A History of the Mahrattas v1.c18.141

v1.c18.141

Underneath there is written, evidently a private postscript. 'I have had a secret interview with Mahdoo Rao, Pureshram's brother and I told him, that if Pureshram give up Kelneh and visit the Emperor, he will certainly be put to death, and that nothing is now to be apprehended, as the rains are at hand. Mahdoo Rao has written this to Pureshram.' have returned to the eastward, from an apprehension that the disorders prevalent in Maharashtra were likely to spread over Telingana and the Carnatic, but although there were partial disorders occasioned by Beruds in the one, and Pindharees in the other, the inhabitants of those countries are a very different race, and were less prone to those habits of predatory enterprise, which had long distinguished the natives of Maharashtra. The people of the Carnatic are not unwarlike: in bodily frame they are at least as robust as the Mahrattas, and at this period a great part of the Emperor's infantry were men raised in that country. Banditti, however, started up in various parts, and so daring had their chiefs become, that some of them carried on an open traffic for the goods plundered by their gangs. The independent Mahratta chiefs, particularly the Ghorepurays, had of late years committed constant ravages about Beejapoor, Kulburga, and Beder.¹ Pemnaik, the Naik of Wakinkerah, although repeatedly compelled by the imperial generals to pay large fines, no sooner saw the Moghul troops retire to a distance, than he recommenced every species of rapine. The Mahrattas maintained a good understanding with this chief, and Dhunnajee Jadow, whilst the Emperor was besieging the forts in the Syhadree mountains, lodged his family in Wakinkerah, as affording greater security than any other place. The power of the Naik had become so formidable, that the Emperor, after his arrival at Beejapoor, judged it necessary to proceed against him in person.²