A History of the Mahrattas v1.c30: Chapter XXIII
A History of the Mahrattas v1.c30
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Chapter XXIII
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A.D. 1766.—Whilst universally admitted that unwieldy dominion is the forerunner of certain decline, it is not always considered that, under some circumstances, conquest may be too slow as well as too rapid. Illustrative of this observation we have some striking examples connected with the history of Maharashtra, particularly in the decay of the Portuguese and the rise of the Mahrattas. The middle course, as steered by the English, and the steady march of aggrandizement which they have hitherto pursued in the East, is to be ascribed to the remarkable men who have at various periods directed their councils and their armies; and to the caution of a body of merchants, who, though pleased at the gain, were appalled at the venture, and who feared the loss of all they had acquired by each succeeding contest into which they were plunged.
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Lord Clive, who returned from England to assume the government of Bengal in May, 1765, not only perceived that it was impossible for the English to recede, but was convinced that to advance was essential to their preservation. Of the three great powers, the Mahrattas, Nizam Ally, and Hyder, the first was considered the most formidable. As early as the end of the year 1761, immediately after the death of Ballajee Rao, when Mr. Vansittart was President of the Council in Bengal, it was intended to expel Janojee Bhonslay from Kuttack; and it was proposed, not only to the governments of Madras and Bombay, but to the Emperor of the Moghuls, to Sulabut Jung,¹ and Nizam Ally. Although the sister presidencies for various sufficient reasons disapproved of the expedition, it was prevented, not seemingly on account of their disapproval, but at the request of the Nabob of Bengal.
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¹ This is another reason for supposing that there is a mistake of a year in stating Sulabut Jung’s confinement on the 18th July, 1761; such a circumstance must have transpired at Bengal long before 11th December, 1761, which is the date of the letter containing the proposal to the Bombay Government.
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The Court of Directors were desirous of seeing the Mahrattas checked in their progress, and would have beheld combinations of the other native powers against them with abundant satisfaction: but they were apprehensive of the consequences of granting a latitude to their own servants, or of being engaged as umpires or auxiliaries; and their instructions were designed to prevent their becoming involved in hostilities, especially as principals, in any case short of absolute defence. With these cautious views, however, they were anxious to attain two objects which they deemed of vital importance to their security; the first, of old standing, was one in which the Mahrattas were directly concerned, the possession of Salsette, Hog Island, and Caranja, in the neighbourhood of Bombay, which every year tended to render more important; the second, the accomplishment of which devolved more particularly on the presidency of Madras, was the occupation of the five districts formerly belonging to the French on the eastern coast of the Peninsula, best known as the Northern Circars. With respect to the first, the Mahrattas, though but a few years before they scarcely regarded the English, were now too jealous of their aggrandizement willingly to relinquish the islands alluded to; besides which, they attached peculiar value to these possessions as the fruits of their success against a European nation. In regard to the second, Guntoor, one of the five districts in question, was appropriated as the Jagheer of Busalut Jung. Nizam Ally, having at one time offered to farm the remaining four to the Nabob of Arcot, it was hoped he might allow the Company to occupy them on the same terms. But although the Madras government offered six times more than he had ever before received, he positively refused to rent them to the English. In consequence of this obstinacy on the part of Nizam Ally, Lord Clive determined to take possession of the districts at all events, and for this purpose obtained a grant of them from the Emperor. The Madras government occupied Rajamundree by force, and it is not surprising that Nizam Ally should have treated as mockery all assurances of their being actuated solely by motives of self-preservation.
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Encouraged by the deference with which representations were still made to him by the English, and by his alliance with the Mahrattas, Nizam Ally threatened the English with extirpation, and endeavoured to incite Hyder to invade the Carnatic. The Madras presidency, in considerable alarm, tried to form an alliance with Hyder, but he refused to receive the envoy. In this dilemma, Mr. Palk, the Governor of Madras, referred to Lord Clive, who recommended a connection with the Nizam, which should have for its object the subjugation of Hyder, and an alliance for restraining the spreading power of the Mahrattas.
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The prospect thus held out to Nizam Ally precisely suited his views. He wished to reduce Hyder and to humble the Mahrattas; he knew the value of regular troops, and he readily listened to the proposals of the English; but as he had already leagued himself with the Mahrattas against Hyder, he deemed it most advisable not to break with Mahdoo Rao, until he had effected the overthrow of the usurper of Mysore. A treaty, however, was concluded between Nizam Ally and the English, by which the Madras government agreed to pay seven lacks of rupees a year for four of the districts, or to assist Nizam Ally with two battalions of infantry and six pieces of cannon. In case the troops should be required, the seven lacks of rupees were to be appropriated for their expenses.
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A.D. 1767.—The Mahratta court seem to have perceived the object of this combination, and Mahdoo Rao, without waiting for his ally, if such he could be termed, crossed the Kistna in the month of January, and before the end of March took Sera, Ouscotta, and Mudgerry, released the Ranee of Bednore¹ and her adopted son, who had been confined in Mudgerry, and after levying thirty lacks of rupees² of tribute from Hyder and collecting nearly seventeen³ more from different parts of the Carnatic, was prepared to return to Maharashtra before Nizam Ally had made his appearance. When the English and Nizam Ally wished to have brought forward their pretensions to share in the Mahratta tribute, their envoys were treated with broad and undisguised ridicule.¹ It is not positively known whether Mahdoo Rao was apprised of the ultimate design of the alliance between Nizam Ally and the English, nor is it ascertained what agreement existed between Nizam Ally and the Mahrattas, but we have an unsupported assertion of Nizam Ally’s minister, Rookun-ud-dowlah, that his master had been duped by the Mahrattas for the third time²; at all events it could not have escaped the observation of Mahdoo Rao, that the English in the war against Hyder voluntarily appeared as auxiliaries to one of two contracting parties, and that, upon the subjugation of Hyder, Nizam Ally, by the English aid, could dictate, as the Mahrattas probably otherwise would have done, in any partition of his territories. This proceeding, therefore, on the part of Mahdoo Rao, which has been alluded to as ordinary Mahratta artifice to anticipate the plunder,³ was a measure perfectly justifiable for the purpose of effecting an important political object and disconcerting the plans of his enemies. He recrossed the Kistna in the end of May, leaving the Moghuls and their allies to settle with Hyder as they best could.
