New History of the Marathas v1.c2: Preface
New History of the Marathas v1.c2
- Language
- English
Preface
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The great historian of the Rise of the Dutch Republic has truly marked : " The spectacle of a brave nation, inspired by the soul of one great man and rising against an overwhelming despotism, will always speak to the heart from generation to generation." This hope has inspired me to write my book. And there is a special need in the present condition of India why we should know and ponder on such a history. Maratha history is no longer the cherished treasure of a single community or province ; it should prove a source of inspiration, wisdom and warning to all India.
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The character and achievements of Shivaji and the Peshwas have left a permanent mark on the history of India. They form the most recent example of our genius for nation-making of which we today may well be proud. Of all the diverse races inhabiting the Indian Continent, each gifted with a peculiar trait of its own, the Marathas alone can claim to have made a distinct contribution to the political fortunes of this land by daring to establish Indian self-rule throughout the country, although measured by the length of time their construction proved too short-lived. For over half a century the politics of India were directed from Satara or Poona. The Maratha Government, with all its faults, inspired the people under its rule with a living sense of unity and co-operation without which no self-rule is attainable. It thus provided free scope for the energies of all classes of the people, each according to its natural bent. This is a political lesson which India sorely needs today. If the true function of history is to impart wisdom of the past for the benefit of the present, to warn a nation in the days of prosperity against the hidden dangers of creeping deterioration, as also to stimulate its courage and call forth its recuperative energy in times of adversity,—then India cannot afford to ignore the lessons which Maratha history has left behind in its short but eventful career. The inspiring careers of Shivaji and Baji Rao I, the daring planning and earnest execution of Madhav Rao I and Mahadji Sindia, contrasted with the vices and follies of Raghunath Rao Dada and Baji Rao II, convey a moral which modern India will be the wiser for laying to its heart.
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Unfortunately, however, no worthy narrative of Maratha achievements and failures has yet been written by weaving together all the fascinating and colourful material which the patient industry and critical acumen of modern scholars have made available to us. The subject still waits for scientific investigation by a trained mind endowed also with the constructive vision of a true historian. By far the largest proportion of the original sources exists in Marathi only, and they cannot reach workers ignorant of that language. On the other hand indigenous writers in Maharashtra are often handicapped by their ignorance of Persian, French and sometimes English also, and their want of access to essential books and manuscript records in these foreign languages; for we should never forget that the history of India in the eighteenth century is made up of the varying strands of the European and Indian powers struggling for dominion in this vast land, and each of them has left records of its transactions written in its native tongue, which cannot be left out of account.
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The historical ancestors of the Marathas such as the Mauryas, the Guptas, the Yadavas, the Parmars and others who had wielded the sceptre in this land at different times, have left very scanty records of their reigns. What remains to remind us of their times consists of a few cryptic inscriptions, fanciful eulogies (*prashasti*) of court poets, and a few old coins or stray notices of foreign travelers. No full and documented history can be built in such poverty of materials. But as the Maratha rule best known to us, happens to be a very modern phenomenon, there are available in the Marathi language the most valuable materials in the form of state-papers, news-reports, diplomatic despatches, legal decisions, diaries, chronologies, land-grants, official and private correspondence, military regulations, budgets and accounts. The enormous volume of these records can be judged from the fact that at a rough estimate they extend over a hundred thousand printed pages. This is a proud heritage of Maharashtra unshared by any other province of India.
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The first history of the Marathas worthy of the name was published by Captain James Grant Duff in three volumes as far back as 1826. Since then a vast amount of original material unknown to him has come to light. Historical research in our country has made phenomenal progress during the present century, with the effect of profoundly altering the objective of historical treatment. Besides fresh points of view are being forced on us by deep social changes bringing on a new mental outlook and by the advancing tide of research and criticism in this field as in others. As Goethe observes:
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“ History must from time to time be re-written, not because many new facts have been discovered, but because new aspects come into view, because the participant in the progress of an age is led to standpoints from which the past can be reviewed and judged in a novel manner.”
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My second justification for attempting this task can be best stated in the words of Professor Goldwin Smith : “ Each nation in the main writes its own history best ; it best knows its own land, its own institutions, the relative importance of its own events, the characters of its own great men. Each nation has also its peculiarities of view, its prejudices, its self-love, which require to be corrected by the impartial or even hostile view of others.”
