A History of the Mahrattas v2.c35.52

v2.c35.52

(A.D. 1776.)—The peace of Poorundhur was of the greatest consequence to the ministers, and the suppression of the insurrection under the pretended Sewdasheo Rao added materially to the stability of their government; they detached Bhew Rao Yeswunt Phansay into the Concan, who speedily reduced the forts garrisoned by the forces of the late insurgent; but their affairs to the southward were in a less prosperous state. Hyder had occupied the whole of the Peishwa’s districts south of the Toongbuddra; Bellary, in possession of a chief originally under the authority of Busalut Jung, had been taken by treachery; Gootee, after a respectable defence, was also acquired in a dishonourable manner, and Moorar Rao Ghorepuray was shamefully immured in the noxious atmosphere of an unhealthy hill-fort, where he perished. Under a pretended authority from Rugonath Rao,¹ Hyder advanced for the purpose of taking possession of the whole Mahratta country to the southward of the Kistna; and before the rains of 1776 he had pushed his conquests as far as the territory of the Nabob of Savanoor, but withdrew the greater part of his army to the south of the Toongbuddra during the monsoon. The ministers sent a small force under Koneir Punt Putwurdhun to drive Hyder’s garrison from Savanoor; but his troops were defeated, and Pandoorung Punt Putwurdhun,² the second in command, was taken prisoner by Mohurnmud Ally and Bajee Punt Burway³; the former, one of Hyder’s officers, the latter, the agent of Rugoba in command of a body of auxiliary Mahrattas,⁴ who acted in concert with Hyder’s troops. In the ensuing season the troops of Nizam Ally, under Ibrahim Beg (Dhonsa), and those of the Mahratta ministers under Pureshram Bhow Putwurdhun, took the field for the purpose of co-operating against Hyder; but the former was bribed, and the latter re-crossed the Kistna without risking an action. Hurry Punt Phurkay, after the rains of 1777, was detached into the Carnatic with the greater part of the disposable force, but met with no success. Mannajee Phakray, who had joined the army of the Poona ministry after the troops of his master Rugoba were disbanded at Surat, was induced by Bajee Punt Burway to unite with Hyder, and many of the Mahratta Mankurees had engaged to accompany him¹; but Hurry Punt defeated a part of the scheme for corrupting his army by an able retreat,² and shortly after extinguished the treacherous intrigues of his officers by seizing Yeswunt Rao Manay, the Deshmookh of Muswar, a powerful chief, and blowing him from a gun.³ But, besides the war with Hyder, other disturbances to the southward demanded the attention of the ministers.