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¹ She died on the way to Poona.—Mostyn’s Dispatches.
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² Poona State Accounts. Colonel Wilks says, thirty-five lacks, and that Sera was at that time given up to Hyder in exchange for Gurumconda. Of this last transaction no mention is made in the state records, or in the dispatches of Mr. Mostyn, resident at Mahdoo Rao’s court.
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³ Rupees 16,95,777.
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¹ Wilks, vol. ii, page 16.
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² Wilks, vol. ii, page 15. The reader has it in his power to judge of the occasions to which Rookun-ud-dowlah alluded, first, in regard to Rugonath Rao, and second, in the late campaign against Janojee Bhonslay.
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³ Wilks, vol. ii, page 6.
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The subsequent treachery of Nizam Ally in joining Hyder against the English,⁴ and the circumstances which induced him, by a fresh act of treachery, to desert Hyder and renew the treaty with the English, have been elsewhere distinctly and fully recorded⁵; and as they belong not to this history, it is only necessary to mention, in order to preserve a connection with subsequent events, that a new treaty was concluded on the 23d February, 1768, between Nizam Ally and the English, which, though framed on the basis of that which was settled in 1766, differed from it in some very essential particulars; the most remarkable of which was their arrogating to themselves the right and the power to dispose of Hyder’s territories. The treaty declared Hyder a usurper; the Carnatic Balaghaut was taken from him by Nizam Ally, as Moghul viceroy in the Deccan, and the office of Dewan for the future management of that territory conferred upon the English Company, for which they agreed to pay an annual tribute of seven lacks of rupees. Nizam Ally further consented to cede Guntoor, the remaining district of the Northern Circars, upon the death or misconduct of his brother Busalut Jung. The Mahrattas, without having applied to become parties to this absurd treaty, were by a special clause to be allowed their Chouth from the territory thus disposed of. The Peishwa had no interference in the warfare which continued for some time between the English and Hyder; the line of conduct which he adopted, and which will be explained in the regular narrative of events, may be ascribed partly to policy, but principally to the internal situation of his empire.
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⁴ [The joint forces of the Nizām and Haidar Alī were severely defeated at Trinomalai by Colonel Joseph Smith. But early in 1769 Haidar Alī appeared before Madras and dictated a treaty to the Madras Government, which ended the First Mysore War.]
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⁵ See Colonel Wilks’ South of India, vol. ii.
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Rugonath Rao in the preceding year, after the campaign against Janojee, had set out on an expedition into Hindoostan, accompanied by Mulhar Rao Holkar. The prosecution of an intended reduction of many places formerly in the possession of the Mahrattas, or tributary to them, was obstructed in the first instance by the death of Mulhar Rao Holkar. His grandson Mallee Rao, only son of Khundee Rao and a minor, succeeded to his possessions, but died soon after, which gave rise to a dispute between Gungadhur Yeswunt the Dewan and Aylah Bye¹ the widow of Khundee Rao, now lawful inheritor. The Dewan proposed that some connection of the family should be adopted by the widow; but to this Aylah Bye, although her Dewan’s proposal was approved of by Rugonath Rao, would by no means consent. Supported by her own troops, by the Peishwa, and by the voice of the country, she appointed Tookajee Holkar,² an experienced Sillidar, a great favourite with the late Mulhar Rao, but no relation of the family, to the command of her army, retaining under her own management the civil administration of the extensive family Jagheer. To the death of Mulhar Rao Holkar may probably be attributed the inactivity of the Mahrattas¹ during this campaign, and the failure of Rugonath Rao in an attempt to reduce the Rana of Gohud,² a petty chieftain of the Jhat tribe, whose uncle rose into notice under the Peishwa Bajee Rao, but who, upon the defeat of the Mahrattas at Panniput, rebelled against them. Rugonath Rao, after a protracted siege of the town of Gohud, accepted a tribute of three lacks of rupees, and shortly after proceeded towards the Deccan, where he arrived in the month of August, some time after the Peishwa’s return from the Carnatic. On Mahdoo Rao’s intimating his intention of meeting his uncle at Toka, the latter strongly suspected that there was a plan laid for seizing him. The fact appears to have been that Rugonath Rao’s views, at the suggestion of Anundee Bye, were directed to dividing the sovereignty of the empire, and conscious that attempts to strengthen his party had been discovered, he dreaded the consequences. Mahdoo Rao intended to make a last effort to reclaim his uncle, to repeat his offers of conceding a principal share in the administration, or to give him a handsome but moderate establishment in any part of the country where he might choose to reside. It was not easy to overcome Rugonath Rao’s suspicions so far as to induce him to meet Mahdoo Rao, but an interview was at length effected by the mediation of Govind Sew Ram.³
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¹ [This is the famous Ahalya Bāī, who governed the Indore State from the death of Malhār (Mulhar) Rāo in 1765 until her own death in 1795. For a full account of her character and achievements see Malcolm, *A Memoir of Central India*, 3rd ed., 1832, vol. i, pp. 157–95.]
