A History of the Mahrattas v1.c9.70

v1.c9.70

The Mahrattas were naturally much more numerous in the armies of Beejapoor and Ahmednugur, as these kingdoms extended over almost the whole of Maharashtra, but some of them served in the army of Golcondah. Neither national sentiment nor unity of language and religion prevented their fighting against each other. Not only did Mahratta subjects of these governments stand in array opposed to each other, but the most active enmity was frequently evinced between members of the same family. They fought with rancour wherever individual dispute or hereditary feuds existed, and that spirit of rivalry in families, which was fomented by the kings of the Bahminee dynasty,¹ was one means of keeping the Mahrattas poised against each other in the dynasties which succeeded them.