Later Mughals v2.c14.s21.1

v2.c14.s21.1

After Shivaji's death in 1680, the first appearance of the Mahrattas in the subah of Gujarat seems to have been in the year 1702 when they levied a contribution from Surat; this was followed in 1705 by an irruption of 15,000 horsemen who defeated the faujdars at Baba Piara ford on the Narmada and carried slaughter wherever they went. Order was restored to some extent by Prince Azam Shah, who was at once appointed governor. From Alamgir's death (1707) up to the accession of Muhammad Shah (1719), the Mahrattas do not seem to have made any invasion on a large scale; but in the interval they had by small yearly expeditions succeeded in obtaining the chauth or fourth share from a great part of the province. The Mahrattas assert that their right to this tribute was confirmed at Dihli in 1719, when the deeds for the chauth on the six provinces of the Dakhin were executed. But this assertion is totally unproved and probably quite unfounded. From 1720, when Baji Rao succeeded his father Balaji in the office of Peshwa or chief minister of the Mahratta State, began a series of vigorous and sustained encroachments on the Mughal Empire north of the Narmada. This was in pursuance of a matured and far-reaching plan. As Baji Rao said to Rajah Sahu, "Let us strike at the trunk of the withering tree; the branches will fall of themselves. Thus should the Mahratta flag fly from the Krishna to the Indus." Thereupon the Rajah exclaimed enthusiastically: "You shall plant it upon the Himalayas!"