The Cambridge History of India, Vol. IV: The Mughul Period v4.c21.59

v4.c21.59

The new Peshwā set about his task with a will. Being himself a Konkanī and an old friend of Angria’s, his task was a comparatively easy one. He arranged a meeting with the Marāthā admiral at a spot not far from the modern town of Lonāvlā, and soon came to terms with him. He persuaded him to release the unfortunate ex-Peshwā, Bahiro Pant Pingle, and to transfer his allegiance from Kolhāpur to Shāhū; in return, he undertook to get him confirmed in the title of *Sarkhel* (admiral) and to allow him to retain possession of Rājmāchī and other strongholds. At the same time, he joined him in attacking Angria’s hereditary enemy, the Sīdī, who was deprived of many of his conquests in the Konkan. This was Bālājī’s first great diplomatic triumph. Kānhojī Angria, however, until his death in 1729, remained an ally rather than a vassal of the Peshwās. The Angrias behaved like independent rulers, making war at will upon their neighbours, the Sīdīs, the Portuguese and the English, and levying what they chose to call “the *chauth* of the Sea” upon coastal traffic. Several expeditions sent against these pests from Bombay were repulsed with loss, until, in 1755, Clive and Watson, co-operating with the Peshwā’s land forces, overthrew their stronghold at Gheria or Vijayadurg, and put an end to their power.¹