New History of the Marathas v2.c24.132

v2.c24.132

The social results of this first Maratha venture into the north were no less important. It gave a new turn and a fresh vision to Maratha ambitions. Delhi had hitherto been supposed to be far off. They had only heard of it, they had never seen the imperial Court, or its grandeur and etiquette. They now felt the striking contrast of the splendour of Delhi to the poor and half-naked life of an average Maharashtrian in the south. The Marathas for the first time experienced the remarkable difference in the whole life, dress, food, manners and ways, which hereafter widened their outlook and excited their greed for conquest and expansion. This is typified in the life of the first Peshwa’s son Bajirao, whose nerve came to be entirely different from his father’s. Shahu quickly noticed the change in this promising youth and did not hesitate to invest him with the robes of Peshwaship when Balaji suddenly died a few months after his return home.