The Cambridge History of India, Vol. IV: The Mughul Period v4.c21.94

v4.c21.94

The return of Bājī Rāo, however, soon restored the situation, and after the Dasahra festival, on 13 September, 1727, the Peshwā advanced northwards, driving his enemy before him across the Godāvarī, and devastating the country all round him. By a series of masterly manœuvres he then proceeded to draw the Nizām into the waterless region between Aurangābād and Paithan. Here he surrounded and attacked him near the town of Pālkhed (11 March, 1728). The Nizām’s artillery alone saved him from annihilation: retreat through the devastated area was impossible, and on 22 March he was compelled to sue for peace. Thus Bājī Rāo, unaided, had brought to his knees the foremost soldier of his time. It was a feat of arms of which any commander might well have been proud. The treaty was signed at Mungī Shevgāon. The Nizām agreed to reinstate the Marāthā tax-gatherers, to pay up all arrears of *chauth* and *sardeshmukhī*, and to recognise Shāhū as sole monarch of the Deccan; but like an honourable soldier, he refused to consent to a clause requiring him to surrender his ally Shambhūjī. The importance of this treaty can scarcely be overestimated. It was a diplomatic triumph of the first order, and a worthy sequel to the brilliant manœuvres in the field which had preceded it. It left Shāhū at last the undisputed ruler in his ancestor’s *swarājya*, and it was a deadly blow to Bājī Rāo’s rivals in the Marāthā court. Little wonder that, after this, Shāhū depended still more upon his young minister, who had once again saved him from virtual annihilation.