New History of the Marathas v2.c32.21

v2.c32.21

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.