A History of the Mahrattas v1.c27: Chapter XX
A History of the Mahrattas v1.c27
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Chapter XX
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A.D. 1756.—As soon as the rains subsided, Rugonath Rao was sent into Hindoostan, accompanied as before by Sukaram Bappoo, as his Dewan, and joined by Mulhar Rao Holkar. The Peishwa prepared a large army which was destined for the Carnatic under his own command, but he did not cross the Kistna before the ensuing February.
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A.D. 1757.
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In his negotiation with the Bombay Presidency, the paramount object of Ballajee Rao was the possession of Gheriah; that obtained, as he had waived all claims on the East India Company, he still pretended a right to the recovery of the treasure and stores carried off as prize by the captors. He again addressed a letter to the King, and forwarded it, as before, through the Madras government. His letter to that Presidency, accompanying the address to his Majesty, was not couched in the strain of frankness and cordial friendship he had assumed to Mr. Spencer; a change which is the first indication of European politics in any degree influencing the conduct of the Mahrattas. It was occasioned both by the renewal of war between Great Britain and France, in the month of May preceding,¹ and by the late misfortunes and still uncertain state of affairs at Calcutta. This policy was adopted, not probably with any hope of restitution, but preparatory to demands for chouth and surdeshmookhee from the Moghul provinces of the Carnatic-Payeen-Ghaut, in which the English had now so direct an interest.
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¹ [This was the Seven Years' War, which commenced on May 17, 1756. The Comte de Lally was selected by the French Government to direct operations against the English in India, and arrived in Pondicherry in April 1758.]
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Sixty thousand Mahrattas appeared before Seringapatam in the month of March, and demanded an enormous sum as arrears of tribute. On their march to that capital the independent principalities south of the Kistna had all, except the Nabob of Kurpa, made suitable submission, and the Ghorepurays attended their countrymen with a body of six thousand horse. As Nunjeraj, the minister of the Mysore state, who had usurped the powers of the administration, declared his inability to pay the contribution demanded from Seringapatam, a battery of thirty cannon was opened against it by Sewdasheo Rao Bhow, under the direction of Muzuffir Khan. Negotiation was for a time at an end, but a shot having struck the top of the Hindoo temple of Runga Swamy, and a gun happening at the same instant to burst in the battery, which killed several of the men who worked it, the circumstance was accounted ominous by both parties; a compromise ensued, by which the Mahrattas agreed to take thirty-two lacks of rupees, instead of a much larger sum demanded in the first instance.¹ Five lacks of rupees were immediately paid in money and jewels, and districts assigned, in trust, for the remainder. The Peishwa next intended to retake the districts of Sera, Bangalore, Ouscotta, Balapoor and Kolhar; to which the Mahrattas could claim a right since the days of Shahjee, although they had been successively wrested from Venkajee and his successor of the house of Tanjore. The district of Sera was occupied, but on the approach of the monsoon the Peishwa returned towards Poona with the greater part of his army, and owing to the lateness of the season had great difficulty in recrossing the Kistna. Bulwunt Rao Mendlee was left with a large detachment, for the purpose of reducing these ancient possessions, and with a power, somewhat discretionary, of levying the chouth and surdeshmookhee from Arcot. Bulwunt Rao took Ouscotta, belonging to the Nabob of Kurpa, and Moolwaukil was given up. Kudapannattum was also taken, and peremptory demands made upon the Nabob of Arcot for the payment of arrears of chouth, which was, after much discussion, settled by the Nabob for two lacks in ready money and two and a half lacks in assignments.² The members of the Madras government endeavoured to annul the agreement; they had, in the first instance, evaded the claim by representing the disordered state of the province, the expenses and the efforts they had made for the support of order and the preservation of the country, and the scanty revenues which the territory still yielded. They also endeavoured to divert the Mahrattas towards the French districts, or northern Circars,¹ but Amrut Rao, Bulwunt Rao’s Dewan, adhered firmly to his demands and succeeded in obtaining them.
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¹ The Mahratta MS. says thirty-six lacks, but I here follow Colonel Wilks, as he probably had access to official papers on the subject. The Mahratta MSS. also differ in the account of the manner in which the amount was paid; but although they are circumstantial, and state nothing respecting the subsequent interference of Hyder, I here also prefer trusting to Colonel Wilks.
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² Orme.
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¹ Letter from Mr. Pigot, Governor of Madras, to Bulwunt Rao, and the Peishwa.
