New History of the Marathas v3.c37.s2: 2. Ali Bahadur's rupture with Mahadji
New History of the Marathas v3.c37.s2
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- v3.c37.s2.143 — 3 parts
2. Ali Bahadur's rupture with Mahadji
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for himself with the same money? If Nana sent help from Poona, evidently he was bound to bear the cost. At least that was Mahadji’s view. Nana had instructed Ali Bahadur to proceed to Bundelkhand, after he had finished Mahadji’s job, and recover in that quarter the former Maratha territories which had been seized by some rebels. Nor were Tukoji and Ali Bahadur asked to hold themselves subordinate to Mahadji, as this would have been derogatory to their status. They claimed an independent position, leading to disunity of counsel and adding to the original friction. Mahadji never took kindly to these chiefs from Poona, who had come to his relief and who followed Nana’s guidance. He had recently made vast new conquests of which Tukoji demanded a share. Mahadji claimed payment of expenses which had been incurred on those conquests before he could share them with Tukoji. Such questions came to be hotly argued for nearly a year and a half, producing an acrimonious wordy warfare. The trouble came to a head when Mahadji fell suddenly ill in the months of June and July 1789, when for a few weeks his life was despaired of, and all political activities came to a standstill.
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In those superstitious days sudden ailments like this were attributed to magic on the part of hostile agents. As soon as Mahadji was taken ill, an inquiry was undertaken which disclosed that the two Gosavi brothers had employed black magic to encompass Mahadji’s ruin.² These Gosavis were known to be time-servers with no fixed allegiance and possessing the ill repute of faithlessness and treachery towards those whom they served. Once they were the servants of the Nawab Wazir, then they came into the Emperor’s employ and later became Mahadji’s subordinates, as he was the absolute controller of the Emperor’s affairs. Mahadji had often noticed their double-dealing when they disclosed his plans to his Rajput opponents, possibly receiving gratification in return. It was later discovered that they had a secret understanding with Ali Bahadur in a plan to remove Mahadji from his position with the Emperor and instal Ali Bahadur in his place. The open rupture between Holkar and Mahadji offered opportunities to the Gosavis which they were not slow to turn to their advantage with a view to ruining Mahadji. In the monsoon months of 1789, Mahadji who was ailing, attributed his trouble to the agency of some secret enemy. An investigation was ordered. On 14th July spies brought in reports about a woman in Vrindaban having practised magic upon Mahadji's life. The next day the woman was brought to Mahadji's presence. She confessed that the Gosavis had employed two agents to give her materials for sorcery and wine to bring about the ruin of Mahadji. Upon this evidence Mahadji besieged the Gosavi brothers' camp and had Himmat Bahadur arrested. As he was being conveyed to Mahadji's camp, he suddenly made his escape and entering Ali Bahadur's tent, took shelter under the Peshwa's flag. Thereupon Mahadji called upon Ali Bahadur to deliver him. The latter refused and referred the question to Poona. Mahadji's exasperation knew no bounds and for a time such a complete rupture occurred between him and Ali Bahadur, that a civil war was apprehended every moment. Mahadji arrested the Gosavi's wife and children. Most of the chiefs on both sides tried to mediate and bring about a workable understanding, but these proved of no avail. The dispute on being referred to Poona fanned the anti-Sindia sentiments there into a white flame. Tukoji Holkar strongly supported Ali Bahadur in not giving up the Gosavi into Mahadji's hands, urging that it was a question of the Peshwa's prestige to whose flag the Gosavi had resorted. For a time the relations between Mathura and Poona were poisoned by ugly rumours; and exaggerated reports poured into Poona against Mahadji. The latter wrote strong protests against the allegations and begged to be relieved of his duty in north India altogether. Ali Bahadur himself wrote such bitter invectives against Mahadji to Nana, that his mother then in Poona sent him a severe warning not to indulge in such strong language through letters against a powerful chief like Mahadji, lest the letters should be intercepted and opened on the way and thereby bring on serious consequences.
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² For full account see Sir Jadunath’s article, *Mod. Rev.* March. 1944.
