History of Orissa from the Earliest Times to the British Period v2.c41.358

v2.c41.358

the commandant of Bārabāṭi fort, as the principal military officer in Orissa. It was Stirling who mentions that after the retirement of Rājarām Mukund Pandit in Amli 1200=1793 A.D., his son Sadāśiva Rāo was appointed Ṣubahdār of Orissa but the affairs of the province were conducted by Vyankāji Sakadev, the Phaḍnis and Bālāji Kānher.¹ Stirling continues to state that: "In this state things were found in 1803 when the province was conquered by the English army." This however is not correct, because we find that in Fasli 1208=1797 A. D. Vyankāji Sakadev was appointed Ṣubahdār and Bālāji Kānher, the commandant of the forces. When Raghuji II's mother Chimā Bāi went to Puri, then Colebrooke was sent as British envoy to obtain permission for a British army to march through Orissa from Raghuji II by lulling him into a trust which proved to be the undoing of the Bhonsles at Assaye, Argaon, and Sitabaldi. Hastings had paved the way for the passage of the British armies through Orissa and another British army passed through Orissa in Fasli 1209 or 1798. According to Wills, Colebrooke arrived at Nagpur on the 18th March 1799.² He remained at Nagpur till 1800, when Wellesley started sending out proposals for the now notorious Subsidiary Alliance, which Raghuji II very wisely refused. At last Colebrooke asked for his recall and left Nagpur on the 18th of May, 1801. The last statement about Orissa in the Bakhar of the Bhonsles of Nagpur is the return of Chimā Bāi and Vyankāji Bhonsle from Puri. Affairs in Orissa languished as all affairs of Raghuji Bhonsle II did in all other parts of India. After the death or retirement of Vyaṅkājī Sakadev from Orissa Bālāji Kaṇher became the Ṣūbahdār or de facto Governor till the British conquest in 1803 and the Calcutta Gazette for the 12th January, 1804, records a grand ball given in his palace on Christmas day, 1803.