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² Tookajee Holkar paid a Nuzur or fee to the Peishwa’s government, on being appointed commander of Mulhar Rao’s troops, of Rs. 15,62,000. (State Accounts, Poona Records.)
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¹ The reader acquainted with the history of British India will recognize the first appearance of Rugonath Rao’s army in Bundelcund as that which occasioned the alarm at Korah during a period of serious commotion. See Mill’s British India, vol. ii, page 251.
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² [Gohad (Gohud) lies between Etāwah (Itāwa) and Gwālior, twenty-eight miles north-east of the latter. The chief, originally an obscure Jāt landholder, rose to power during the confusion of the eighteenth century, and allied himself with the British in 1789 (Thornton, Gazetteer, s.v. ‘Gohad,’ quoted in Sleeman’s Rambles, &c., ed. V. A. Smith, 1915, p. 270). Gohad was ceded to Sindia by Sir George Barlow, according to an arrangement made in 1805, during the brief and inglorious second term of office of Lord Cornwallis.]
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³ Mr. Mostyn, the British envoy at the court of Poona, says, by the mediation ‘of Sukaram Bappoo.’ (Secret Dispatches, dated Poona, 5th December, 1767.) Sukaram, according to his usual duplicity, was intriguing with both parties, that he might at all events be able to retain his place. He would not incur the risk of interference in a reconciliation which he foresaw would only be temporary. Mr. Mostyn also states that ‘Mahdoo Rao, instigated by his mother, certainly had intentions
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Rugonath Rao at first refused all offers, and expressed his determination to retire to Benares. Mahdoo Rao replied that he thought such a resolution extremely proper, and indeed that he must either take the share of the administration which was proposed, or have no interference whatever in the government. To this last proposal Rugonath Rao, piqued at the decided tone which his nephew had assumed, affected the readiest compliance, and gave orders to his officers, in charge of the forts of Ahmednugur, Sewnweree, Asseergurh and Satara, to obey the orders of Mahdoo Rao;—he declared that all he desired, before renouncing the world, was the payment of the arrears due to his troops and a suitable provision for his family and attendants. Mahdoo Rao agreed to pay twenty-five lacks of rupees in three months, to place at his disposal a Jagheer, situated about the source of the sacred river Godavery, yielding twelve or thirteen lacks of rupees of annual revenue and including six forts, amongst which were Trimbuck, Oundha, and Putta¹; but Rugonath Rao was dissatisfied, and only sought a fit opportunity to assert his claim to half of the Mahratta sovereignty.
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¹ Mahratta MSS. and Bombay Records.
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Mahdoo Rao at this period was courted by the English and Mohummud Ally on the one part, and by Nizam Ally and Hyder on the other. Mr. Mostyn was sent to Poona by the Bombay government, for the purpose of ascertaining the Peishwa’s views and of using every endeavour, by fomenting the domestic dissensions or otherwise, to prevent the Mahrattas from joining Hyder and Nizam Ally. An alliance was not to be resorted to, if it could be avoided, but if absolutely necessary, the conquest of Bednore and Soonda, regarding which the Mahrattas always regretted having been anticipated by Hyder, was to be held out as an inducement for engaging them in the English interests.²
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² [In their letter of instructions to Mr. Mostyn the Bombay Government remarked that the growing power of the Marāthās was a subject much to be lamented, ‘and has not failed to attract our attention as well as that of the Presidencies of Madras and Bengal, inasmuch as that nothing either in their power or ours would be omitted to
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of seizing his uncle at that interview’; but as he mentions this on hearsay evidence, respecting an intention, and that too relating to what had taken place prior to his arrival at Poona, although his opinion has been generally followed on this point, I have preferred the authority of the natives of the country, who concur in imputing such a wish to Gopika Bye, but no such design to Mahdoo Rao.
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The Mahratta court evaded all decisive opinions or engagements, but candidly told the envoy that their conduct would be guided by circumstances. The Peishwa, however, could not quit the Deccan whilst his uncle's conduct manifested symptoms of hostility; and Sukaram Bappoo's intentions, always affectedly mysterious, continued equivocal.
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Towards the end of the fair season Rugonath Rao had assembled a force of upwards of fifteen thousand men, with which, in hopes of being joined by Janojee Bhonslay, he encamped, first on the banks of the Godavery, and afterwards in the neighbourhood of Dhoorup, a fort in the Chandore range. It was at this period, when despairing of having another son, that Rugonath Rao adopted Amrut Rao, the son of a Concan Bramin, whose family surname was Bhooskoottee. His principal supporters in rebellion were Dummajee Gaekwar, who sent him some troops under his eldest son Govind Rao, and Gungadhur Yeswunt, the Dewan of Holkar, who was not only a zealous partisan of Rugonath Rao, but entertained a personal pique against the Peishwa, the origin of which is too remarkable to be omitted. At a public Durbar in Poona, after Rugonath Rao had retired from the administration, Gungadhur Yeswunt took an opportunity of saying, in a contemptuous manner, ‘that in the present affairs his old eyes could distinguish the acts of one who only saw with the eyes of a boy’; Mahdoo Rao, to the astonishment of all present, jumped from the musnud, or cushion of state, on which he sat, and struck him a violent blow on the face; a singular instance of the effects of anger in a Bramin Court, among a people remarkable for their decorum.
