New History of the Marathas v2.c32: Chapter XXIII. The Peshwa Asserts Himself [1763-1767]

New History of the Marathas v2.c32

Language: English

Chapter XXIII. The Peshwa Asserts Himself [1763-1767]

1 Offensive against Haiderali. 2 The Kolis of Purandar. 3 Peace with Haidar Ali. 4 March against Janoji Bhosle. 5 Friendship with Nizam Ali. 6 Babuji Naik humbled. 7 The Pretender, Sadashivrao Bhau. 8 Mahadji Sindia’s rise. 9 The British menace.

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1. Offensive against Haidar Ali.—Madhavrao’s Peshwaship lasted eleven years and four months, from 20 July 1761 to 18 November 1772, the first two years of which were a period of tutelage as we have already seen. During his last year he was entirely bed-ridden, so that it was only for about eight years that he actively controlled the management of affairs and marked his personal stamp on the administration. His activities may be arranged under four main heads, viz.:—

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1. His Karnatak expeditions for putting down Haidarali;
2. His relations with Nizam Ali;
3. His struggle first against his own uncle and then against the Bhosles of Nagpur; and lastly
4. The revival of Maratha power in the north.

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There are of course other minor episodes intermixed with these: but if these four heads are kept steadily in view, it would be easier to study the complexities of this Peshwa’s situation and estimate at their true value his powers as a great ruler. He gave a distinct promise of attaining to the position of the supreme arbiter of India’s destinies in competition with the two contemporary British statesmen Clive and Warren Hastings. It would be convenient to take up for narration the Karnatak expedition first. But before doing so we must review the general situation of Indian politics, which forced itself on the Peshwa’s attention and induced him to prefer this one task to others more or less equally urgent.

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It was generally believed that the Maratha power had suffered its death-blow by its severe rout at Panipat: and this sentiment was aggravated by the domestic dispute in the Peshwa’s family, immediately after his accession. But a new hope arose when the young Peshwa proved his capacity at Rakshasbhuvan by putting down Nizam Ali and his unholy alliance with Maratha deserters. Both the south and the north claimed the Peshwa’s attention equally, when he found himself free during the closing months of the year 1763. While Haidar Ali pushed back the Maratha power from the Tungabhadra to almost the banks of the Krishna, the situation in the north threatened to be no less alarming. Najib Khan Rohilla who was then managing the affairs of Delhi was having an uneasy time with the Jats, the Sikhs and the Abdali king of Afghanistan. The Emperor Shah Alam II and the Wazir Shuja-ud-daula in their attempt to regain the lost ground in Bihar in conjunction with Mir Qasim, were repelled by the rising British power, now an additional factor for the Marathas to deal with. During 1763 when the Peshwa was locked up in a life and death struggle with the Nizam, Haidar Ali conquered Bednur, established his hold upon the Nawabs of Savanur, Karnool and Kadappa, who had long ago been subjugated by the Marathas. Haidar Ali seized likewise the territory of Murarrao Ghorpade, so that Haidar’s threat came nearer home and could not be overlooked. The Peshwa’s sore need was money so that after full deliberation, he for the present deferred the northern task to a future date, and decided early in 1764 to undertake an expedition to the south for punishing Haidar Ali and putting an end to his aggression.

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To collect a sufficient army and equip it with arms occupied the Peshwa’s time in January, and it was not before February that he was able to cross the Krishna. During the Peshwa’s journey to the south Haidar Ali was busy making his preparations to resist the Maratha advance. He sought Nizam Ali’s co-operation but did not succeed in obtaining anything from him beyond hollow promises. Leaving Bednur in April Haidar Ali marched to the vicinity of Savanur where he prepared to meet the advancing Marathas in an open engagement. The Nawab of that place had long since accepted Maratha over-lordship, and the advance of Haidar’s troops threatened his very existence. This meant an open call to the Peshwa to save his vassal from imminent danger. Gopalrao Patwardhan was immediately detached with two thousand select troops in advance to hold up Haidar’s march and defend the Nawab.

