History of Orissa from the Earliest Times to the British Period v2.c40.13

v2.c40.13

west, Rajshahi in the north, and Calcutta in the south, while 'Alīwardī remained confined to the Bhagirathi-Ganges delta.¹ Muhammadans in Bengal were clearly demoralised. Entertaining little hope of victory they sent their family and valuables to Jahangirnagar-Dacca, Maldah or Rāmpur Boālia. Nawāzish Muhammad crossed with his entire family to Godagari in the Rajshahi district where 'Alīwardī also transferred his treasure and valuables.² *Marāthyānche Darārā* a work quoted by Mr. G. S. Sardesai extensively in his account of the Bhonsle campaigns of Bengal, Bihar and Orissa, states the very name Maratha caused such terror in people of all classes that they fled to the hills and jungles on hearing it. The greater part of Orissa, Medinipur, Burdwan, Rajshahi and Rajmahal fell into the hands of the Marathas. Only the country around Murshidabad and to the east of the Bhāgīrathi remained in the hands of the Nawāb.³ At this stage 'Alīwardī was compelled to apply for succour to the shadow emperor Muhammad Shah at Delhi. Left without any power and unable to undertake any fatigue the emperor wrote in humble terms to Peshwa Bālāji Baji Rāo *alias* Nānā Ṣahib and Abū'l Manṣūr Khān, Ṣafdar Jang, the nephew and successor of the traitor Sa'adat Khān Burhān-ul-mulk in the *ṣubah* of Oudh, asking them to help 'Alīwardī in his distress. It is a pity that he did not or could not write to Niẓām-ul-mulk Aṣaf Jāh I of Aurangabad to co-operate with Peshwa Nānā Ṣāhib, because a counter-demonstration from Aurangabad into Berar would have checked much more effectively all Maratha incursions from the direction of Nagpur into Bengal, Bihar and Orissa. But it was perhaps not possible for the emperor to persuade the first Niẓām-ul-mulk to do anything for him in 1741-42. Both 'Abū'l Manṣūr Khān and Bālājī Bājī Rāo came, both of them too late for the purpose for which their services were requisitioned. The Peshwā Bālājī Bājī Rāo had a special grudge against Raghujī Bhonsle I, a fact not very well known even now. After the death of Peshwā Bājī Rāo I, the non-Brāhmaṇ party at the court of Satara tried to oust Nānā Ṣāḥib from succession to his father's post. All non-Brāhmaṇs, headed by Raghujī Bhonsle I, combined against the Konkanasth or Chitpavan Brāhmaṇas and tried to place Bābū Rāo Bārāmatīkar on the gadi of the Peshwā. This special grudge now induced Bālājī Bājī Rāo alias Nānā Ṣāḥib to undertake an arduous campaign against Raghujī I. Raghujī's pretensions were great. He claimed to be a relation of the Chhatrapatis, both being Bhonsles, though the line of Śivājī was not related to the Bhonsles of Berar. At one time Raghujī dreamed of placing his son on the Maratha throne at Satara by giving him in adoption to the imbecile Śhāhu or Śivājī III. Nānā Ṣāḥib recognised that it was necessary either to crush or to deal a severe blow to the power of Raghujī I.¹ While these negotiations were going on, the Marathas under Mīr Ḥabīb conquered the districts of Medinipur and Jaleśvar.²