almost from day to day.

The correspondence here printed is so eloquent that it hardly needs any introduction. Its fascination is enhanced by the variety both of style and detail, coming as it does from the pens of more than a dozen different writers with some of whom the reader is not already familiar. The Jats, the Rajputs, the Rohillas, and ultimately the Imperial Court of Delhi, contribute their share to these papers, which make essential additions of incident and detail to the scanty knowledge we have so far possessed of the subject. The rise of Mahadaji Sindia, his flight from the wrath of Raghoba, the contemporary movements of the English, always on the look-out for an opportunity to checkmate Maratha efforts for supremacy and conquests, and the development of events in various quarters of India,—these and other points are graphically described, and culminate in the instalment of the Emperor by the Marathas on his ancestral throne at Delhi towards the end of 1771. In the midst of these glorious achievements came the premature death of the brilliant young ruler whose unremitting labours had so greatly contributed to secure them. A few papers for the years 1773-74 are included in order to show how that tragic event quickly ended almost all the good work that had been accomplished.

At the end are given some letters and some important entries extracted from the Peshwas' Diaries, giving various useful details of an expedition against Delhi despatched by the Peshwa Madhavrao I under the joint command of Ramchandra Ganesh and Visaji Krishna supported by Tukoji Holkar and Mahadji Sindia. The expedition started from Poona in October 1768 and the Maratha armies after humbling the Bhonsles of Nagpur in the early months of 1769 proceeded to the North in the summer. They defeated the Jats, captured Delhi, overcame the Rohillas and having brought the Emperor Shah Alum from Allahabad,

[MO-III Bk Ca 73—a]