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The Peshwa invited Murarrao Ghorpade, won him over to his cause and secured his aid in the forthcoming contest with Haidar Ali. The ensuing struggle indeed put to the test the respective capacities for war and organization of the two combatants, both active, tenacious and daring. There were skirmishes, moves and counter-moves. In May, Haidar Ali who had been lured out of his strong position at Rattehalli, was surrounded and severely defeated. Losing a thousand men on the field, he retired to Anavati in the forests of Karwar. The season was fast advancing, the campaign so far had proved inconclusive; the Peshwa, therefore, decided to stay on and finish his task during the ensuing cold season. This decision was highly welcomed and heartened the Maratha ranks for a supreme effort. Murarrao joined the Peshwa in May and was rewarded for his services by the conferment of the office of the Senapati of the Satara Raja. Formal documents of this appointment were executed next year (20 September 1765). This office had just fallen vacant on account of Ramachandra Jadhav’s dismissal for misconduct.

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The temporary lull in the operations caused by the monsoon was utilised for advancing preparations and making dispositions of troops to bring the enemy quickly to his knees. The region between Dharwar and Savanur formed the main theatre of the campaign. In the month of July Haidar planned a secret night attack against Gopalrao who was defending Savanur, but the latter having received a timely warning through his spies, remained on the alert and the enemy’s design came to nought. The Peshwa at once reinforced Gopalrao and directed his own attention to the capture of Dharwar, a strong and well defended fort, the principal station commanding the northern region of the Karnatak. Haidar’s commandant Fazl Ali Khan stoutly defended the post for two months, at the end of which he surrendered the place to the Peshwa on 6 November on a promise of his personal safety.

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This quick success at once raised the spirits of the Marathas, and with the close of the rains the offensive was resumed against the enemy. On 1st December a decisive action was fought at Jadi Anwati, a little to the south of Savanur, where Haidar had pitched his main camp which was suddenly attacked by the Marathas. Haidar Ali was completely routed, and 1200 of his men were slain. He took shelter in the neighbouring thick woods and thus saved himself from complete annihilation. In his action of Anwati Murarrao Ghorpade figured conspicuously. After this encounter Haidar Ali never ventured to come to close grips with the Marathas, but retracing his steps remained hidden in the thick jungles of Bednore and continued desultory warfare, prolonging the contest and thereby wearing out his opponents, till the setting in of the rains. During the interval he continued negotiations to end the war for the time being. Haidar Ali was indeed well posted with the situation at Poona and the differences that had arisen between the Peshwa and his uncle. Circumstances again conspired to give him an opportunity to secure favourable terms. How such a consummation came about can be explained by reference to Raghunathrao’s activities at Nasik, which often marred the success of many of the Peshwa’s plans.

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2. The Kolis of Purandar.—It has already been explained how Raghunathrao pretended to retire from worldly concerns and took up his residence at Nasik, when the Peshwa started on his expedition against Haidar Ali early in 1764. Madhavrao tried his best to keep him pleased by writing respectful letters, reporting to him the progress of the war and often seeking his advice on state matters. As the Peshwa was away from the capital, he had asked the uncle by way of giving him occupation to supervise the affairs of Poona. During the summer of 1764 the Koli guards of the fort of Purandar, who had long been hereditary servants, revolted against Nilakanth Aba Purandare in whose possession the fort lay. Purandare punished them with dismissal with the result that they all in a body took forcible charge of the fort in the absence of Aba who was then with R’rao at Nasik. Raghunathrao coveting the fort for himself as a place of refuge, played a trick upon the Peshwa, wrongly charging him with having secretly instigated the Kolis to rise. The incident roused a storm of indignation among the partizans of the two principals, and revived the atmosphere of suspicion and acerbity which had happily been laid at rest the year before.