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Moorar Rao Ghorepuray had retired to Gootee, in consequence of not being put in possession of one of the captured forts, which appears to have been promised; the Peishwa had authorized Bulwunt Rao to comply with his wish, provided he was certain he could be depended upon,² but Moorar Rao had joined a confederacy against his countrymen, by uniting with the Nabobs of Kurpa, Savanoor, Kurnoul, and others, to which the confederates solicited the support of the English; a want of troops, however, prevented the Presidency of Madras from availing themselves of an auxiliary force, which in any ordinary season would have induced them to resist the Mahratta demands. It is not ascertained whether Bulwunt Rao complied with the latitude allowed in favour of Ghorepuray, but Moorar Rao is not mentioned as having acted on either side in a battle fought by the Mahrattas on the 24th September near Kuddapah,³ against the Nabobs of Kurpa and Kurnoul, in which Bulwunt Rao Mendlee was victorious, the Nabob of Kurpa was killed,⁴ and his capital plundered; but Abdool Nubee Khan, the cousin and heir of the late Nabob, still defended the country, and occupied the Mahrattas for a period much longer than they could spare. In the meantime, the Mysore government, by the advice of Hyder Ally,⁵ then rising into notice, having broken their agreement, refused to pay the stipulated contribution, and expelled the Mahratta agents from the districts assigned for that purpose. The Peishwa prepared a force under Gopaul Hurry at Poona, intended ultimately to unite with Bulwunt Rao against Mysore, supported by a body of ten thousand Mahrattas, which, towards the end of the monsoon, was employed¹ near the Godavery, under the Peishwa’s son Wiswas Rao. But, as Gopaul Hurry could not cross the Kistna before November and might not be joined by Wiswas Rao until the beginning of the year, the Peishwa directed Bulwunt Rao to reduce Bednore. He recommends him ‘to march to that place as soon as possible, that the garrison had been very sickly, that the Rana’s son, as well as the Rana, was dead, and that the whole would fall into his hands before the arrival of Gopaul Hurry, when they must conjointly attack Chittledroog.’²
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² Letter from Ballajee Rao, September, 1757.
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³ The town is known by both names, Kurpa and Kuddapah.
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⁴ Orme.
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⁵ [Haidar Alī (Hyder Ally), born 1722, was an officer of the Hindu Wodeyar Government of Mysore, and secured the favour of Nanjarāj, the minister, by organizing a small body of well-equipped troops. In 1755, at the age of thirty-three, he was appointed commandant of Dindigul, and later received as a jāgīr the district of Bangalore, and became commander-in-chief of the Mysore army. (O.H.I., pp. 483, 484.)]
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¹ The Peishwa in one of his letters says, in reducing a district called Joohoo, or Noohooj; but the word cannot be distinctly read, neither can the situation be ascertained, nor in whose hands the district was when reduced by Wiswas Rao.
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² Copy of an original letter from the Peishwa to Bulwunt Rao Gunput Mendlee.
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Had this scheme been practicable at the time, it would in all probability have prevented the rise of Hyder Ally,³ but Bulwunt Rao was detained in the districts of Kuddapah, or in levying contributions from Polygars, until the month of February, and before that date events had occurred at the court of Hyderabad, which called Bulwunt Rao’s force to the northward, and fully employed the attention of the Peishwa.
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³ See Wilks, ch. xii, vol. i.
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Sulabut Jung, by the advice of Shah Nuwaz Khan, had appointed his brothers, Nizam Ally and Busalut Jung, as Governors of provinces; the former to Berar, and the latter to Beejapoor, whither they had proceeded in 1756. Bussy, in the end of that year, departed from Hyderabad, accompanied by his Dewan Hyder Jung, to regulate the French districts to the eastward, and was thus employed when an opportunity presented itself of reducing some of the English factories in that quarter. Sulabut Jung, in the meantime, took the field, and his operations, at the suggestion of Shah Nuwaz Khan, were directed against Ramchundur Jadow, ostensibly to call him to account for not keeping up his established quota of horse, but in reality to punish him for not acting against the French reinforcements, when marching from Mausulipatam to join Bussy at Hyderabad. Jadow was deprived of most of his Jagheer; the minister spent the season in revenue arrangements, and Sulabut Jung attended by his brother Busalut Jung, from Adonee, cantoned for the rains at Aurungabad, after having taken the government of Doulutabad from Sadut Bokharu, the Killidar in whose family it had been from the time of Aurungzebe. It was now given in charge of a dependant of Shah Nuwaz Khan; and here began a scene of intrigue as eventful and complicated as might occur to the fancy of a dramatist. The sum of the plot seems to have been to confine Sulabut Jung in Doulutabad; to place the government in the hands of Nizam Ally or Busalut Jung, and to expel the French from the Deccan. The Peishwa was probably in the first instance apprised of it,¹ and the real object of Wiswas Rao’s march to the Godavery may have been to aid the design. As late as the month of September, he did not, as may be observed by his instructions to Bulwunt Rao, expect that it would obstruct his designs on the Carnatic.
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¹ It is even probable that the Peishwa may have been a principal instigator in the whole conspiracy about to be detailed, although that does not rest on any direct evidence.