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Mahdoo Rao, on hearing of the formidable rebellion under his uncle, in order to anticipate a design formed on the part of Janojee Bhonslay to support him, immediately marched to Dhoorup, where he attacked and defeated Rugonath Rao's troops, forced him to seek shelter in the fort, obliged him to
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check the same as much as possible.’ Mr. Mostyn reached ‘a pagoda called Ganeshkhind within one kos of Poona’ on November 29, 1767, and resided at Poona for three months, during which period he had many interviews with the Pēshwā. The negotiations proved fruitless, for both the English and the Marāthās were watching the general tide of events. (Forrest's Selections (Marāthā Series), xi–xii.) [The modern residence of the Governor of Bombay, which he is accustomed to occupy during the monsoon months, is situated at Ganeshkhind.]
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surrender, conveyed him a prisoner to Poona, and confined him in the Peishwa’s palace.
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The season of the year prevented Mahdoo Rao from taking immediate notice of the hostile intentions of Janojee, but he was publicly engaged in negotiations with Nizam Ally and with Hyder, in which he had a triple object: his chief design was to punish Janojee, and his first care was to engage Nizam Ally in an alliance for that purpose; the second was to draw the tribute from Mysore without the necessity of sending Gopaul Rao’s army from Merich, as Hyder, fully occupied in the war with the English, might be thrown off his guard by his extreme anxiety to procure the aid of the Mahrattas; the third object was to deter the Bengal Government from entering on an alliance earnestly solicited by Janojee, from the fear that Mahdoo Rao, aided by Hyder and Nizam Ally, would ruin the Company’s affairs on the coast of Coromandel before their forces from Bengal could join Janojee in Berar.
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A.D. 1769.—The Governor and Council at Bombay, although the agent then at Poona, Mr. Brome, reported precisely as Mahdoo Rao wished him to believe, being less directly interested than Madras, were the first to perceive the depth of this well-planned scheme; and Hyder, as soon as his eyes were opened by finding that the tribute was required as a prelude to the Mahratta alliance, improved on the deception and endeavoured to turn the reports then in circulation to his own advantage, by drawing the presidency of Madras into an alliance with himself.¹
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¹ Colonel Wilks has overlooked the Bombay letters on this point. Hyder was certainly a master at left-handed diplomacy. See Wilks’ South of India, vol. ii, page 117.
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Mahdoo Rao, when he gave out that his preparations were intended to assist Hyder, amongst other stratagems to mask his real designs, sent his fleet to cruise off Bombay harbour; but Visajee Punt, the commander from Bassein, on being called upon by the Governor and Council to explain his conduct, gave as an excuse that he was watching two Portuguese ships, and assured the President that the Peishwa had no intention of breaking with the English. This assurance strengthened their opinion and was soon confirmed by reported commotions, the preparations of Janojee Bhonslay, and the advance of a combined army of Mahrattas and Moghuls under the Peishwa and Rookun-ud-dowlah towards Nagpoor.
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Janojee laid a judicious plan for the campaign, and opposed the invaders on the old Mahratta system, in which Mahdoo Rao was less experienced than in the half regular kind of warfare to which his attention had been directed. The artillery, the Arabs, and the infantry partially disciplined, the numerous tents, and the heavy equipments of the Peishwa and Rookun-ud-dowlah, unfitted them for the active war of detachments which Janojee pursued.
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The combined armies entered Berar by the route of Basum and Kurinja. Naroo Punt, the Soobehdar of the province on the part of Janojee, attempted to oppose them, but was defeated and killed; his nephew, Wittul Punt Bullar, retired towards Nagpoor, where Janojee and Moodajee, with their families and baggage, were encamped. As the Peishwa advanced they moved off to the westward, and as no attempt was made to cut them off from Gawelgurh, as soon as Mahdoo Rao passed to the eastward, they lodged their families and baggage in that fortress, and were joined at Wuroor Zuroor by their brother Sabajee at the head of a large detachment. Mahdoo Rao plundered Nagpoor, Janojee made no attempt to save it, but moved to Ramteek, where his whole force united; Bimbajee, the fourth brother, having joined from Chhutteesgurh, Janojee then made a feint, as if intending to proceed towards the Peishwa’s districts to the northward. Mahdoo Rao, however, was not tempted to follow him; he placed *Thannas* in various districts, collected the revenue all over the country, and laid siege to Chandah. Janojee in the meantime wheeled off to the westward, and marching with extraordinary diligence passed Ahmednugur, and began to plunder the country on the route to Poona. Mahdoo Rao had at one time proposed, after his capital was destroyed by Nizam Ally, to surround it by a strong wall, but this design was on mature consideration abandoned, lest it should ultimately occasion irreparable loss, by holding out a security to property which was best ensured by a dependence on the strong hill-forts of Singurh and Poorundhur. The inhabitants, on Janojee’s approach, sent off their property as usual, and Mahdoo Rao, as soon as he was apprised of the route he had taken, sent Gopaul Rao Putwurdhun and Ramchundur Gunnesh with thirty thousand horse in pursuit of him; but Janojee still plundered in the neighbourhood of Poona, and Gopaul Rao was justly accused of being secretly in league with him. The Peishwa and Rookun-ud-dowlah raised the siege of Chandah; Janojee moved towards the Godavery, pretending that he was about to give fair battle to the Peishwa in the absence of Gopaul Rao, whom he left at some distance in the rear. Nothing, however, was farther from his intention; he passed the Peishwa’s army near Mahoor, but detached Bappoo Kurundeea by a circuitous route, who suddenly fell upon the baggage and succeeded in carrying off a portion of it. Both parties, however, were tired of the war, they had each sustained heavy loss; and Janojee, although hitherto as successful as he could have expected, was sensible that if hostilities continued they must end in his ruin; but his principal alarm was caused by some intrigues with his brother Moodajee, and he readily embraced the first overtures of pacification afforded by a message from Mahdoo Rao. A treaty, or in the language of the Peishwa who did not admit the independence which treaty implies, an agreement was concluded on terms extremely favourable to the Peishwa on the 23d March,¹ eleven days prior to the masterly manœuvres by which Hyder Ally dictated a peace to the English at the gates of Madras.
