History of Orissa from the Earliest Times to the British Period v2.c41.312.1

v2.c41.312.1

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.