Later Mughals v2.c14.s20: Sec. 45.—Mahratta Affairs After 1707.
Later Mughals v2.c14.s20
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Sec. 45.—Mahratta Affairs After 1707.
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As already recounted, there was now a contest for the throne between Mhd. Muazzam, the eldest, and Azam Shah, the second son of the deceased Emperor. The latter took possession of the imperial camp and with it of Rajah Sahu, who had recently been made over to the care of Zulfiqar Khan, son of the Wazir. On the march from Ahmadnagar to Agra, Sahu was released at the request of Zulfiqar Khan and allowed to return to the Dakhin. He left the camp when it was at Duraha and taking with him some fifty retainers made for the home of Mohan Singh zamindar, in the hills bounding sarkar Bijagarh and pargana Sultanpur-Nandurbar. Having been there provided with some supplies, he was passed on beyond Sultanpur, when he was assisted further by Ambu Pande, a Mahratta, who had a fort called Kokar-manda in pargana Sultanpur and lived by plundering the country from the port of Surat as far as Burhanpur. By these reinforcements he was enabled to reach his home country, where already many of the forts taken by Alamgir had again fallen into the hands of the Mahrattas. Such leaders as were lukewarm adherents of Tara Bai, the widow of Raja Ram, now came over gladly to Rajah Sahu. He marched to Ahmadnagar and visited the spot where Alamgir had died, and distributed gifts ; then he went towards Aurangabad and Daulatabad with the intention of making a pious visit to the tomb of that Emperor at Khuldabad. His followers began to plunder and the governor, Mansur Khan, prepared to resist. But Sahu restrained his men, and having carried out his purpose, returned to his own country.*
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In March 1708, after some feeble opposition by Tara Bai and her partisans, Sahu obtained possession of Satara and seated himself on the throne. It was at this time that a Brahman revenue collector first came to notice, one Balaji Bhat, son of Wishwanath, a man who afterwards became Peshwa or chief minister. In 1709 the contest with Tara Bai was continued ; but at the end of that year an agreement was come to with the Mughals, which obviated the necessity of deciding the rival claims. Daud Khan, the locum tenens of Zulfiqar Khan, governor of the Dakhin, agreed to allow the chauth, or one-fourth of the Dakhin revenues, to all leaders who acknowledged his protégé, Rajah Sahu; the money to be collected by and paid through the Mughal officials. In January 1712 Shivaji, son of Raja Ram and Tara Bai, died of smallpox; he was replaced as claimant to the throne by his half brother Sambhaji, son of Raja Ram by another wife, Rajis Bai.
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∗ The above is based on K. K. 582-'3 and Dil. 171b. Kokar-manda is on the north bank of the Tapti, 62 m.n.w. of Dhulia in Khandesh, and on the frontier of the Rajpipla State. The route given in Chitnis 8-9 is incredible. G. S. Sardesai misreads Khafi Khan and says, "Sahu.........came to Sujan Singh Rawal, a zamindar of the hilly country of Bijagarh, Sultanpur and Nandurbar, who lived in a fort at Lambkani, 7 or 8 kos from Dhulia." (Marathi Riyasat, i. 744). Other early helpers of Sahu are named in this work on the basis of Marathi records. Ambu Pande is corrected by Rajwade as Amrit Rao Kadam Bande. [J. S.]
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In 1713 after the execution of Zulfiqar Khan, his representative, Daud Khan, was removed from office; and the agreement with him being at an end, the Mahrattas resumed their old activity; Chandar Sen Jadon senapati, or commander-in-chief, was sent out to levy the Mahratta blackmail in the Dakhin province under the heads of chauth (one-fourth of the collections), sardeshmukhi (10 per cent. for the office of headman) and ghas dana* (or expenses). With him went Balaji Wishwanath, charged with attending to the interests of Rajah Sahu. A quarrel soon broke out between the two men, and Balaji was [defeated in the battle and] forced to flee for his life along with his two sons, Baji Rao and Chimnaji. He found a refuge in Pandav-garh.†
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† For a detailed and correct account of Balaji's early career, see G.S. Sardesai's Marathi Riyasat, ii. 17-40. Pandavgarh is near Wai. Sardesai gives Dec. 1710 as the date of this battle. [J. S.]
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Nizam-ul-mulk now became governor of the Dakhin (1713). At first he espoused the cause of Sambhaji, but after some fighting a compromise was arrived at. The contest among the Mahrattas themselves, however, continued and thereby Balaji managed to improve his position until [on the 16th Nov. 1713] he was appointed to the office of Peshwa. In 1719 a new viceroy came to the Dakhin in the person of Sayyid Husain Ali Khan Barha, Amir-ul-umara and chief Bakhshi of the Empire,—Daud Khan, who opposed his taking of possession, having been defeated and killed; the Sayyid's arms were turned against the Mahrattas. His efforts were attended with so little success that in the end he was glad to agree to terms. The chauth and sardeshmukhi were promised and certain so-called hereditary lands (swa-raj) were granted, and Husain Ali Khan then returned to Dihli. Although Farrukh-siyar refused to ratify this agreement, there can be little doubt that on the spot it was acted upon and in 1719, after the dethronement of Farrukh-siyar, the formal deeds were issued. Sahu promised in return to pay a peshkash of ten lakhs for the inherited domain and a fine on his appointment as sardeshmukh, to suppress depredation, either punishing the thieves or restoring the amount stolen, and to maintain 15,000 horse for the Emperor's service.*
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∗ Ghas dana, literally grass and grain, i.e., forage money, instituted in 1692. It was imposed by the Maratha officers for their own benefit, the chauth and sardeshmukhi being accounted for to the State.
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Soon there followed Nizam-ul-mulk's flight from Malwa, his successive defeats of Sayyid Dilawar Ali Khan and Alim Ali Khan, his appointment as Wazir, his final return to the Dakhin when he became in fact, if not in name, the independent ruler of the territories claimed by the Mughals. From this rapid summary it will be seen that up to 1670 the Mahrattas confined themselves to the western side of the Dakhin or roughly speaking to their own country of Maharashtra. The first exaction of one-fourth of the collections on a province immediately under the Mughals took place in 1670 during an excursion into Khandesh, the year in which Shivaji in person sacked Surat [for the second time]. As early as 1658 the Mahrattas seem to have employed a proportion of Muham-madans, but the superior commands were retained in the hands of Hindus. This seems to have been the case up to the end of their history as a conquering power. Their first incursion beyond or to the north of the Narmada (if we except a slight attack in 1720) did not occur until 1705, when Malwa and Gujarat were both overrun. These raids into Hindustan increased in frequency and extent as the years went on, until they became an annual infliction. We now purpose to give in somewhat more detail the course of events in the provinces of Gujarat, Bundelkhand and Malwa during the first half of Muhammad Shah's reign and their connection with the incursions of the Mahrattas. The persistent aggressions in the Mughal territories north of the Narmada, which now began, were continued until the rise of the British power, and were the outcome of a settled intention of over-running the Muhammadan dominions. The author of this far-reaching scheme was Baji Rao, who in the year 1720 succeeded his father, Balaji Wishwanath, in the office of Peshwa.
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∗ For full and correct details, Sardesai ii. 82-115. [J. S.]