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The Peshwa explained the affair to his uncle disavowing any sinister intention on his part and repudiating incitement from him in the rising. In itself the incident was trivial but it is now clearly proved that the uncle selfishly turned it to the Peshwa's disadvantage, declaring it to be a deliberate attempt by the Peshwa to undermine the uncle's power. The latter called Nana Phadnis from Poona to Nasik and asked him to work there under his direct supervision. This Nana could not agree to do and matters came to such a pass at Nasik that R'rao threatened to create trouble for the Peshwa. Nana Phadnis reported to the Peshwa these affairs and his own inability to conduct the current administration at Poona. This sudden crisis caused severe annoyance to the Peshwa in the Karnatak. Fearing that his uncle would again revolt and commence his former intrigues, Madhavrao invited him to his camp to advise him on the operations against Haidar Ali. Even for this R'rao proposed his terms through Govind Shivram which the Peshwa accepted; and he left Nasik in October 1764 and moving in a lordly leisurely fashion, emphasizing his importance on the way, reached the Peshwa's camp near Savanur on 27 January following.

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3. Peace with Haidar Ali.—The arrival of R'rao on the scene, at once gave a new turn to the war. The Peshwa, the Patwardhans, Murarrao, the Nawab of Savanur were all in high spirits, vigorously prosecuting the war and hoping to impose such terms on the enemy as to finish him finally by recovering the whole territory usurped by Haidar, and restoring the Raja of Mysore to his former position. Haidar's agents were in the Maratha camp discussing terms of a lasting peace; these negotiations R'rao now took into his own hands and so managed them as to impose a curb on the increasing power and popularity of the Peshwa. Like Nizam Ali, Haidar Ali also was the declared opponent of the Marathas in the south, whom R'rao managed to spare as an eventual counterpoise, if the Peshwa should prove too strong for him. So on one pretext or another R'rao proposed to close the operations by giving easy terms to Haidar Ali. The Peshwa could not offend his uncle, and the plan of humbling Haidar Ali completely had to be given up for the present. A treaty was ratified on 30th March through Haidar’s representative, Mir Faizulla. The terms agreed to were :—

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(1) that Haidar Ali pays 30 lacs cash for expenses ;

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(2) cedes all the territory to the north of the Tungabhadra, and

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(3) leaves Murarrao Ghorpade and the Nawab of Savanur unmolested as Maratha vassals.”

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This treaty is known as the treaty of Anantapur. Thus once more Raghunathrao was responsible for saving a declared enemy of the Marathas, who was on the point of being wiped out within a month or two. How this result reacted upon the future Maratha fortunes history has recorded. For the present the Peshwa stationed Gopalrao, Murarrao and the Rastes with adequate forces under them to defend the acquired territory and returned to Poona in June, visiting several holy shrines on the way, and collecting arrears of tribute.

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4. March against Janoji Bhosle.—While Madhavrao was trying to restore the lost ground in the south, affairs developed in the north greatly to the detriment of the Marathas. Without anticipating events, we must know what main problems engrossed the Peshwa’s attention in the south. As has been mentioned before, the British now came forth to contest Indian supremacy with the Marathas, whose temporary eclipse in the north afforded a valuable opportunity to the East India Company. While Madhavrao was overcoming the Nizam at Rakshasbhuvan, the British managed to drive away the legitimate Nawab Mir Qasim from Bengal. Again, while the Peshwa was occupied in reducing Dharwar, the British won their grand victory of Baxar (October 23, 1764) over the combined power of three Muslim potentates the Emperor, the Wazir and the subahdar, and established their sway over the vast territory of eastern India from Allahabad to the Bay of Bengal. This was bitterly resented by the Peshwa, as a direct challenge to Maratha supremacy in the north. Malharrao Holkar tried to dislodge the British from the Doab in the early months of 1765, but was compelled to retire after sustaining a severe defeat.¹ The Peshwa discussed this development with his uncle at Poona during the rains of 1765 and begged him at once to proceed to the north, as the most experienced Maratha captain then alive and retrieve the lost prestige. Raghunathrao started from the Deccan as usual after the Dassara season.

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¹ This severe disaster the veteran Holkar took so much to heart that he deteriorated in health and died a year later (20 May 1766).

