A History of the Mahrattas v1.c26.1

v1.c26.1

A.D. 1755.—The civil administration at the Mahratta capital continued under the management of Sewdasheo Chimnajee. The Peishwa remained at Poona for nearly a year, and during that time, by the assistance of the English in the manner hereafter explained, his troops had reduced a part of Angria’s country, including the important fortress of Severndroog. After the monsoon the Mahratta army in the Concan was strengthened, in expectation of further aid from the Presidency of Bombay, but whilst the preparations were going forward the Peishwa’s presence was again required in the Carnatic. Muzuffir Khan, an officer who had commanded M. Bussy’s sepoys and had gone over to the Peishwa in 1752, accompanied the army sent by the Peishwa in the preceding year into the Carnatic, under Mahadajee Punt. Having taken offence at some interference in the muster of his corps, he quitted the Peishwa’s service and proceeded to Seringapatam, but afterwards joined the Nabob of Savanoor. As the Nabob refused to give him up, and was supported by his old allies the Ghorepurays of Gootee and Sondoor, the Peishwa assembled a great army, which was augmented by the junction of Janojee Bhonslay with his contingent of ten thousand horse; the whole force crossed the Kistna, took Bagulkote, and then proceeded to attack Savanoor. The prime minister of Hyderabad, Shah Nuwaz Khan, who was at this time, for a special purpose, in secret league with the Peishwa, observing this formidable assembly of troops on the part of the Mahrattas, with well dissembled alarm collected troops for the avowed purpose of forming an army of observation on the Kistna. Wukeels were in due form sent by the Peishwa to declare his pacific intentions, and to solicit aid against the Nabob of Savanoor, the subject of Sulabut Jung; whose conduct he represented as hostile to both states, and his power, if not instantly crushed, of a nature to threaten the subjugation of the Carnatic. Sulabut Jung and Monsieur Bussy having been brought to accede to an alliance, the Moghul army marched to assist the Mahrattas, then besieging Savanoor.¹ Leaving the combined army engaged in these operations, it is fit to revert to the affairs of the Concan, and the expeditions against Angria; for although, to the Mahrattas, the transactions on the west coast appeared, and comparatively were, insignificant, they acquire an importance, because they explain the first continental acquisitions of the English in Maharashtra, of which the whole population are now subjects of Great Britain, or politically under its control.