The Dynasties of the Kanarese Districts of the Bombay Presidency from the Earliest Historical Times to the Musalman Conquest c7.s9.209

c7.s9.209

The Peshwa had now fled so far to the north that fears were no longer entertained of his descending into the Konkan, and Colonel Prother's force was therefore called up into the Dakhan.² There he reduced many forts, including Rájmáchi and Kuári which commanded the two most direct routes from Bombay to Poona.³ In the meantime a detachment under Major Kennett took the fort of Nawapura by escalade. Captain Barrow defeated at the Kasur Ghát (which had for many years been much used by troops passing between the Dakhan and Gujarat) a body of Arab Musalmáns and Kolis commanded by Bápuráv Lámbia, which had plundered and burnt villages in that part of the Konkan. Colonel Kennedy's force reduced Rámgad and Pálgad in the Khed district and paid the killedár Rs. 5000 for the possession of Rasalgad, a place of strength in the same neighbourhood, after which the force occupied Khed.⁴ In April Colonel Prother's force returned to the Konkan with the chief object of taking Ráygad where the Peshwa's wife was. He was reinforced by six companies of the 67th Regiment, and a detachment of the 89th which up to this time had been at Málvan.⁵ The force first destroyed a stockaded post near Indápur, and there slaughtered a number of the enemy, and after taking the forts of Tala and Ghosála reached Mahád on April 24. On the morning of that day a detachment of the force carried a stockade at the foot of Ráygad and occupied the petha and thus cut off the escape of the Peshwa's family for which two elephants and a number of camels and horses were found prepared. A passport was sent to the Peshwa's wife, which however did not reach her, as the Arabs fired on the flag of truce. On the twenty-sixth the whole force besieged the fort, and after ten days the garrison began to treat for the surrender, being chiefly impelled to this by a shell from our batteries having set the palace on fire and done a great deal of damage. The negotiations were carried on till May 10, when the fort was surrendered and five lákhs of rupees taken in it. The garrison consisted of 100 Arabs and about 800 other troops. Nearly all the buildings had been destroyed, but there were "marks of grandeur where streets of length with apparently once beautiful and regular buildings had been." The temples and tomb of Shiváji could with difficulty be made out, but most of the destruction had been caused before this siege. The work of Colonel Prother's force, which from first to last had suffered very few casualties, was concluded by the capture of the forts of Lingána, Kángori, Chandangad, and Mahipatgad.⁶ The European troops then returned to Bombay, the Native Infantry were cantoned for the rains at Páli, and a new battalion, composed of those who had deserted from our regiments and had been allowed to return, was formed at Kuári.⁵