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In the month of August a pretended sedition was raised by the soldiery at Aurungabad, on account of their arrears of pay. Shah Nuwaz Khan was beset by their clamours; he neglected to satisfy their claims; the troops insisted on his being removed from the administration; demanded his dismissal from Sulabut Jung, and the appointment of Busalut Jung as minister in his stead. Although contrary to his own wishes, Sulabut Jung yielded to their request; but the troops were not to be satisfied, and Shah Nuwaz Khan was forced to seek safety in Doulutabad, where he prepared to defend himself against their unjustifiable violence. It is conjectured that the conspirators may have expected Sulabut Jung would pay the seemingly injured minister a visit of condolence in the fortress, but some of his immediate dependants, perhaps the European officer at the head of the French guard, suspected a snare, and induced Sulabut Jung to promise the minister protection, but to demand his submission. The exercise of a little common sense in upholding right rules often disconcerts the deepest cunning; but the derangement of the plan only thickened the plot. Shah Nuwaz Khan, on being desired to surrender, fired on the troops. Nizam Ally was summoned from Berar by Busalut Jung to assist in the siege; Shah Nuwaz Khan called in the assistance of the Mahrattas as allies, but some person about Sulabut Jung, who had more penetration than himself, prevailed on him to countermand the advance of Nizam Ally.
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The latter, however, declared he could not hear of his brother being so treated by a rebel minister without hastening to his support. He advanced accordingly, and troops from all quarters were called in by Busalut Jung. Still, however, the troops attached to Sulabut Jung, of whom two hundred were Europeans, and five hundred disciplined Sepoys left by Bussy, were not to be overpowered with impunity, and the conspiracy was aimed rather at the liberty than the life of Sulabut Jung. The Mahrattas began to plunder the country: the necessity of union was now much talked of, and Shah Nuwaz Khan suffered himself to be prevailed upon to submit. Great preparations were made to oppose the Mahrattas. Nizam Ally, to whom the office of minister had been resigned by Busalut Jung, made all the dispositions for the order of battle and of march. The humble post of protecting the baggage was assigned to Shah Nuwaz Khan. The friends of Sulabut Jung remonstrated against his allowing his brother to have the entire management of his army, and his pride and resentment being aroused, he told Nizam Ally that he could not submit to it. The latter at first affected indignation, but afterwards so completely soothed his brother by assurances that his welfare and honour were his only care, that Sulabut Jung forgave all, obliged him to take back the seal of state he had resigned, and bestowed on him their father’s title of Nizam Ool Moolk Asif Ja.
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Very shortly after this reconciliation, intelligence was received that Ramchundur Jadow, proceeding to pay his respects and join the army of Sulabut Jung, was attacked, surrounded, and driven into the town of Sindkheir, where he was besieged by the Peishwa’s troops.¹ Orders of march were instantly issued, but the same influence which hitherto had prevented Sulabut Jung from falling into the power of his enemies, once more frustrated their designs. He would not move. Nizam Ally, however, proceeded to Sindkheir, went through the farce of rescuing Ramchundur Jadow, of beating the Mahrattas, and compelling them to make peace. Although the latter, with more show of reason, afterwards claimed the victory, the nominal defeat was a disgrace to which Ballajee Rao would willingly have submitted, in consequence of his having received a cession of territory, yielding an annual revenue of upwards of twenty-five lacks of rupees.¹ How Nizam Ally could reconcile this transaction to his brother cannot be ascertained, and can only be accounted for by supposing that the agreement was secret. Ballajee Rao returned with Nizam Ally to Aurungabad as a friend; but the arrival of Bussy, with a well-appointed force consisting of two hundred European cavalry, five hundred European infantry, five thousand Sepoys, and ten field-pieces, besides his detachment with Sulabut Jung, threw the whole cabal into confusion; and, except the audacious Nizam Ally, intimidated the rest of the conspirators.
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All were ready to pay their respects, and no one more prompt than the late minister, Shah Nuwaz Khan. He had been led farther into the mazes of intrigue than he had contemplated; he had seen enough of Nizam Ally to be assured that Sulabut Jung was a better man, and he was probably sincere in his desire to replace everything on its former footing; but once embarked, there is no saying where the current of factious guilt may drive, or who shall be absorbed in its whirlpool.
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¹ The body of troops which attacked Ramchundur Jadow was commanded by Mahadajee Sindia, still a very young man, but who had already distinguished himself at the battle fought on the plain, between Korygaom and Tullygaom Dumdairay, 27th November, 1751. Mahratta MS.
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¹ The exact amount 2,508,223 rupees, 13 annas. Poona Records
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Bussy, with the measured manner which it became him under such circumstances to assume, paid his respects to Sulabut Jung as the superior whom he served; met the Peishwa half way in a tent prepared for the occasion; visited Nizam Ally, but, as one whose designs were more than suspicious, accompanied by a strong escort; received Busalut Jung; but referred Shah Nuwaz Khan, who had descended from his rank as minister, to his agent Hyder Jung, for the double purpose of marking a distinction and obtaining, through his keen-sighted Dewan, thus placed on an equality with the ex-minister, a complete insight into the views of the faction.
