History of Orissa from the Earliest Times to the British Period v2.c41.192

v2.c41.192

Sambhājī Ganesh sent a reminder on the 8th of January asking for information about the negotiations between Nagpur and Calcutta and stating that up to that time he had borrowed 25 lakhs of rupees from the merchants for the maintenance of his troops. This is a gentle hint to the Governor regarding the delay in the payment of *chauth*.³ But the arrival of the copies of the treaties from Murshidabad failed to accelerate the conclusion of the treaty. A long letter received from Sambhājī Ganesh on the 25th of May, 1769, contains information about the invasion of Nagpur by the Peshwa Mādav Rāo I and states the desire of the writer to come to the assistance of the English. Sambhājī says that he has advanced to the edge of his district and wants to send one Govind Rāo to Calcutta in order to negotiate with the Governor, though Sambhājī claims the victory for Jānujī, Maratha history is eloquent about the fate of that prince. After the battle of Panipat Jānujī Bhonsle, Gopāl Rāo Paṭvardhan and the Pratinidhi took the side of the Niẓām and a long war began between the Peshwa Mādav Rāo I and the Niẓāms Salabāt Jang and Niẓām Alī. Jānujī had demanded that of the districts ceded by the Niẓām to the Peshwa a full half were to be given to him. The Holkar advised the Peshwa to cede districts worth 32 lakhs of rupees a year to Jānujī. Jānujī had a right to collect Ghāsdānā from certain districts of Niẓām. Moreover, from the Niẓām’s districts of Berar, Jānujī had the right of collecting 50 lakhs of rupees : 25 lakhs as Chauth, 10 lakhs as Sardeshmukhi and 15 lakhs as Ghāsdānā and other expenses of the army. After the disastrous defeat of the Niẓām at Rākshasbhuvan or Taindulza and his subsequent weakening, Jānujī defeated the Niẓām’s General Moro Dhoṇḍoji of Berar in 1765. According to the treaty, the Niẓām now demanded assistance from the Peshwa Mādav Rāo I. Jānujī had offended Mādav Rāo by not joining his campaign in the Karnatak. Jānujī wrote that he had received a letter asking for aid from the Nawāb Qāsim ’Alī Khān of Bengal and therefore requested to be excused. According to the Niẓām’s demand, the Peshwa invaded the Bhonsle’s territories against the wishes of his uncle Raghunāth Rāo Dādā Ṣāhib.