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Nana at Poona at first supported Ali Bahadur, but soon realized the force of Mahadji's contention and wrote to Ali Bahadur, "You must deliver the Gosavi to Mahadji and close the affair. You must not support him either with money or with your armed forces. You must not conduct independent negotiations with the Rajputs or other chiefs, so long as Mahadji alone is responsible for the whole management of northern affairs. You must do nothing behind his back.” Nana wrote to Tukoji also advising him to accept Mahadji’s leadership. At the same time Nana never gave up his own rooted suspicions about Mahadji. Throughout the vague and varying instructions he wrote at this time one hardly discovers any consistency in his views on the situation in the north. In one letter he clearly intimated to Ali Bahadur that Mahadji would never allow him an independent field of action and that he would always contrive to bring him into trouble. At another time he wrote that Ali must obey Mahadji fully. After a good deal of correspondence it was decided that the Gosavi should be asked to do duty in Bundelkhand. Pressure from friends and mediators made Mahadji accept the sacred oaths taken by Ali Bahadur; he restored the Gosavi’s family to him on Ali Bahadur remaining guarantee for his good conduct. Thus the affair came to be temporarily closed.
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A little later, however, Mahadji discovered a secret intrigue by Ali Bahadur with Ismail Beg and with the rajas of Jaipur and Jodhpur, which led to a fresh estrangement between the two. When Mahadji renewed his campaign against the Rajputs in 1790, Ali Bahadur hesitated to join him and deputed only a very weak detachment to act on his behalf, as he was entirely under the spell and advice of the Gosavi. He also induced Tukoji Holkar to oppose the lead of Mahadji and to keep in confinement his chief secretary Naro Ganesh on the plea that he was a partizan of Mahadji. Undaunted by these treacherous activities of his two principal helpmates, Mahadji conducted his campaign against the Rajput princes and brought it to a speedy and successful issue. The source of the whole mischief Mahadji attributed to Nana Phadnis, for he publicly declared that Ali Bahadur could not go to such a length on his own initiative ard that he acted advisedly counting on the support he had from Nana. For two years the Gosavi was shielded by Ali Bahadur even against the explicit orders communicated to him by Nana and often against the sound advice imparted to him by Tukoji Holkar. In disgust Mahadji ultimately asked Nana to recall both Tukoji and Ali Bahadur to Poona. But Nana did not accept this proposal either, thereby keeping open the growing ulcer between Sindia and Holkar.
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This long drawn and vexatious affair did incalculable harm to the general interests of the Maratha Power in the north. Nana Phadnis himself felt so embarrassed by these developments that he sent his own special confidential agent Vithal Gopal Tambe to the theatre of Mahadji's activities and asked him to make a full and secret report of Mahadji's situation with reference to Ali Bahadur and the Gosavi brothers. Tambe's report from Jaipur dated 25th July 1791 and Hingne's remonstrance in the same connection are valuable documents shedding full light on the mismanagement and confusion raging in the Maratha administration in those quarters.³
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³ I. Sangraha, Ait. Ti. 6. 33; Delhi Y. Supplement Nos. 47-52.
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How this regrettable affair undermined the prestige and efficiency of the Maratha administration can be easily conceived. The fall of Ghulam Qadir was a moment which marked Sindia's complete ascendency in imperial affairs. If he had been then willingly supported by Holkar and Ali Bahadur, the elements hostile to the Marathas, such as the Rajput chiefs, Ismail Beg and the Gosavis would have collapsed in no time, so that Mahadji could have moved to the south in 1790 to concert with Nana a strong policy with reference to the Tripartite treaty against Tipu Sultan. A bold front was needed at that critical moment. Men in responsible positions even then made this clear. Vithal Shivdeo's son Shivajipant Bapu then present in the north, all along exerted himself to the utmost to bring about a reconciliation between Mahadji and Ali Bahadur; but his efforts proved of no avail.⁴
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⁴ Mahadji Sindia's Papers, Gwalior nos. 582-590.
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Every day that passed simply increased the tension between the Maratha chiefs. Ultimately Ali Bahadur decided to proceed to Bundelkhand and was advised by his friends to call on Mahadji and take a formal leave of him. A visit was arranged; but as Ali Bahadur insisted on taking with him a large number of armed followers to the meeting place, Mahadji on his part assembled a strong guard of his own by way of precaution. When Ali Bahadur came to learn of such a development, he decided to drop the visit and marched away in severe resentment. The Dasara day of 1790 thus proved one of dismal consequences.⁵
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⁵ Bhave's Rumal 3. 159.
