A History of the Mahrattas v1.c30.38

v1.c30.38

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.