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At this moment a frightful struggle was raging in Berar between Nizam Ali and the Bhosles of Nagpur, both of whom had appealed to the Peshwa for help, in consonance with the understanding that had been arrived at when the treaty of Aurangabad was concluded two years ago. The Peshwa always apprehended that a combination between his uncle, the Bhosle and the Nizam would gravely menace his position, and determined to utilise the occasion to reduce the overgrown power of the Bhosle and draw the Nizam closer to him. The Bhosle, a member of the Maratha State, was often disloyal to the Peshwa, being in the habit of intriguing with the Peshwa's enemies. Janoji's atrocities during the summer of 1763 in the devastation of Poona and other places, the Peshwa had neither forgotten nor forgiven, and now came an occasion to teach him a lesson by putting down his treachery. Madhavrao gave his uncle only a vague general outline but did not disclose his line of action, nor his inner motives as to which side he was going to espouse, and asked his uncle to join him at the Godavari directly from Nasik. The Bhosle and Raghunathrao hardly expected that the Peshwa would make friends with Nizam Ali and manage to foil their secret intrigues.² At the Godavari Nizam Ali's forces joined the Peshwa by previous arrangement, and the two marched against Bhosle and within a month reduced him to such sore straits, that he humbled himself abjectly before the Peshwa at Daryapur near Amraoti, at the end of January 1766. Janoji ceded to the Peshwa territory yielding 24 lacs out of the 32 lacs worth he had received two years before as appeasement before the action of Rakshasbhuvan. He now solemnly agreed to join the Peshwa whenever called upon to do so in future expeditions. Raghunathrao was thus made a helpless witness of Janoji's humiliation.

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² See Ait. Pat. 106 dated 25th November 1765.

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5. Friendship with Nizam Ali.—On his way back the Peshwa added to his success another diplomatic victory by bringing about a most successful and cordial meeting with Nizam Ali near Kurumkhed (Dist. Umarkhed) in south Berar. It was a deliberate step taken by secret previous arrangement, without giving an inkling of it to his jealous uncle. This clever diplomacy turned a traditional enemy into a potential friend, thereby closing old sores which had marked the Maratha-Nizam relations from Palkhed to Rakshasbhuvan (1763). To make Nizam Ali innocuous for some time if not a cordial friend, was no small achievement and this new policy was not quite heartily endorsed by the so called wise-acres of the day steeped in selfish intrigue. The meeting of the two potentates, Madhavrao and Nizam Ali took place at Manrath and Takli on the Godavari and lasted for ten days from 5th February with a lavish display of cordiality, ceremonials, dinners, presents and sports, all without a trace of suspicion between the two camps. Public Darbars and private talks were conspicuous. To the Hindu and the Muslim alike the sight was strikingly amazing, the like of which had hardly ever been witnessed before. Nizam Ali probably ten years senior in age was highly impressed with the young Peshwa’s independence of thought and policy; and the cordial friendship thus established lasted right up to the days of Kharda (1795), and was proudly recalled by the former chief in his future dealings. When Raghunathrao on his way to the north learned the full account of this unique visit, his equanimity was highly disturbed and he wrote uneasy letters to his agents.³ Indeed it was this high regard of Nizam Ali for the Peshwa, which induced him to espouse the Barbhai’s cause against Raghunathrao after Narayanrao’s murder.

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³ P. D. 20. 165, 166, 167, 172, 174.

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Madhavrao was thus the first bold builder of a new era of honest dealings in politics, discarding the traditional intrigue and dissembling in dealing with friends and foes alike. Many instances of this fresh departure of open and frank diplomacy are available in the short career of this independent Peshwa. In all his transactions one notices a pleasant ring and a refreshing change to a courageous innovation.

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6. Babuji Naik humbled.—Babuji Naik Joshi of Baramati was an old hereditary servant who had looked upon the rise of the Peshwas with a jealous eye. He was an eye-sore to the late Peshwa. During recent days he sided with Gopikabai’s party and served Madhavrao pretty loyally. But he was often whimsical and extremely fickle minded. During the Peshwa’s expedition into the Karnatak the year before, he was discovered to have conducted an intrigue with Haidar Ali. The matter was investigated and the Naik was exposed. But he did not repent and continued to offer pinpricks to the Peshwa often opposing his commands. He possessed two strong forts, Sholapur and Wandan, where he fortified himself and stored his valuables. The Peshwa could not trust his loyalty and ordered that the two forts be taken out of his possession. The Naik resisted the Peshwa’s demand and refused to surrender the forts. Ramchandra Ganesh the Peshwa’s captain attacked the forts and took them away forcibly (1766 March). The Naik remained sulking in his jagir at Baramati, but dared no longer stand in opposition to the Peshwa. Babuji was in many ways a singular personality bound in relationship with the Peshwa’s house. He witnessed the regimes of six consecutive rulers.

