The Cambridge History of India, Vol. IV: The Mughul Period v4.c21.97

v4.c21.97

As Bājī Rāo was preoccupied with affairs in Gujarāt, Shāhū sent Shrīpat Rāo Pratinidhi to deal with his cousin. The Pratinidhi took the field in January, 1730, and surprised the Kolhāpur army while it was encamped. The rout was complete, and Shrīpat Rāo captured the royal camp with all its inmates, including Tārā Bāī, Rājas Bāī, Shambhūjī's wife Jijā Bāī, and many Marāthā chiefs of note. Shāhū behaved with his usual magnanimity. He released all his prisoners. His aunt Tārā Bāī, however, asked not to be sent back. The lot of the senior Mahārānī when the son of her co-wife reigns is never an enviable one. "Wherever I go", she said, "I shall have a prison as my lot: here or there is all one to me. Let me stay in peace." Her request was, unfortunately for the state, acceded to: and the old queen retired to Sātārā to bide her time for fresh plots. Meanwhile, Shambhūjī had surrendered unconditionally, and the two cousins met at a magnificent *darbār*, where they were formally reconciled. A treaty, commonly known as the treaty of Warnā (the river being the boundary between the territories of the combatants), was signed on 13 April, 1731, which left Shambhūjī with only a shadow of his former power, and after this he ceases to be an important factor in Marāthā history until his death in 1760. The long strife between the rival houses of Kolhāpur and Sātārā, which had gone on since 1708, was for the time being settled.