History of Orissa from the Earliest Times to the British Period v2.c41.312

Language: English

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The first important event in the History of the Nagpur State, very distantly related to the History of Orissa, was the attempt of Warren Hastings to ally himself with the Bhonsles of Nagpur against the Peshwa Mādhav Rāo II and the Ministerial party at Poona. Hastings was under the impression that the Bhonsles of Nagpur were really agnates of the Bhonsles of Satara and thought that they would readily accept a proposal for the overthrow of the Brahman usurpers of Poona. When war was declared between England and France Hastings thought that the French in India would be joined by the Peshwa. A body of troops under Colonel Leslie, then operating in Bundelkhand, was sent to a position on the borders of the Nagpur State so as to be able to join the Nagpur army immediately. He sent his friend Elliot, a brother of the first Lord Minto, who became the Governor-General of India in 1807, on an embassy to Nagpur. Elliot left Calcutta at the end of July 1778 and reached Katak on the 10th of August. They started from Katak and reached Sonpur through Baudh on the 23rd of the same month. Chattisgadh was the jāgir of Bimbājī, a brother of Mudhoji. Sonpur was then a petty dependency under the Rājā of Sambalpur, who was a feudatory of Bimbājī.¹ On the road Elliot died on the banks of the Lath river near the village of Semra in the State of Sarangadh. His party under Robert Farquhar reached Mohra, where he died. The survivors, Campbell and Anderson, reached Nagpur on the 14th of November.

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They stayed till the 12th of December and then joined the English army under Leslie's successor Captain Goddard at Hoshangābād. Negotiations continued with Lieutenant Daniel Watherston, but ultimately failed. Mudhoji was wise enough not to join the English again, though they were in favour of his old patron Raghunāth Rāo Dādā Ṣāhib.¹ Rājarām Pandit was appointed *Subahdār* of Orissa in 1778.² The British side of the negotiations has been critically examined by Wills but the Maratha side of the story is still wanting. With the usual Maratha policy Mudhoji had only temporised and did not reject the British proposals totally. Beṇirām Pandit, the Nagpur envoy, started on the return journey to Calcutta in February 1779.³ Hastings wrote to Mudhoji about the same date but at that time Mudhoji had been drawn into a general Indian confederacy against the English. Nānā Faḍnis had combined the Peshwa with Mahādji Śinde, Ḥaidar ’Ali of Mysore, Niẓām-ul-mulk Niẓām ’Ali and Mudhoji Bhonsle against the East India Company. Mudhoji was to invest Bengal and Niẓām ’Ali the Northern *Sarkars*, while Ḥaidar Ali was to ravage the Karnatak. Mudhoji was half-hearted in his allegiance to the Peshwa and had turned traitor very early. He gave information about the confederacy to the English, but at the same time he despatched an army of 30,000 or 40,000 horse to invade Bengal under his son Chimnāji Bāpu.

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Chimnāji started on *Daśaharā*, 11th of October 1779, but instead of marching straight to Bihar according to the orders from Poona, he delayed intentionally on the road and finally reached Katak eight months later in May. The real name of Chimnā Bāpu was Khandoji Bhonsle. The *Bakhar* of the Nagpur Bhonsles by Kāśirāva Rājeśvar Gupta states that Mudhoji sent Chimnā Bāpu much against his will to Katak accompanied by Bhavāni Kālu as *Karbhāri*, Nānā Śyāmrāj as *Phaḍnis*, Mahādāji Umaji, Pāṇḍuraṅg, Maryāji (? Sūryāji) *Bakhshī*, Amṛit Rāo Mādhav Prabhu as *chiṭnis* and Datṭājī Yaśovant Aṭhole as *Muṣāhib* and 25,000 troops.¹ Mudhoji tried to negotiate a treaty with Poona and the army sent under Chimnājī Bāpu lay idle at Katak. The same *Bakhar* states that Chimnājī reached Katak in faste 1189, and demanded arrears of *chauth* from Murshidābād. At last on the 9th of January, 1781 a draft treaty was received from Mudhoji. But the English could not accept it immediately. Hastings therefore decided to send an army immediately to Madras through Orissa, and Anderson was sent to negotiate terms at Katak so that the armies might not clash. Anderson arrived at Balasore on the 22nd January 1781 and was informed that Chimnājī had entered the jungles to punish the refractory Rājā of Dhenkanal. Anderson then proceeded to Katak and learnt that the Rājā of Sambalpur had created disturbances and interrupted the line of communications between Nagpur and Katak.

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Anderson opened negotiations with Mānojirām *Phaḍnis* and Hirderām, *Diwān* of Katak, who represented the *Ṣubahdār*, Rājārām Pandit. Eventually the Maratha officers in Katak promised not to interfere with Colonel Pearce's troops in their march through Orissa. Chimnājī returned to the open country and permitted Colonel Pearce's army to pass and even helped it in every way. Gupte's *Bakhar* states Hastings promised to pay a blackmail of thirty lakhs of rupees at once and thirteen lakhs of rupees every year for the passage of Colonel Pearce's army through Orissa. The Marathas referred to the stoppage of the *chauth* and Hastings directed Anderson to flirt with them. Chimnājī was not on good terms with his brother Raghujī and Hastings tried to gain him over by hinting at hopes of British co-operation in case he made a bid for the throne.¹ But Chimnājī was a mere boy of seventeen and British envoys could not approach him except through his ministers and the intrigue started by Hastings failed. He had paid three lakhs of rupees secretly and promised to pay twleve lakhs more in addition, in return for which Chimnājī was to promise either to return with his army or not to employ it against the British. The negotiations are amply described by Wills, and need not be quoted here. The Maratha ministers refused bribes and finally the Nagpur envoys met Hastings at Calcutta on the 26th of March, 1781.

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Hastings finally paid thirteen lakhs of rupees to Chimnājī Bāpu and agreed to assist him in raising a loan of ten lakhs in Bengal. Further Chimnājī Bapu sank to the degradation of placing two thousand Maratha cavalry at the service of the British for which the British were to pay one lakh of rupees monthly and were to assist Mudhojī's forces in taking possession of Garhā-Māṇḍlā. Thus ended the last attempt of the Marathas of Nagpur to invade Bihar or Bengal. Khaṇḍojī, *alias* Chimnā Bāpu, returned to Nagpur in faste 1190, after remaining in Orissa for one year, according to Gupte's *Bakhar*. For his treachery to the central Maratha Government at Poona Mudhoji was threatened with the utmost vengeance of the Peshwa, but in October of the same year negotiations for a general peace were started through Mahādji Śinde and the treaty of Sal-bai was concluded in 1782. According to the *Bengal District Gazetteer*, Rājāram Pandit left Orissa in 1782 and he was succeeded by his son Sadāśiva Rāo in the same year, but a number of unpublished records collected by the present Chief of Mayurbhañja and kindly placed at my disposal prove that Rājārām Mukund Pandit continued for some time longer. Stirling also places the succession of Sadāśiva Rājāram in 1789. These unpublished records relate mainly to British intercourse with the Chiefs of Mayurbhañja. It will, therefore, be necessary to deviate a little from our own narrative.