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7. The Pretender, Sadashivrao Bhau.—In between many important affairs of State, the Peshwa had always on hand not a few matters of a secondary nature but exasperating enough for the time being. One such subject that for long attracted serious notice in Maharashtra, was the crop of impostors that the disaster of Panipat gave rise to. Of many well-known persons that perished on that field the bodies were never fully recognised and properly cremated. Sadashivrao Bhau and Jankoji Sinde were long reported missing, although the immediate household of the Peshwa knew the truth of their death through their trusted agents. An impostor personating the dead Sadashivrao, continued to cause trouble and sensation in the Deccan for a number of years. A Kanoja Brahman named Sukhlal appeared in Bundelkhand near Chhatrapur towards the end of 1761 and was declared to be Bhau Saheb by a few minor Maratha officials in that quarter such as Ganesh Sambhaji, Vishwasrao Lakshman Raja Bahadur, and others. He soon collected a large following and roamed about exacting tribute and levying contributions. For the first few years his activities were confined to north India. During 1764 he crossed the Narmada and appeared in Maharashtra. On 14 January 1765 Madhavrao issued orders for making an enquiry and ascertaining the truth or falsity of the man. Accordingly Malharrao Holkar held a council of enquiry at Sultanpur on 12 August 1765, examined Sukhlal and declared that he was not the real Bhau Saheb. Then Sukhlal ran away and started fresh trouble. Hari Damodar Nevalkar and his son Raghunath Hari, ancestors of the Rani of Jhansi, pursued the pretender, captured his person and sent him to Poona for punishment. There again several prominent persons of Poona separately examined the man and declared him an impostor. He was then publicly exhibited for a whole day in the Budhwar square of the city. On 15 October 1765 Ramshastri and a large number of officials again examined him in front of the deity of the Parvati temple. Here he confessed his guilt, gave out his whole previous history and was punished with life imprisonment.⁴

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⁴ He was at first kept at fort Ahmadnagar and thereafter at other places. He escaped from fort Ratnagiri in 1776 and after some commotion was apprehended and put to death.

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Jankoji Sindia also was similarly impersonated and the offender was properly punished.

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8. Mahadji Sindia's rise.—Mahadji Sindia having been occupied with his elder brothers in his early life, has received hardly any special mention in existing papers. Out of the large family of Ranoji Sindia, Mahadji was the only son who escaped death in the nation's cause, and lived long enough to be the main support of the Maratha State. Born probably about the year 1727 he was mostly employed in various Maratha transactions in north India, and was wounded in the leg and picked up unconscious by a passing water-carrier, Rana Khan by name, on the fatal day of Panipat. He came from Malwa to the Deccan in December 1762 and joined the Peshwa in the siege of Miraj, when the question of his succession to the Sindian estate had not been yet decided. A large amount of succession fee called Nazarana was demanded, which he could not pay and Raghunathrao out of spite for his nephew, appointed Kedarji and later Manaji Sindia to inherit the estates of that family. The widowed ladies of that family created no small trouble for Mahadji. In a letter dated 8 July 1767 Mahadji complains bitterly that his own mother Chimabai had no means of livelihood and that she had to contract heavy debts to sustain herself and knew not how to repay them.

