A History of the Mahrattas v1.c20.39

v1.c20.39

Another officer, who attained additional distinction about this period, was Oodajee Powar Wiswas Rao. His father was first raised by Ramchundur Punt Amat, when he governed the country during the siege of Ginjee, and the young man, having joined Shao, obtained the command of a considerable body of the Pagah horse. He was employed on various services,³ and appears to have been an active partisan: like most contemporary Mahratta leaders of experience, such as Kantajee Kuddum, Peelajee Gaekwar, and Kanhojee Bhonslay, he calculated on the surest advantage in the more distant ventures, where his appearance was least expected. He made incursions into Guzerat and Malwa; plundered the former as far as Lunawarra, and found the latter province so much drained of troops that he was enabled to remain some time in the country, intimating to the Raja that if supported, he might collect the Chouth and Surdeshmookhee in every direction. How long he maintained his station in the country, on his first inroads, is uncertain; but it is probable that he was obliged to retire from Dhar,⁴ where he first established himself upon the appointment of Geerdhur Buhadur, whose exertion in the defence of Malwa was one principal cause of preventing the Mahrattas from getting a firm footing in that province for more than ten years after the accession of Bajee Rao.