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¹ 14th Zilkad, Soorsun 1169. The Bombay Records mention the treaty between the Peishwa and Janojee as having taken place 23d April; in which, if there be no error in my calculation, they have made a mistake by one month.
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The agreement between Mahdoo Rao Peishwa and Janojee Bhonslay, Sena Sahib Soobeh, was concluded at the village of Kunkapoor, on the north bank of the Beema near Brimeshwur, and consisted of thirteen articles, by which Janojee restored the remainder of the districts he had received for deserting the Moghuls at Rakisbone, and gave up certain sequestrated shares of revenue, or an equivalent for what rightfully belonged to Futih Sing Bhonslay, Raja of Akulkote. The tribute of Ghas Dana, hitherto levied by the Sena Sahib Soobeh, from the Peishwa’s districts in Aurungabad, was discontinued, and in lieu of such tribute due from any other district belonging to the Peishwa or Nizam Ally, a stipulated sum was to be fixed and paid by an order upon the collectors; but in case the Moghuls should not pay the amount, the Sena Sahib Soobeh should be at liberty to levy it by force; he was neither to increase nor diminish his military force without permission from the Peishwa, and to attend whenever his services were put in requisition; to protect no disaffected Sillidars, nor to receive deserters from the Peishwa’s army; to maintain no political correspondence with the Emperor of Delhi, the Soobehdar of the Deccan, the English, the Rohillas, and the Nabob of Oude. A Wukeel was permitted to reside with the English in Orissa and at the Court of Nizam Ally, but his business was to be strictly confined to revenue affairs. Janojee Bhonslay also submitted to pay a tribute of rupees, five lacks and one (500,001), by five annual instalments.¹ On the other hand, the Peishwa agreed not to molest Janojee’s districts by marching his forces towards Hindoostan by any unusual route; to pay no attention to the pretensions of his relations, as long as he continued their just rights;—he was to be permitted to send a force against the English, who were represented as troublesome in Orissa, provided his troops were not required for the service of the state. There are a variety of other items mentioned in the agreement, but the above are the most important; the form of the Sena Sahib Soobeh’s dependence upon the Peishwa is maintained throughout; but it seems more particularly marked, by avoiding the usual terms of an offensive and defensive alliance, instead of which the Peishwa agrees, at the request of the Sena Sahib Soobeh, to assist him with troops in case of an invasion of his territories by any other power.
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¹ This payment of five lacks is the only part of the agreement which came to the knowledge of the Bombay government.
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Of the advantages obtained by Mahdoo Rao, Nizam Ally received three lacks of rupees of annual revenue; and one lack was conferred on his minister, Rookun-ud-dowlah.²
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² Mahratta MSS. and copies of original agreements from the Poona records.
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After the close of the campaign against the Raja of Berar, the Peishwa sent an army into Malwa, under the command of Visajee Kishen Beneewala, accompanied by Ramchundur Gunnesh, Tookajee Holkar, and Mahadajee Sindia. Their proceedings will be hereafter detailed; but some circumstances connected with the last-mentioned person, domestic affairs at Poona, and operations in the Carnatic, demand our previous attention.
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Mahadajee Sindia, after the death of his nephew Junkojee, although his illegitimacy was against his succession, had by his services and qualifications established claims to the family Jagheer, which it would have been both impolitic and unjust to set aside, especially as there was no legitimate descendant of Ranoojee alive. His birth tended greatly to lower his respectability in the eyes of the Mahratta Sillidars, a circumstance which was a cause of Sindia’s subsequent preference for Mahomedans and Rajpoots, and occasioned an alteration in the constitution of his army. Rugonath Rao, seemingly without any reasonable cause,¹ wished to see him appointed merely the guardian of his nephew, Kedarjee Sindia, the eldest son of Tookajee; an arrangement of which the Peishwa disapproved; and this difference of opinion not only widened the breach between Mahdoo Rao and his uncle, but ever after inclined Mahadajee Sindia to Nana Furnuwees, Hurry Punt Phurkay and several others, the ostensible Carcoons, but the real ministers of Mahdoo Rao.
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¹ Many years after this period, in a dispatch from Colonel Palmer, resident at Poona, 8th June, 1798, it is mentioned, that Rugonath Rao conferred Sindia’s Jagheer on Mannajee Phakray; but the Mahratta manuscripts do not allude to such a transaction.
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When ordered to Hindoostan on the expedition just adverted to, after all the commanders had obtained their audience of leave, Mahadajee Sindia, presuming on the favour shown to him, continued to loiter in the neighbourhood of Poona. Mahdoo Rao, who at all times exacted strict obedience from his officers, had particularly desired that they should proceed expeditiously, in order to cross the Nerbuddah before there was a chance of obstruction by the swelling of the rivers from the setting-in of the south-west monsoon; but two or three days afterwards, when riding out to Theur, his favourite village, thirteen miles from Poona, he observed Sindia’s camp still standing without the smallest appearance either of movement or preparation. He sent instantly to Mahadajee Sindia, expressing astonishment at his disobedience and presumption, and intimating that if on his return from Theur he found a tent standing, or his troops in sight, he should plunder his camp and sequestrate his Jagheer. Mahadajee took his departure promptly; but this well-known anecdote, characteristic of Mahdoo Rao, is chiefly remarkable from the contrast it presents to the future power of Mahadajee Sindia at the Mahratta capital.