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During 1763 and 1764 Raghunathrao and the Peshwa sanctioned conflicting arrangements for the Sindian succession. Mahadji was out of favour with Raghunathrao, although he studiously avoided taking sides in the domestic dispute of the Peshwa’s house. During the summer of 1764 when the Peshwa was absent in the Karnatak, Mahadji returned to Ujjain without obtaining formal leave of Raghunathrao, who at once issued orders to have him arrested. But Mahadji was not the man to be so easily coerced. He opposed his pursuers boldly and after reaching Malwa safely, at once took the management of his patrimony in his own hands, without caring to acknowledge Manaji or Kedarji, the nominees sanctioned by Raghunathrao. When Kedarji was summoned by Raghunathrao to his presence, he made this bold reply. “The revered Mahadji Bawa is already performing loyal service here. To him you should address whatever commands you wish to issue. I am entirely obedient to his wishes. We shall both serve you loyally.” When Raghunathrao thus failed to detach Kedarji from Mahadji, he nominated another Sindia Manaji as the head of the family instead. Manaji was the grandson of that Sabaji Sindia who had carried the Maratha arms to Attock and who was also a member of the same family. During all these years Mahadji did his best to sustain the Maratha interests in Malwa and Rajputana. He carefully husbanded his scanty resources and strengthened his military position by entertaining a regularly paid force of troops and collecting a band of devoted followers about him. One of his lieutenants Ragho Ram Page writes on 17 August, 1765, “Here Mahadji has about him a band of devoted comrades ready to sacrifice their lives for him. All are of one mind, imbued with a spirit of loyal service to the Peshwa in exact imitation of the devoted sacrifice of his eminent brothers before him.

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Thus the period of some eight years from 1761 to the end of 1768 marks the tutelage of Mahadji's life, and in the beginning of 1769 he emerges as a man of destiny on the pages of history.

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9. The British Menace.—The President of the Bombay Council while giving instructions to Thomas Mostyn whom he nominated his ambassador to Poona, wrote, on 16 November 1767, " The growing power of the Marathas is a subject much to be lamented and has not failed to attract our attention as well as that of the Presidencies of Madras and Fort William."⁵ In fact much more did Madhavrao lament and apprehend the growing power of the British during the latter part of his short regime. Both looked upon each other as the most potential enemies of the future : and Madhavrao was all along keenly alive to the fast increasing danger. The British had already planted their power in Madras and Bengal, and now deplored that they could not make a similar headway in the west! During 1761 when Nizam Ali threatened an attack upon Poona, R'rao sent his agent Govind Shivram to Bombay asking for military aid. Govind Shivram returned with certain stipulations upon which the British agreed to lend a military contingent. Thereupon Raghunathrao sent counter proposals with Baji Gangadhar ; but as the British demanded in return for such help the cession of Bassein and the whole of the island of Salsette, Raghunathrao found this unacceptable and wrote a biting reply to Bombay that Bassein could never be parted with. The danger of the Nizam's invasion had already passed and the British aid was no longer needed.

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⁵ Forrest, *Maratha Series*, page 141.

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A little later when the Peshwa undertook operations against Haidar Ali, the Bombay authorities tried immediately to profit by the contest. They were very eager to possess the coastal regions bordering the islands of Bombay, which supplied them with their daily needs of provisions and fuel, which they studiously watched for an opportunity to seize. A wanton aggression was committed by them on 25 January 1765 by capturing the fort of Malvan belonging to the Chhatrapati of Kolhapur and naming it Fort Augustus.

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This incident spread alarm throughout Maharashtra about the British objective in India, of which Madhavrao was not slow in taking notice. Indeed hereafter he counted this western power as his enemy number one, and in his own way slowly prepared to meet them. His friendship with Nizam Ali was the first step to that end. His uncle and the Bhosles of Nagpur were the weakest links in this connection, being most likely to yield to any temptation offered by the British. Hence the stern measures that Madhavrao had to take against them. Haidar Ali of Mysore was an antagonist whom the British equally hated and feared, so that when in 1767 war started between them, the Bombay President sent an embassy to Poona headed by Thomas Mostyn to seek an alliance with the Peshwa’s Government. The mission left Bombay on 19 November and reached Poona on 29th. Mostyn had an assistant named Brome who visited Raghunathrao at Nasik. Although the members of the mission were most civilly treated at the Maratha Court, they obtained no material results, as their real intentions had become too naked to the Maratha Government to be ignored, and the party returned to Bombay in great disappointment on 27 February 1768. The only gain they made was the valuable information they gathered about the acute dissension then raging between the Peshwa and his uncle. Brome’s overtures to Raghunathrao will be referred to later. After dealing with his uncle, the Peshwa slowly prepared to meet the British menace, so that the Bombay authorities once more posted Mostyn at the court of Poona, where he arrived on 13 October 1772, a short while before the Peshwa’s death. Mostyn continued there to the end of 1774 and witnessed the affair of Narayanrao’s murder.

