A History of the Mahrattas v1.c27.5

v1.c27.5

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.