The Cambridge History of India, Vol. IV: The Mughul Period v4.c21.74

v4.c21.74

When Bālājī Vishvānāth died, he left two sons, Bājī Rāo, a young man of twenty-two, and Chimājī Appa, a boy of twelve. Both were destined to play a distinguished part in their country’s destinies. At the time of his father’s death, Bājī Rāo was on field-service; but on his return, two weeks later, he was invested by Shāhū with the Peshwā’s robes of office: the Peshwāship, *more Indico*, was already becoming hereditary.¹ Bājī Rāo, though so young, was admirably suited for the post. Bālājī, according to some of his critics, was a statesman rather than a soldier; he was even said not to have been a skilled horseman, and a spiteful story was told that at one time he had required a man on each side to hold him on! None, even in jest, could say this of Bājī Rāo, who had been brought up in the saddle, and had led a cavalry charge at an age when other lads are still at school. A contemporary artist represented him in the dress of a common trooper, sitting with his reins on his horse's neck, while he rubbed between his hands ears of corn.² On this dry grain he would subsist for days, and at night he would sleep on the ground like an ordinary soldier, his bridle over his arm, and his lance stuck in the ground beside him. Such a man the Marāthās would follow, as they followed Shivājī in the old days, to the gates of Hell if need be. From the moment he took office, he set out to carry into effect his father's lofty designs for the extension of the *Hindu-pād-pādshāhī*. Bālājī's expedition to Delhi had revealed to him the weakness of the Mughuls, and Bājī Rāo conceived the bold plan of attacking and overrunning the rich and fertile plains of Mālwā, and extending Marāthā rule into the heart of Hindustān. With a foresight rare in one so young he saw that such a plan would, by giving occupation to the turbulent Marāthā chiefs, not only extend the boundaries of Shāhū's kingdom, but lead to peace nearer home. This ambitious policy was vehemently opposed by Shrīpat Rāo, the Pratinidhi. The Pratinidhi or viceroy was really the first, and the Peshwā the second, official in the court; and Shrīpat Rāo and the other Deccanis viewed with jealousy the meteoric rise of the young Chitpāvan from the Konkan. At the Council the Pratinidhi stigmatised an invasion of Hindūstān, before Shāhū's domestic dissensions were composed, as rash and imprudent, and he advised as an alternative the reduction of Kolhāpur and the reconquest of the Carnatic. But Bājī Rāo's eloquence swept aside all opposition. "Now is our time", said the gallant Peshwā, "to drive the strangers from the country of the Hindus, and acquire immortal renown. Let us strike at the trunk of the withering tree, and the branches will fall off themselves. By directing our efforts to Hindūstān, the Marāthā flag shall fly from the Krishnā to Attock." "You shall plant it beyond the Himālayas!"³ exclaimed Shāhū, carried away by the Peshwā's eloquence. "You are, indeed, a noble son of a worthy father!" From this day onwards, the faces of the Marāthās were turned northwards: it is significant that the chief gateway of every Marāthā fortress is the Delhi Gate.