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CHAPTER XXIV

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1761, Nov. 29-30 Battle of Mangrol, Malharrao Holkar defeats Madhosinh.

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Abdali's efforts to regain the Punjab thwarted by the Sikhs.

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1763, July Battles of Katwa and Gheria, Mir Qasim routed by the British.

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1764, May 3 Battle near Patna, Shuja-ud-daula and Mir Qasim defeated.

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1764, Oct. 23 Battle of Baxar, Hector Munro inflicts crushing defeat upon the Emperor, the Wazir and Mir Qasim.

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1765, February Malharrao Holkar effects peace between Jawahir Sinh Jat and Najib-ud-daula.

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1765, March 30 Shuja meets Holkar at Anupshahr and obtains his help against the British.

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1765, May 3 Holkar severely beaten by Fletcher near Kara.

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1765, May 3 Clive arrives at Calcutta.

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1765, June 24 Clive leaves Calcutta for the northern scene.

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1765, July Clive reaches Allahabad.

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1765, August 2 Clive arranges a treaty with Shuja-ud-daula.

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1765, August 12 Clive receives the grant of Diwani from the Emperor.

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1765, Sept. Clive returns to Calcutta.

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1766, Feb. Raghunathrao starts on his northern expedition.

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1766, May 20 Malharrao Holkar dies.

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1766, June Raghunathrao invests Gohad.

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1767, Jan. 2 Raghunathrao negotiates peace with the Rana of Gohad.

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1767, Feb. Raghunathrao leaves Gohad for the south.

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1767, March 27 Malrao Holkar dies.

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1767, April Ahalyabai defies Raghunathrao's threat.

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1767, Dec. 21 Madhosinh of Jaipur dies.

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1768 Mahadji obtains his family rights and head-ship.

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1769, Ending months Maratha forces proceed north.

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1770, April 5 Battle of Govardhan, Nawal Sinh Jat routed; Marathas take possession of Agra and Mathura.

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1770, April 5 Najib-ud-daula offers submission but starts his old game.

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1770, April 5 Maratha forces enter the Doab against the Bangash Nawab and encamp at Ramghat.

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1770, August 23 Balavant Sinh of Benares dies.

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1770, Sept. 8 Treaty of peace with the Jats.

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1770, Oct. 31 Najib-ud-daula dies; his son Zabeta Khan confined but released by Holkar.

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1770, Dec. 15 Marathas capture Etawa and march on Farrukhabad, whose Nawab restores Maratha territories.

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1770, Dec. British oppose Maratha schemes through Mirza Najaf Khan; Emperor seeks Maratha protection.

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1771, Feb. 10 Mahadji takes possession of Delhi and places Jawan Bakht on the throne.

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1771, April 12 Emperor leaves Allahabad for Delhi.

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1771, July 11 Ahmad Kh. Bangash dies.

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1771, July 26 The Emperor reaches Farrukhabad.

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1771, Nov. 18 The Emperor reaches Anupshahr; Mahadji meets him.

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1772, Jan. 6 The Emperor enters Delhi and occupies his throne.

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1772, Feb. The Emperor and the Marathas march in pursuit of Zabeta Khan.

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1772, March 4 Mahadji captures Shukratal.

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1772, April 14 Ahmad Shah Abdali dies at Kabul.

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1772, April 14 Najibabad captured; and spoils of Panipat recovered by the Marathas.

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1772, Monsoon Mahadji and Visaji Krishna arrange affairs of Delhi.

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1772, Nov. 18 The Peshwa dies at Poona.