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Thus far Bussy acted right, for he acted of himself; but the disadvantages to a European in India, however honourable and upright his intentions, who suffers himself to be guided by natives, beyond a proper regard to their opinions and prejudices, and who is dependent on them for the interpretation of the language, are exemplified in the subsequent events.
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Shah Nuwaz Khan unfolded everything to Hyder Jung; but, as was likely under such circumstances, ascribed his motives rather to the weakness of Sulabut Jung than to his jealousy of the power of the French. The friends of Shah Nuwaz Khan had strongly advised him to put no confidence in Hyder Jung; and his conduct in this instance is attributed by his countrymen to that inexplicable predestination which is a rule of their faith. On being made acquainted with the scheme, under such colouring as Hyder Jung thought fit to give it, Bussy was led to deceive Shah Nuwaz Khan by promises of forgiveness and restoration to the ministry. To have restored Shah Nuwaz Khan was now, perhaps, the wisest expedient that could be adopted. He was respected in the country, knew its resources, and notwithstanding the fictitious want of money he had created, the revenues under his management were in a state of progressive improvement. He had experienced the irresistible power of the French, the weakness and futility of faction, and he had seen the premature disposition to villainy in the bold mind of the young Nizam Ally.
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Bussy, if he found it inconvenient to replace him in the ministry, had not even the excuse of necessity for stooping to duplicity, he had only to act on the broad principle of right, and trust to what was in his power, a strong arm and a good cause. But influenced unfortunately by the representations of an Asiatic, his conduct became entangled in the tricks and intrigue which true wisdom despises. His plans seem in this instance to have had no very definite purpose, even in his own mind, though there is abundant ground to suspect that his Dewan may have contemplated his own elevation, and played deep for the high place of Moghul minister in the Deccan.
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Hyder Jung having corrupted the Killidar of Doulutabad, Bussy became the principal actor in a scheme, by which he gained little honour from having obtained possession of that fortress.¹ Shah Nuwaz Khan was made a prisoner, and the greater part of Nizam Ally's troops were debauched by bribes, amounting in all to eight lacks of rupees, and came over to Hyder Jung. Of the number was Ibrahim Khan Gardee, who had been brought up as an officer of Sepoys under Bussy, and had gone over to Nizam Ally in Berar, in consequence of having incurred Bussy’s displeasure. The Peishwa, who was very desirous of possessing Doulutabad, returned from a position fifty miles to the west of Aurungabad, and in vain used every argument with Bussy to prevail upon him to deliver it up to the Mahrattas. Nizam Ally, however, in the hope that the Peishwa would join him after their late transaction, promised the fort of Doulutabad and many other cessions as the price of an alliance, which should raise him to the viceroyalty of the Deccan, but Ballajee Rao saw no advantage from his overtures.
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¹ For particulars see Orme, vol. ii, bk. ix, p. 345.
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Busalut Jung, the present minister, was neither of a dangerous nor a formidable character, but he was capable of being made an instrument either for a good or a bad purpose. For some reasons it would have been ill-advised to remove him, especially as he had become secretly inimical to Nizam Ally, whose audacity pointed to extreme measures from which Busalut Jung recoiled; but the designs of Hyder Jung remained incomplete whilst Nizam Ally was at liberty; he therefore determined on placing him in confinement, as well as Shah Nuwaz Khan; and at first thought of immuring him in Doulutabad; but the influence of Nizam Ally, even with the soldiery who had quitted his service, was considerable, and the proximity of Doulutabad to the province of Berar made that fortress a fitter prison for Shah Nuwaz Khan than for Nizam Ally. Whether Bussy ever would have authorized his Dewan to take the steps he meditated is certainly very questionable; if he had, it is not improbable that Hyder Jung in time would have sacrificed his French friends to his own ambition. Hyder Jung and Nizam Ally had now each their own reasons for dissimulation; the one proffered friendship, and the other affected content. Hyder Jung wished Nizam Ally to accept the government of Hyderabad, that he might be nearer Golcondah, where he intended to imprison him. Nizam Ally received the proposal with much seeming satisfaction: intercourse was re-established, and everything was made ready for departure; Hyder Jung paid him a visit prior to his setting out, and Nizam Ally, having prepared for his reception, murdered him in the tent. A great tumult ensued as soon as the event was known; the French line beat to arms. Shah Nuwaz Khan, who was confined under a guard of Europeans and Sepoys, was supposed to be the instigator of Hyder Jung’s murder, and a Hindoo Soobehdar ¹ of French Sepoys, with all of whom Hyder Jung had been extremely popular, entered the tent during the uproar, and put Shah Nuwaz Khan, together with his son and Yemen ad Dowlah, to death. Nizam Ally fled towards Burhanpoor the same night.² The tragedy was thus closed on the 11th May. The Peishwa with the Mahratta army returned to Poona, and Bussy, shortly after, not choosing to encourage Sulabut Jung in a war against Nizam Ally, bent his course towards Hyderabad. When on the march to that capital, he received from M. Lally those peremptory orders of recall, which at once deprived his nation of the great power and influence he had established. The Mahrattas, like the rest of India, were unable to comprehend such an inexplicable measure; the removal of the French garrison from Doulutabad, and the actual march of Bussy towards Pondicherry, was viewed by Ballajee Rao with wonder and with joy; but Sulabut Jung, to whom the departure of M. Bussy was equally unaccountable, saw in it the extinction of his last hope in the world, and, until soothed with assurances of the probability of his return, he continued in a state of perfect despair.