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An extreme form of national pride had hitherto kept our modern Maratha historical workers back from using the English language, which is the only medium that can reach all parts of India and also make their researches available to the civilized world in general. The most glaring example of this mental attitude was the great explorer and life-long devotee of the muse of history in Maharashtra, the late Vishwanath Kashinath Rajwade. Had he and other workers of his school published the results of their investigations in English, instead of exclusively in Marathi, they would have reached students of history all over India and enabled Maratha history to become a fruitful subject of higher study and criticism in our Indian Universities, and thus speeded up a healthy advance in our knowledge of this subject. Rajwade’s scholarly dissertations on various historical topics, his illuminating discussions of problems of philology, grammar and religion as also the researches of the Poona Itihas Samshodhak Mandal, have for this reason remained a sealed book to all other provinces of India and indeed to the rest of the non-Marathi world.
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I started my study of Maratha history forty years ago, and embodied the result in a work completed in nine volumes written in the Marathi language and entitled *The Marathi Riyasat*. In it I tried to bring together the scattered, disarranged and uncalendared (even unlisted) mass of historical data and opinions found in that tongue and, after comparing them with available materials in other languages, to construct a compact critical study of the rise and fall of the modern Maratha State. My work too like Rajwade’s, remained unknown to the world ignorant of my native language. The present *New History of the Marathas*, to be completed in three volumes (the whole now ready in manuscript), is the first attempt to present a fresh and full treatment of Maratha history in English, embodying the results of the latest research. It is not a translation of my *Marathi Riyasat*; nor does it pretend to be a work of the ideal merits as described above. Indeed no one individual, unless he has the encyclopaedic mind of a Gibbon, can do full justice to the subject, which requires rather the co-operative effort of a syndicate of scholars. In the absence of the hope of any such ideal combination, this book is offered to the public in full consciousness of its imperfections. If it provokes further study and thought in any corner of the great republic of letters, I shall be happy. And I shall be happier still if after a look at my book, some better gifted scholar is tempted to advance this subject, handle the enormous mass of materials and produce the long sighed for masterly History of the Marathas.
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One word more of apology is needed from me. The Marathas have long been misjudged by their rivals and adversaries and painted in blackest colours both during and after the period of their downfall, as if they had no single good point to their credit. This attitude became confirmed in popular mind owing to the first flush and glow of the foreign conquest. But more than a century has elapsed since the Maratha State was extinguished, a sufficiently long period for the dust of passion to settle down and enable us to form a sober and rational judgment and to justly appraise the virtues and defects of that race. It is still a difficult task for a Maratha writer to paint his people’s history on a canvas with colours that truly represent facts and avoid prejudices. In the following narrative I aspire to produce a true apologia (*Kaifiat*) of the Maratha people and place it before the impartial public. It is mostly made up of the utterances of the great figures who dominated the historic stage during the two centuries of our rise and fall.
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A studied attempt has been made to weave into the narrative ample citations from original authorities. This appeared to be the only way of making the reader acquainted with the pith and essence of the Marathi papers. So far as possible the sources have been indicated in the foot-notes, though, it must be admitted, the materials are so varied and extensive that it is not possible to quote chapter and verse evidence in every case. As a supplementary attempt the reader’s attention may be invited to the author’s “Main Currents of Maratha History” published a few years ago. In it have been discussed some of the outstanding and debatable questions arising out of the past life of the Maratha people.
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My grateful thanks are due to the numerous scholars and publishers of original materials on which this work is mainly based. I cannot adequately acknowledge the debt I owe to my valued friend Sir Jadunath Sarkar for his patient revision of my manuscript, to him a labour of love, the worth of which those only can estimate who are acquainted with his extraordinary erudition and his rare critical acumen. I am equally indebted to Dr. V. G. Dighe, my constant companion and collaborator in all historical work during the last seventeen years without whose unstinted help I could never have completed my onerous undertaking. I am inscribing this work to the sacred memory of my first great inspirer the late Sayaji Rao Gaikwad of Baroda, whose grandson the present Maharaja Pratap-sinh Rao continues to take the same interest in my historical labours.
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The publisher and I highly regret that the abnormal conditions of life prevailing in the country now for years have not only delayed the publication of this work, but prevented us from executing our cherished desire of putting in maps, illustrations and other essentials of study adequately. We can only hope to make up the deficiency in the succeeding volumes.
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Kamshet Dt. Poona, 31st Oct. 1946 }
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G. S. SARDESAI