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The Peishwa seized every interval of leisure to improve the civil government of his country. In this laudable pursuit he had to contend with violent prejudices and with general corruption; but the beneficial effects of the reforms he introduced are now universally acknowledged, and his sincere desire to protect his subjects by the equal administration of justice reflects the highest honour on his reign. His endeavours were aided by the celebrated Ram Shastree, a name which stands alone on Mahratta record as an upright and pure judge, and whose character, admirable under any circumstances, is wonderful amidst such selfishness, venality, and corruption as are almost universal in a Mahratta court. Ram Shastree, surnamed Parboney, was a native of the village of Maholy near Satara, but went early to Benares, where he studied many years, and upon the death of Bal Kishen Shastree about the year 1759 was selected for public employment at Poona, without either soliciting or declining the honour of being placed at the head of the Shastrees of the court. As Mahdoo Rao obtained a larger share of power, Ram Shastree was at great pains to instruct him, both in the particular branch which he superintended and in the general conduct of administration. An anecdote related of him is equally creditable to the good sense of himself and his pupil. Mahdoo Rao, in consequence of the conversation of several learned Bramins, had for a time been much occupied in expounding and following the mystical observances which the Shasters enjoin. Ram Shastree perceived that to oppose this practice by ordinary argument would only lead to endless disputes with Mahdoo Rao, or rather with his associates; but one day, having come into the Peishwa’s presence on business and found him absorbed in the contemplation enjoined to Hindoo devotees,¹ during which all other faculties are to be suspended, the Shastree retired; but next day, after making the few arrangements necessary, he went to the Peishwa and formally resigned his office, which is politely expressed by intimating an intention of retiring to Benares. Mahdoo Rao immediately apologized for the apparent impropriety of his conduct the day before, by stating the cause, which he defended as excusable and praiseworthy. ‘It is only so,’ replied Ram Shastree, ‘provided you entirely renounce worldly advantages. As Bramins have departed from the ordinances of their faith and assumed the office of Rajas, it becomes them to exercise power for the benefit of their subjects, as the best and only apology for having usurped it. It behoves you to attend to the welfare of your people and your government; or, if you cannot reconcile yourself to those duties, quit the Musnud, accompany me, and devote your life strictly to those observances, which, I fully admit, our faith enjoins.’ Mahdoo Rao acknowledged the justness of the rebuke, and abandoned the studies which had misled him.
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¹ That sort of contemplation which the Mahrattas express by the single word Jhep.
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The benefits which Ram Shastree conferred on his countrymen were principally by example; but the weight and soundness of his opinions were universally acknowledged during his life; and the decisions of the Punchayets, which gave decrees in his time, are still considered precedents. His conduct and unwearied zeal had a wonderful effect in improving the people of all ranks; he was a pattern to the well-disposed; but the greatest man who did wrong stood in awe of Ram Shastree; and although persons possessed of rank and riches did, in several instances, try to corrupt him, none dared to repeat the experiment or to impeach his integrity. His habits were simple in the extreme; and it was a rule with him to keep nothing more in his house than sufficed for the day’s consumption.
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One of Mahdoo Rao’s first acts was to abolish the system of forcing the villagers to carry baggage, a custom then so prevalent in India that, when first done away in the Mahratta country by Mahdoo Rao, it occasioned discontent among the men in power, and many secretly practised it. But the Peishwa having intelligence of a quantity of valuable articles conveyed in this manner by order of Visajee Punt, Soobehdar of Bassein, seized and confiscated the whole; remunerated the people for being unjustly taken from their agricultural labours, and at the same time issued fresh orders, which none who knew his system of intelligence ventured to disobey.¹
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¹ Some say that Mahdoo Rao exacted a heavy fine, besides confiscating the property.
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In the ensuing fair season, Mahdoo Rao had leisure to turn his attention to affairs in the Carnatic. Hyder, after concluding peace with the English and obtaining a promise of their eventual support, was under no alarm at the prospect of a war with the Mahrattas. He not only evaded their demands for the payment of arrears of tribute, but levied contributions upon some of the Polygars, tributary to the Peishwa; an encroachment which Mahdoo Rao was not of a disposition to tolerate. In the month of November he sent forward a large body of horse under Gopaul Rao Putwurdhun, Mulhar Rao Rastia, and the cousins of Gopaul Rao, viz. Puresham Bhow and Neelkunt Rao Putwurdhun.
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Mahdoo Rao followed at the head of thirty-five thousand men, of whom fifteen thousand were infantry. He rapidly reduced the two Balapoors, Kolhar, Nundedroog, Mulwugul,¹ and the greater part of the open country on the eastern boundary of Hyder’s territory, including sixteen forts, none of them considered of very great importance; and twenty-five fortified villages, of which he destroyed the greater part of the defences.² The fort of Mulwugul was carried by an assault led by two rivals of the Ghatgay family, of Boodh and Mullaoree. Their hereditary disputes, known to have existed from the time of the Bahminee dynasty, had been repeatedly revived in the Peishwa’s camp, but though settled by a punchayet in favour of Nagojee Raja, Joojhar Rao, the other branch of the family, the head of which was Bajee Ghatgay, being dissatisfied, both parties had solicited permission to decide the quarrel, according to the family privilege, ‘at the spear’s point,’ to which Mahdoo Rao would not consent; but when the assault was about to take place, it was proposed that of the two, he whose flag first appeared before the Juree Putka on the top of the rampart should be confirmed in all the hereditary privileges. One of the family who carried the flag of Bajee Ghatgay was killed; Dumdairay, the person who had charge of the Juree Putka, also fell, but Nagojee seized the standard, and planting his flag with his own hand hoisted the Juree Putka over it amidst an enthusiastic shout from the whole Mahratta army. Unfortunately the lustre of this gallant action was tarnished by the slaughter of the whole garrison.³
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¹ Wilks.