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¹ His name was Luximon, and the Moghul author exultingly informs his reader that the murderer of a Syud was afterwards killed in Sicacole; probably in the battle between Forde and Conflans, in December following, at Peddipore.
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² I have come to the above judgment on these dark intrigues, from a comparison of Orme, Wilks, Mahratta MSS., the life of Shah Nuwaz Khan, the Khuzaneh Amirah, Hudeequ-i-Alum, and all the authorities wherein the subject is mentioned. Both Mr. Orme and Colonel Wilks state that Shah Nuwaz Khan was under a guard of Sulabut Jung’s troops; but though that mode of confinement might have been adopted to prevent unnecessary odium towards the French, and is, in the way Colonel Wilks has stated, very common, the Mahomedan authority is against them.
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It has been stated that the Peishwa returned from a position fifty miles west of Aurungabad, for the purpose of trying to prevail upon Bussy to give up Doulutabad; but the reason of his having moved to the westward in the first instance remains to be explained. The Bombay Presidency, as we have seen, had long been urgent with the Peishwa to aid them in establishing their trade and privileges on a secure and respectable footing in the city of Surat, but finding they were not likely to obtain his aid, they with abundant caution proposed trying to effect the object themselves, and Mr. Ellis, the agent on the spot, arranged a plan which promised certain success. The Peishwa, apprised of everything that was going forward, sent Shunkrajee Punt, the Soobehdar of Kallian, to amuse Mr. Bourchier until he should find it more convenient than it was at that juncture to detach a force to Surat; but Shunkrajee Punt, judging by the President’s indifference, and the preparations of the armament, that they would proceed to the execution of the enterprise by themselves, Ballajee Rao determined to prevent it, by making a feint of threatening the Presidency itself. With this view he moved from Aurungabad a few marches to the westward, and by means of the native agent employed by the English at Poona, he made them believe that he was about to march for Nassuck and thence to Bassein with his army; he also caused the agent to insinuate that the Mahrattas were treacherous people, not to be depended upon, and that it would be prudent to keep a strict guard on the island of Bombay. The Governor and Council, on receipt of this intelligence, *unanimously resolved*, not only to defer the expedition, but to desire Mr. Ellis to send down all the military and marine force he could possibly spare, to defend the settlement. This remarkable instance of credulity proves the great want of experience of the Bombay Government¹; they, however, got possession of Surat castle some months afterwards, though with considerable loss of officers and men.²
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¹ Bombay Records.
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² Bombay Records, and Grose’s voyage to the East Indies.
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A.D. 1759. Mar. 4.
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The Peishwa’s first object, on the opening of the season, was to detach a force under Gopaul Hurry to Mysore, for the recovery of the districts from whence the Mahratta agents had been expelled by Nunjeraj, at the suggestion of Hyder Ally. Gopaul Hurry established the Mahratta *thannas*, took Cenapatam by surprise, and besieged Bangalore. The Mahrattas were opposed by the Mysore army, which was on this service entrusted for the first time to the rising General, Hyder Ally; and the campaign terminated in the payment of the thirty-two lacks of rupees before stipulated, one half of which was paid in gold, and the other by bills on the security of bankers; after which the Mahrattas evacuated the pledged districts, and peace was concluded with the state of Mysore.³ Gopaul Hurry then proceeded to the Damulcherry pass, whilst the French were besieging the English in Madras,¹ and endeavoured to exact money from each of the belligerents, but he was treated with considerable contempt by both parties. To be revenged on the French, he took possession of the temple at Tripittee, intending to have collected the offerings² at the ensuing festival, but the main body of his troops was recalled to Poona, and the garrison he left in the temple was driven out by troops belonging to the Nabob of Arcot.
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³ Wilks, and Mahratta MSS.
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¹ [Lally attacked Madras in 1758, but the apathy of the Pondicherry government, the able defence of the town by Mr. Pigot and Stringer Lawrence, and lastly the appearance of a British fleet, combined to render the operations of the French fruitless.]
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² Offerings which are made by Hindoo pilgrims, at stated periods, to the idols in many parts of India, and which are afterwards generally considered the ackuowledged revenue of the state; these festivals are termed Jatras, when the temples of celebrated deities are visited by votaries from all parts of the country.