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Ali Bahadur could not proceed to Bundelkhand immediately and roamed about for a long time from October 1790 to May 1791 in the region of Jaipur, trying to obtain funds for effecting his future designs. He was now a penniless beggar, utterly distrusted by all, and living only on the hollow promises which his new false friends the Gosavi brothers fed him with. After wasting nearly a year in useless marches, he piteously begged Tukoji Holkar for a loan; the latter although in no better position himself, pledged his personal credit and advanced three and a half lacs to Ali Bahadur, thus enabling him along with the Gosavis to proceed into Bundelkhand, where he arrived towards the end of 1791. Here he tried to obtain tributes from the former Bundella vassals with the help of the Gosavi contingent. But the old Maratha chiefs, such as the two sons of Govindpant of the Panipat days, openly opposed these fresh ambitions of Ali Bahadur. Mahadji too had his own stakes in Bundelkhand along with Gwalior and Gohad, which he had long ago reduced to obedience at great sacrifice. In order to safeguard his interests Mahadji was compelled to send his detachments into that region and here again a clash became imminent, so that Ali Bahadur found himself in the extremity of embarrassment, a consequence of his uncalled for opposition to Mahadji's measures. Maratha rule in Bundelkhand practically vanished on account of the anarchy thus set in, and Nana Phadnis in Poona had to bear the loss in helpless inaction.
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Ali Bahadur invited all this trouble upon himself by refusing to co-operate with Mahadji. His further operations in Bundelkhand can be shortly summed up. After years of vain struggle he managed to carve out for himself a small principality at Banda. He besieged Kalinjar and was killed there during the operations on August 28, 1802. His allies the Gosavi brothers obtained a separate provision for themselves by accepting British vassalage in 1804. Ali Bahadur's successors ruled at Banda till the days of the great mutiny of 1857, in which the jagir of Banda came to be confiscated.
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3. Holkar's house in hopeless decline.—Tukoji Holkar's deputation by Nana Phadnis for Mahadji's support in 1787 likewise proved barren of good. Sindia and Holkar were the two principal props of the Maratha State since the days of Bajirao I : but it was not always possible in the nature of things for these two props to put forth equal ability and capacity during succeeding generations. The Sindia brothers, sons of Ranoji were all able men; not so the Holkar successors of Malharrao I. After that chief's death, his house became a double government, the lady Ahalyabai as the nominal chief at the headquarters holding the purse tightly, and Tukoji Holkar as her executive officer conducting campaigns and missions outside in obedience to her wishes and instructions. Thus for practical purposes Mahadji and Tukoji now came on the scene as arbiters of Maratha destinies.
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The history of the Holkar family after Malharrao's death is a sorry tale of intrigue, dissension, mismanagement and vice. The pious Ahalyabai could hardly control the disorder in her own household or the external politics in which Sindia now attained prominence. She did not realize the strength of the British pressure on the Maratha State in the midst of her devotional occupations conducted in her retreat of Maheshwar. While she was lavish in charities, she did not see the necessity of improving her armies on the model required by the circumstances or of co-operating with Mahadji in his wars and measures. The result was that this second prop of the Maratha State gradually deteriorated. Tukoji claimed equal rights with Mahadji but neglected to share his responsibility to the same extent. Instead of easing the troubles created for Mahadji by the Rajput combination, Tukoji sided with his enemies and considerably weakened his endeavours. Tukoji was a mere soldier addicted to drink, so that in matters of administration he played into the hands of his selfish and intriguing secretary Naro Ganesh. Ahalyabai and Tukoji, both nearly of the same age, never agreed in their views or methods. The lady tried to remove Tukoji from his position, but had no one else in the family to take his place as a leader of the armies.
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Nana Phadnis vainly tried to put an end to this double government of the Holkar house. He proposed to entrust its sole management to Tukoji, making Ahalyabai a non-entity with provision for her personal expenses and religious duties. But this arrangement the spirited lady refused to accept; nor could Nana enforce it against the lady's strong will and the universal reverence which she commanded in society. Mahadji also tried his hand in adjusting the matters for the Holkar house, but with no better success. The result was that while the strings of the purse were held tight by the lady, Tukoji had to starve his armies when out campaigning.
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This is only one typical case illustrating the general rotten condition of the whole Maratha State, which only a drastic surgical operation could have saved. Under such circumstances Mahadji worked his way alone as cautiously and prudently as he could. He trained and reared his own band of able helpmates and asked co-operation as much from the Holkars as from the Central Government of Poona. But his growing power only created jealousy in both. Tukoji's household was steeped in vice. His four sons were either imbeciles or vain braggarts, raving like mad men in their drinking fits, and rushing at each other's throats. They were riotous and clamouring for money to feed their vices without rendering any useful service to the State. Tukoji's wife Rukmabai and his able but corrupt manager-in-chief Naro Ganesh had for years to face the perennial problem how to keep the sons from mischief, a problem which equally worried the saintly Ahalyabai. With jealous eyes they noticed the growing power of Mahadji but refused to share his toils and expenses. As Mahadji followed a certain definite programme towards the Rajputs, Tukoji too claimed to have an independent plan of his own, and Ahalyabai simply added to the confusion by constantly egging Tukoji on in his claim of equality with Sindia. Mahadji found himself helpless in satisfying the demands of Holkar. After Mahadji's reverse at Lalsot, Tukoji had been specially deputed to co-operate with the former; but instead of receiving co-operation, Sindia met with such opposition from him at every step that in despair he asked the Poona Ministers to relieve him of his task in the north.