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² Bombay Records.
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³ Mahratta MSS., and a family legend known to every individual of the clan of Ghatgay, although in their usual loose way they mention different names for the fort which was the scene of Nagojee’s exploit.
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The Peishwa’s progress was for a time arrested at Nidjeeghul, a place of inconsiderable strength, which held out several months and repulsed two assaults made by the Mahrattas, in one of which Narrain Rao, the Peishwa’s brother, was wounded.¹ It was at last stormed by the Polygar of Chittledroog at the head of his Beruds,² a class of people who, as already noticed, are said to be originally Ramoossees from Maharashtra.
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¹ By a bullet in the hand. Mahratta MSS.
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² Wilks. The anecdote given by Colonel Wilks of the mutilation of the captive garrison is not preserved in the Mahratta country, therefore as a mere anecdote I am not authorized in repeating it, although it is very characteristic of the anger, the violence, and the generosity of Mahdoo Rao. There is, however, an anecdote given by Colonel Wilks, which I must remark, respecting Appajee Ram, vol. ii, page 14. It might do for the licentious court of Poona at any other period, but even if authentic, which I cannot discover, it conveys a wrong impression. Mahdoo Rao would excuse want of form and even an ebullition of anger, but he never tolerated indecency or impertinence. [See note on p. 264, ante, for Beruds.]
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Hyder, as the Mahrattas advanced on the east, retired to the westward, where the country being closer, their cavalry were prevented from acting against him with effect. He never ventured within twenty kos of Mahdoo Rao, as his infantry would not face the Mahratta horse on a plain; but a light force under Gopaul Rao, which was sent to watch his motions and ravage the country, was surprised and put to flight by Hyder on the night of the 3d and 4th March. This affair was attended by no advantage, the Mahrattas continued to plunder and ravage his territory, and Hyder hoped that they would retire to the northward of the Kistna on the approach of the south-west monsoon.³ But he was disappointed. The state of Mahdoo Rao’s health compelled him to return to Poona in the beginning of June; but he left the infantry and twenty thousand horse under Trimbuck Rao Mama to prosecute the war. Hyder offered to pay the Chouth, but would not restore the amount exacted from the Polygars, as he conceived their submission to his authority in 1762 gave him a right to the tribute he had levied.⁴
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³ Letters from the Bombay deputies, Mr. Richard Church and Mr. James Sibbald, from Hyder’s camp.
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⁴ Mahratta MSS. Bombay Records. Wilks.
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Trimbuck Rao, before the season when he might expect the return of the Peishwa, gained several advantages, reduced the fort of Gurumconda, and some other garrisons.
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Mahdoo Rao, as soon as the season permitted, marched from Poona, intending to have joined Trimbuck Rao, but being again taken ill he gave over the command to Appa Bulwunt, the son of that Bulwunt Rao who fell so much distinguished in one of the battles at Panniput. A.D. 1771. After the junction of Appa Bulwunt, the Mahratta army consisted of nearly forty thousand horse, with ten thousand infantry and some guns. Hyder, with twelve thousand horse and twenty-five thousand infantry, of whom fifteen thousand were regulars, and forty ¹ field guns, did not at first venture to take the field, and the Mahrattas encamped a short distance to the north of Seringapatam. Trimbuck Rao, in hopes of being able to draw Hyder from his position, retired a short distance to the northward, when Hyder, who always kept up a correspondence with some of the Mahratta officers,² is supposed to have been deceived by false information, and took the field, imagining that a great part of Trimbuck Rao’s force was detached.³ He was soon undeceived, and such was his impression, whether from having been formerly beaten by the Mahrattas or from want of confidence in his army, a circumstance rare in a good officer, this man, who had fought with skill and bravery against British troops, did not dare to risk a battle, and at last fled in the most dastardly and disorderly manner towards his capital. The whole of his guns were taken, some thousands of his men and fifteen hundred of his cavalry were destroyed; twenty-five elephants, several thousand horses, and the whole of his camp equipage, were the recorded trophies of the Mahrattas, who as usual boasted less of their victory than of their plunder.
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¹ Wilks. Mahdoo Rao says in a letter to the governor of Bombay, eight or ten thousand horse and forty-five guns.
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² His own letters to the Bombay government.
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³ Letter from Mr. Sibbald.
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After this success Trimbuck Rao invested Seringapatam, but being almost destitute of men capable of working his guns, the attempt was conducted with more than the usual absurdity of a Mahratta siege. It was disapproved by Mahdoo Rao whose object was to possess himself of Bednore and Soonda during the ensuing season. Trimbuck Rao, after wasting five weeks before Seringapatam, retired in the middle of April to Turry Ghuree,⁴ keeping a strong garrison in Belloor, and exacting heavy contributions in various directions.
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⁴ Probably Turry Kaira.
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Before the roads were completely occupied, Hyder, in the beginning of June, attempted to draw a convoy of military stores with twenty pieces of cannon from Bednore to Seringapatam, but the whole, including the escort that accompanied them, were intercepted; and at last, so effectually did the Mahrattas cut off the communication, that Hyder’s Hircarrahs were obliged to pass through the Koorga Raja’s country and descend the Ghauts in Malabar, as the only route to Bednore. On the 24th October the Mahrattas moved to Bangalore; Hyder, with about twenty thousand men of all descriptions, remained at Seringapatam strongly entrenched.¹ The only success which attended his arms during the whole season was achieved by his son Tippoo, who intercepted a very large convoy of grain proceeding towards the Mahratta camp. Hyder’s situation was considered critical, and a prospect of the total reduction of his country, which formed the only barrier between the Mahrattas and Madras, inclined the Bombay Government to afford him their assistance, but the territory² and subsidy, demanded as preliminaries on the one part, and the terms proposed on the other were out of all proportion; besides which, Hyder artfully endeavoured to make them principals in the war, by requiring of them to attack Salsette which at once put an end to the negotiation.