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Sulabut Jung had appointed Busalut Jung his Dewan at the suggestion of M. Bussy; their union was certainly the most likely mode of upholding the government of Sulabut Jung and overawing the factious at his court; but the party of Nizam Ally gained strength as soon as Bussy had departed for Pondicherry, and the only French troops in the Deccan were confined to their own districts, the northern Circars, under M. Conflans.
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Nizam Ally, soon after he reached Burhanpoor, exacted a heavy contribution from that city, and Mohummud Anwar Khan, the person who, forty years before, had contributed by his advice to obtain the Chouth and Surdeshmookhee for the Mahrattas, is said to have died in consequence of the harsh treatment to which he was subjected. With the money thus obtained, Nizam Ally began to raise troops. He was shortly after again joined by Ibrahim Khan Gardee with his corps, when he quitted Burhanpoor and took up a position about one hundred miles south of that city, at the town of Basum. The minister, Busalut Jung, instigated Janojee Bhonslay, Sena Sahib Soobeh, to attack his brother; accordingly, Bappoo Kurundeea, one of Janojee’s officers, intercepted his artillery, which was coming to join him from Burhanpoor, and took the whole of it. In consequence of this aggression, Nizam Ally made a sudden march towards Ankolah, which he surprised and plundered, but being attacked by a superior force, under Janojee in person, he retired on Burhanpoor, for the purpose of equipping some guns for Ibrahim Khan. As soon as he had furnished himself with this auxiliary, invaluable against Mahrattas, he returned, attacked, and completely defeated Janojee’s army. His success soon obtained him friends; Janojee concluded an alliance with him, and he had received encouragement from the Peishwa. He had also been courted by the English, not in consequence of his victory, but as a son of Nizam Ool Moolk, who, beyond reconciliation, had committed himself with their enemies the French. As soon therefore as he understood that Sulabut Jung had quitted Hyderabad, for the purpose of assisting the garrison of Mausulipatam which was besieged by the English, Nizam Ally, after taking possession of Aurungabad, moved towards the capital.¹
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¹ Mahratta MSS., Orme, Khuzaneh Amirah, and Hudeequ-i-Alum.
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The advance of Nizam Ally hastened the conclusion of a treaty between Sulabut Jung and Colonel Forde, although Busalut Jung, who was partial to the French, endeavoured to obstruct the arrangement. The treaty did not provide for the assistance of the English against Nizam Ally; as every inducement on that point was resisted by Colonel Forde.² Sulabut Jung returned to Hyderabad, where, on the arrival of Nizam Ally, much dissension arose among the brothers, but Sulabut Jung was constrained to restore the office of Dewan to Nizam Ally, and Busalut Jung departed for his government, the seat of which was Adonee.
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² Orme.
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At the court of Poona the principal affairs of administration continued under the management of Sewdasheo Rao Bhow. His able coadjutor, Ramchundur Baba Shenwee, had been dead for four or five years, and his wealth, which was great, had been left at the disposal of the Bhow, who appropriated one-third for charitable and religious purposes, and shared the remainder equally with the son of the deceased. Sewdasheo Rao was violent and avaricious, but active and vigorous; and though proud and unbending in his character, he had a large share of good nature and of good sense. He was corrupt; but not in the opinion of his countrymen, for with them to take money for assistance or support in a good cause is legitimate and avowed; a principle which, if tolerated on whatever pretence in any public officer of a government, must soon spread universal peculation, bribery, and misrule.
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His friend Ramchundur warned him on his death-bed of the opposition and jealousy he might expect from Gopika Bye Rastia, the Peishwa’s wife, as soon as her children became of an age fit to be entrusted with public affairs. To prevent these, Sewdasheo Chimnajee was the first to propose that the Peishwa’s eldest son, Wiswas Rao, should be early employed, and he honourably endeavoured to instil into all the sons of his cousin the necessity of great acquirements for enabling them to fill the high stations to which they were born, and always recommended that they should be engaged in business and in war as early as possible. The affection which Ballajee Rao had always shown towards his cousin Sewdasheo Rao received a severe shock by his intended desertion when he went to Kolapoor; and notwithstanding the conduct of Sewdasheo Rao, both towards her sons and in the administration, the seeds of hatred, perceived by Ramchundur in the mind of Gopika Bye, grew up the more rank, when the actions of the minister were such as defied detraction and ought to have silenced her jealous fears. The activity and diligence of Sewdasheo Rao were a reproach to the less energetic disposition of the Peishwa; but independent of jealousy, where confidence has once been shaken, abundant materials for discord continually arise between a prince and his minister, without the influence of a woman’s wiles to blow it into flame.
