New History of the Marathas v2.c31.6

v2.c31.6

The disgrace of Udgir gnawed at Nizam Ali’s heart, and as soon as the rains were over, he marched directly upon Poona at the head of a powerful army of sixty thousand men, with a determined intention to capture the nerve-centre of the Maratha power and to prostrate it permanently. Fire and desolation marked the trail of Nizam Ali’s invading forces. By destroying Toka and Pravara-Sangam, two great centres of Hindu religious sanctity, in November, he added fierce fanaticism to his political aims. He dug up Sindia’s palaces at Shrigonda for obtaining hidden treasure. The menace so quickly approached Poona, that it then created a scare, in consequence of which the Peshwa’s family and some of the general populace removed themselves for safety to Lohgad, Purandar, Sinhagad and other places.