A History of the Mahrattas v1.c29.8

v1.c29.8

No period indeed for the last forty years had been more favourable for the restoration of the Moghul authority in the Deccan. The loss of the battle of Panniput was imputed by the Mahratta Sillidars solely to the misconduct of the Bramins; the Bramins of the Desh, or country above the Ghauts, acknowledged the fact, but declared that it was to be ascribed entirely to the mismanagement of their brethren of the Concan. The violent party feelings, which arise under every government on occasions of reverses, were heightened in the loose confederacy of this nation by the prejudices of ignorance and of cast; under such circumstances, where so very few could distinguish between misfortune and misrule, dissension was a natural consequence. Nizam Ally was not yet sufficiently apprised of those dissensions¹ to reap advantage from them; but even if he had possessed the requisite information, one of his first acts, the destruction of the Hindoo temples at Toka, a village upon the Godavery, would have prevented his being joined by any party. It was nevertheless celebrated by the Mahomedan soldiery as a triumph, and Nizam Ally was pushing on towards Poona, when Ramchundur Jadow¹ and most of the Mahrattas in the Moghul service, disgusted by the insult offered to their religion, deserted to the Peishwa, and carried with them Meer Moghul, the youngest son of Nizam Ool Moolk.