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The forms of courtesy, and the appearance of perfect concord, continued until the return of Rugonath Rao from Hindoostan, when the minister having found reason to blame the expenditure and arrangement that had taken place during the campaign, by which a debt was brought against the state instead of booty to its coffers; Rugonath Rao told him ‘ he had better take command of the next expedition himself,’ and abruptly quitted the apartment; their dissensions continuing spread to the rest of the family, and soon became publicly known. Whether encouraged by the mere circumstance of their differences, without the connivance of any of the parties, or actuated solely by personal revenge, is not ascertained; but an attempt was made on the life of Sewdasheo Rao, instigated by Muzuffir Khan, the officer already mentioned as having been received into the Peishwa’s service after his dismissal from that of Sulabut Jung.
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Sewdasheo Rao did not approve of his being readmitted by Ballajee Rao; and Nizam Ally having dismissed the corps of Ibrahim Khan Gardee,¹ as a conciliatory concession to Sulabut Jung, they were immediately entertained by Sewdasheo Rao. Ibrahim Khan was the kinsman of Muzuffir Khan; but the latter, who had just returned from an expedition against a Koolee Raja near Surat, probably suspected that this measure was a prelude to his own supersession. The assassin he engaged, who was one of his own corps, attempted to strike the blow in a Durbar tent, pitched on the spot where the British troops are now cantoned, and where Sewdasheo Rao was seated for the transaction of public business. He would have effected his purpose; but Nagoojee Goozur, an active Sillidar, who stood behind the Bhow, seized the assassin's arm, and the point of the dagger caused but a slight wound in his back. The man was put to the torture, and confessed that he was employed by Muzuffir Khan. The latter, on being sent for, did not deny the fact; and, without further inquiry, he was instantly led out to execution, and put to death with the criminal he had hired.² A Purvoe in the employ of Muzuffir Khan, being also implicated, was thrown into a hill-fort, and never after heard of; the usual fate of state prisoners sent to hill-forts by the Mahratta Government.
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¹ [He was a clever and experienced artillery officer, who had been trained under Bussy, and brought to the Marāthās a good train of the light and mobile field-pieces which the French had introduced into the Nizam's army, and which had been one of the most important factors of their success. (Owen, Fall of the Moghul Empire, pp. 221, 222.)]
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² Mahratta MSS
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It having been determined that Sewdasheo Rao should take command of the army during the ensuing season, whilst the civil administration was committed to Rugonath Rao, the troops were assembled for the purpose of proceeding to the northward, when accounts arrived of the success of an intrigue for the surrender of Ahmednugur, which was betrayed into the hands of a Bramin agent of Sewdasheo Rao by Kuwee Jung, the Moghul Killidar, for a sum of money. A war with Hyderabad immediately ensued. Sulabut Jung and Nizam Ally were ill-prepared for this event; their army was in arrears and mutinous; an insurrection caused by Soorya Rao, the Deshmookh of Neermul, had just been quelled; and the resources of the country, during the late factious intrigues, had been neglected or wasted. But the disgrace of relinquishing without a struggle the ancient capital of the Nizam Shahee Kings, the reduction of which, a century and a half before, had cost so much Moghul blood, prevailed over the sober dictates of prudence, and the main army, without preparation or equipment, but with a vast quantity of baggage and cumbersome artillery moved towards Beder and thence to Dharoor. Sulabut Jung and Nizam Ally, attended by a small force of seven or eight thousand men, were moving towards Oodgeer.
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The Peishwa in person proceeded to Ahmednugur with a large army, intended as a reserve, whilst Sewdasheo Rao moved in an easterly direction, took the fort of Buhadurgurh on the Beema, and was on the borders of the Moghul territory when he received intelligence of the enemy's motions and position, as already described. He immediately detached a force in advance, when Sulabut Jung and Nizam Ally, instead of quitting the artillery which accompanied them, and pushing forward to their main body, took post at Oodgeer, and began to waste their ammunition in skirmishing with the Mahratta light troops. This injudicious conduct afforded Sewdasheo Rao leisure to bring up forty thousand horse; whilst the regular corps of infantry, five thousand strong, with a light artillery, under Ibrahim Khan Gardee, was advancing to reinforce him.
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A.D. 1760.—The brothers saw their error when too late; but they moved from Oodgeer, in hopes of being able to join their main body, or that troops from Dharoor would be sent to their support. In both these expectations they were disappointed; the troops at Dharoor, either entirely occupied in watching the motions of the Peishwa, or not apprised of their situation, made no effort to relieve them. The Moghul guns made little impression on the open straggling horse of the Mahrattas, but the constant skirmishing impeded the march, and in a few days Ibrahim Khan Gardee, with his infantry and guns, arrived. His artillery, which was served after the European manner, made great havoc on the crowded bodies of Moghul cavalry, and those who ventured to extend their order were immediately charged by the Mahrattas, whilst their grain and forage were effectually cut off. Nizam Ally attempted to negotiate, but Sewdasheo Rao desired him to surrender, a disgrace to which neither of the brothers would submit. A desperate charge was made on Ibrahim Khan's corps, which was completely broken, eleven of his standards taken, and many of his men killed: but this success was but of short duration; a body of Mahrattas attacked the right wing under Shoukut Jung and cut nearly three thousand Moghuls to pieces.