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¹ Mr. Sibbald’s Reports, and Mahratta MSS.
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² Mangalore and Pargurh on the coast were the places applied for.
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The Governor and Council at Madras deemed it of vital importance to support Hyder Ally, but they were prevented by the wishes of Mohummud Ally and the opinion of Sir John Lindsay, His Majesty’s minister plenipotentiary, both of whom, in the face of the late treaty with Hyder, urged the Madras Government to unite with the Mahrattas.³ But news of the increasing illness of the Peishwa, which was pronounced incurable in the month of March, alarmed all the Mahratta commanders at a distance from the capital; especially those who owed their situations exclusively to Mahdoo Rao. The design of reducing Soonda and Bednore was abandoned; and assigning as a reason that the Mahratta Sillidars were desirous to return to their homes, which was also perfectly true,
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³ Madras Records.
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A.D. 1772.
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Trimbuck Rao listened to Hyder’s overtures. Negotiations began in the middle of April, when the Mahrattas were in the neighbourhood of Bangalore; and a treaty was concluded in June, by which the Mahrattas retained the ancient possessions of the father of Sivajee,¹ besides Mudgerry and Gurumconda. Hyder likewise agreed to pay thirty-six lacks of rupees, as arrears and expenses, and fourteen lacks as the annual tribute, which he in future promised to remit with regularity;—all other Mahratta demands were to cease.²
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¹ Kolhar, Bangalore, Ouscotta, Balapoor and Sera.
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² Wilks mentions only thirty lacks (vol. ii, page 151), which may be correct, but the Mahratta MS. is here supported by the fact of there being forty-nine lacks and fifty thousand rupees debited to Hyder in the Mahratta state accounts, at the period of Mahdoo Rao’s death, for which, as it is regularly credited, they probably had some collateral security.
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Mahdoo Rao’s disease was consumption, but his health improved considerably during the monsoon, and great hopes were entertained of his recovery; the progress of his generals in Hindoostan had been still more important than his acquisitions in the Carnatic.
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The army which crossed the Nerbuddah in 1769, under Visajee Kishen as chief in command, consisted, when the whole were united in Malwa, of nearly fifty thousand horse. Visajee Kishen and Ramchundur Gunnesh, besides Pindharees, had twenty thousand horse, of which fifteen thousand belonged to the Peishwa. With Mahadajee Sindia there were fifteen thousand, and with Tookajee Holkar about the same number.³ There was also a large body of infantry with a numerous artillery,⁴ chiefly natives of Hindoostan and Malwa, including men of all casts. The Arabs, Abyssinians, and Sindians, of whom there was a small proportion, were accounted the best soldiers of the army, and were mostly obtained from the seaports of Cambay and Surat.
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³ Mahratta MSS. This agrees pretty nearly with the statement given by Nujeef Khan to General Barker in May, 1773; but by that time Ramchundur Gunnesh had returned with a party of the Peishwa’s horse to the Deccan, and the increase may be accounted for by numbers of Pindharees. See Appendix, No. 21, to the Fifth Report from the Committee of Secrecy.
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⁴ Mahratta MSS.
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For some time after the fatal field of Panniput, the Mahrattas, in consequence of their domestic struggles and the warfare to the south of the Nerbuddah, had little leisure to interfere with the politics of Hindoostan. Mulhar Rao Holkar on one occasion in the year 1764 joined the Jhats when besieging Delhi, but soon quitted them and returned to the Deccan.
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A body of Mahrattas from Bundelcund, or Malwa, took service with Shujah-ud-dowlah in the war against the English in 1765; but, excepting the temporary visit of Holkar to Delhi above alluded to, the Mahrattas had not crossed the Chumbul in force for upwards of eight years. The Abdallee king, after (1761.) the great victory he achieved, bestowed the throne of the Moghuls on the lawful heir, Shah Alum; but as that Emperor was then engaged in the well-known warfare against the Nabob of Bengal and the English, his son, the prince Jewan Bukht, assumed the ensigns of royalty during the Emperor's absence. Shujah-ud-dowlah, Nabob of Oude, was appointed Vizier, and Nujeeb-ud-dowlah Rohillah was restored to the dignity of Umeer Ool Oomrah. After which, Ahmed Shah Abdallee quitted Delhi and returned to his own dominions.
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Nujeeb-ud-dowlah remained with the young prince generally at the capital; but Shujah-ud-dowlah first repaired to his own government, and afterwards expelled all the Mahratta Carcoons, whom he still found remaining as collectors of revenue in the Dooab. He next proceeded to Benares, where, having been joined by the Emperor, they advanced together into Bundelcund, took Jhansee,¹ and would probably have driven the Mahrattas from that province; but in consequence of the flight of Meer Cassim from Bengal, Shujah-ud-dowlah, not content with affording him an asylum, espoused his cause against the English, a course of policy which led to his defeat at the battle of Buxar on the 23d October, 1764, when the Emperor for a time placed himself under the protection of the English.² A treaty with Shujah-ud-dowlah in August, 1765, restored to him the principality of Oude, which had been subjugated by the British arms, recognized his title as Vizier of the empire, and established an alliance with the Company's government.
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¹ Seyr Mutuakhereen.
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