History of Orissa from the Earliest Times to the British Period v2.c43.6

v2.c43.6

It would not have been necessary for me to burden the pages of this work with this appendix had not this class of literature been glorified by the very respectable name of Sir Edward Gait, M.A., K.C.S.I., I.C.S. (retired), formerly Lieutenant-Governor of Bihar and Orissa and one of the very few members of the Indian Civil Service who, like C. U. Wills and William Irvine, still command respect in the Republic of Letters. It was not possible for Sir Edward Gait to judge of the amount of false and misleading information packed by its author in this book. Otherwise I am sure he would not have permitted his name to be associated with it. It has become necessary, therefore, for me to prove that the majority of statements made by Mr. B. C. Mazumdar with regard to the pseudo-Chauhāns of Sonpur and Patna are incorrect by quotations from earlier European writers. The first direct falsehood in the statement that "It goes without saying that the Chohan Rajas maintained their thorough independence from the time of their acquisition of the States to 1745 when the Marhattas of Nagpur subverted the Haihaya kingdom of Bilaspur and Raipur. How matters stood in Maratha times from 1745 to 1803 remains to be considered."¹ Let us consider how this point can be judged from contemporary documents. Major P. Vans Agnew submitted a report on the Ṣūbah or Province of Chhattisgarh in 1820. We learn from this report that the Haihaya Rājā of Ratanpur, who died in 1596 A. D., became tributary to the Emperor of Delhi. His successor Raghunāth Singh was deposed by the Marathas in 1745.² The Maratha commander, Bhāskar Rām Kolhaṭkar, took Ratanpur by storm. After the murder of Bhāskar Rām, Raghunāth Singh rebelled and drove out Kalyān Gīr, the representative of the Maratha Power. In 1745 Raghujī returned as the head of the avenging army and deposed Raghunāth Singh, for whose support five villages were given. Mohan Singh was left in charge of Chhattisgarh and was successful in extending Maratha authority over the whole of Chhattisgarh and "in exacting tribute from Sumbulpore and other surrounding Zemindaries."³ Maratha authorities, especially Bākhars, pay very little attention to petty chieftains like the pseudo-Chauhān Rājās of Sambalpur, Sonpur and Patna. The Bākhar of the Nagpur Bhonsles by Kāśī Rāo Rājeśvar Gupte mentions Chhattisgaḍh in many places but no mention is to be found of the pseudo-Chauhāns. On page 41 it is stated that in Faslī 1153 Raghunāth Singh was replaced on the throne of Ratanpur but Kalyān Gīr was placed in charge as the Maratha Agent. In Faslī San 1160 Mudhoji was sent to Chhattiagḍh for settlement where he remained for a year.¹