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Nizam Ally renewed his negotiations, and sent his seal of state as minister to Sewdasheo Rao, signifying that he left it to his generosity to make the terms. A treaty was accordingly concluded, by which the forts of Doulutabad, Sewneree, Asseergurh, and Beejapoor, were given up to the Mahrattas, the possession of Ahmednugur was confirmed, and districts yielded, which included the province of Beejapoor and a part of Beder ; together with the province of Aurungabad, excepting the city and two of its pergunnas, Hursoul and Sittarah. The annual revenue of these cessions¹ amounted to upwards of sixty-two lacks of rupees ; and, according to an obvious policy invariably observed by the Peishwas, forty-one lacks were given over as military Jagheer to his officers, who always shared in the advantage, or disadvantage, by territory acquired or lost. The Moghul possessions in the Deccan were now confined to an insulated space, which must, it seemed, be soon wholly overwhelmed. A compactness and power would thus be ensured to the Peishwa’s dominions, which promised to preserve the Bramin ascendancy, and spread the authority of Hindoos over the vast empire where they had for many centuries been a conquered people in their native land. The pre-eminence to which the Mahrattas had attained was animating and glorious ; their right to tribute was acknowledged on the banks of the Coleroon, and the Deccan horse had quenched their thirst from the waters of the Indus. The Mahratta people felt
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¹ Poonah Records.
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Sewdasheo Rao obtained these cessions in four separate deeds.
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| | | A. | P. |
| 1. In his own name | . . . . . | 1,97,499 | 5 | 0 |
| 2. In the name of the Peishwa’s second son | . | 20,44,115 | 14 | 1 |
| 3. In the name of the Peishwa’s third son | . | 35,02,247 | 14 | 0 |
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It is not known in whose name the other sunnud was issued, but the districts and the amount of their revenue are recorded as follows :—
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| Pergunna Meyhekur | . . | 1,73,269 | 15 | 2 |
| ——— Durrucheegaom | . . | 35,500 | 0 | 0 |
| Boolundee Burhanpoor | . . | 1,75,000 | 0 | 0 |
| Pergunna Purboney | . . | 55,524 | 9 | 0 |
| Chaloo Pytun and Ambad | . . | 52,000 | 0 | 0 |
| | | 4,92,294 | 8 | 2 |
| Total amount of cession | . | Rs. 62,36,157 | 9 | 3 |
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a pride in the conquests of their countrymen; and action, enterprise, and wealth raised them in political consequence above the mass of that humble race, who, by a system of opinions, stand fettered among nations in the growth of wisdom, and are content to live and to die in the same occupation, and with equal apathy, as their thousand progenitors. How far this stimulus in Maharashtra might ultimately have improved them, or elevated them in the scale of human nature, may be left to the consideration of those who indulge in such speculations; but in their conquests, certainly, no other nation can sympathize; they were not animated by that patriotism which devotes itself merely for its country's weal or its country's glory, the extension of their sway carried no freedom even to Hindoos, except freedom of opinion; and it rarely brought protection, or improved the habits and condition of the vanquished. Destruction, rapine, oppression, and tyranny were their more certain concomitants; and although entitled to the negative praise of not being blood-thirsty, they were unfeeling and ungenerous victors. The Mahratta people, however, who have not followed the profession of arms, and where families, unconnected with camps and courts, have lived content in the simple enjoyment of their hereditary rights and fields, are, except in one respect, their habitual disregard of truth, which is strangely contrasted with their probity in dealings with each other, a remarkably moral, kind, humane, and hospitable race.¹
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¹ [Compare Colonel Broughton's estimate of the Marāthā character : ‘I have never been able to discover any quality or propensity they possess which might be construed into a fitness for the enjoyment of social life. They are deceitful, treacherous, narrow-minded rapacious and notorious liars; the only quality they are endowed with, which could, according to our system of ethics, be placed to the credit side of the account, being candour; for there is not one of these propensities I have enumerated to which a Mahratta would not immediately plead guilty; in his idea of things they are requisite to form a perfect character; and to all accusations of falsehood, treachery, extortion, &c., he has one common answer: “Mahratta durbar hue” (’tis a Mahratta court).’ (Letters from a Mahratta Camp, ed. 1892, p. 79.) The author's judgment of the Marāthā government is fully corroborated by the testimony of Malcolm and Munro. See also Professor J. Sarkar's verdict at pp. 488-90 of Shivaji and His Times, Calcutta, 1919. As regards the Marāthā people no official who has served in the Deccan will dissent from the author's enumeration of their good qualities, and will assuredly add thereto their frugality and their uncomplaining courage in adversity.]
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Ballajee Rao had achieved a conquest by the exertions of his cousin, which afforded the highest gratification to his ambition; but it was not unalloyed. Accounts of great reverses were about the same time received from Hindoostan, which lead us back to notice the principal events that had taken place in that quarter.