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At last Mahadji finished his northern undertaking successfully in 1791 and returned to the south at the height of success and glory, without leaving any substantial power or sphere of activity for the Holkar to enjoy. Tukoji, Ahalyabai and the youngsters visibly felt the mortification that thereafter they would have to play the second fiddle to Sindia : whereas at one time the two chiefs had been on a footing of perfect equality. They failed to realize that ancestral glory or family tradition avails very little in this matter of fact world. The concerns of the State depend for their success on character and capacity. When in 1788 Tukoji arrived in north India, Ahalyabai particularly admonished him to assert his individuality on equal terms with Sindia, as Malharrao had done during the days of Bajirao I. The affair of the Rana of Udaipur, which pertained to Holkar's sphere, was settled by Mahadji in November 1791 by capturing the famous fort of Chitod and restoring it to the Rana. Ahalyabai considered this an infringement of the territorial rights of her house and an insult to her government. On the other hand Mahadji lost all respect for any member of the large Holkar family, now sunk in vice and vanity, utterly oblivious of the dangers that had begun to threaten the Maratha State from outside. In this sullen atmosphere when, in January 1792, Mahadji left Ujjain for Poona, he did not care even to pay a formal visit to Ahalyabai. She had lost her son-in-law in the preceding December and at least a condolence visit from him would have been appropriate. This estrangement reached its height during his journey to the south when an unexpected trouble occurred for Mahadji at the crossing of the Narmada, which further embittered the relations of the two families. Ahalyabai had posted a party of guards at the village of Satwas to collect tolls from the men and animals that had to be ferried over the river. Mahadji had a large following and refused to pay the toll claimed by Holkar's customscollectors. The incident trivial in itself so enraged the old lady that she uttered a curse that the Patel would never live to return, as the tradition says. It came true.
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The growing jealousy and enmity between the two powerful chieftains set ablaze a conflagration the flames of which ruined not only the two houses of Sindia and Holkar, but destroyed the entire edifice of the Maratha Confederacy. Lakheri was to be the beginning of the end, the sequel being supplied by Yashvantrao Holkar’s attack upon Poona and the Peshwa’s flight to Bassein in 1802. These fatal portents of Sindia-Holkar rivalry were fully apparent to wise men then living in the Maratha State. The Holkar pillar was visibly cracking, and even the sober wisdom of Ahalyabai could not save it. Tukoji’s son Malharrao II (born about 1770) became the greatest nuisance not only to the Holkar family but to the whole Maratha State. He bragged of annihilating the trained artillery and battalions organized by De Boigne. No one could control him. He collected roving bands, the precursors of the Pindaris and began to plunder and devastate indiscriminately throughout the Maratha lands. An appeal was sent to Poona for capturing and restraining Malharrao. But who could dare lay hands on a Holkar? Nana Phadnis invited him to Poona but took no proper measures to control him. At Poona Malharrao made specious promises of a good behaviour and was allowed to return to Indore honourably. There again he immediately resumed his evil ways raiding and plundering the peasants and devastating the fair lands of Malwa. Tukoji would take no action against him and Ahalyabai could not muster courage to restrain him. Years passed aggravating the mischief. Ahalyabai’s old loyal servant Parashar Dadaji asked her pointblank, “This Saturnine devil should be at once kept under arrest and confinement.” At last she called the Frenchman Dudrenec to her help and ordered him to bring Malharrao a captive. Dudrenec accomplished the task boldly. The turbulent youth was brought in chains before Ahalyabai and kept secure in the fort of Khushalgad. This result so put out the imbecile father that he threatened to commit suicide if his jewel of a son was not restored to his bosom. And so the disturber of peace had to be released. The civil war culminating in the battle of Lakheri (1st June 1793) so roused even the complacent Nana Phadnis at Poona, that it became impossible for him to ignore any longer the affairs of the Holkar house. He took the only way he was used to in such situations that is, to send a diplomatic mission to Indore. Devrao Hingne, the youngest of the Hingne brothers was chosen along with Balavantrao Kashi Katre to proceed to Indore and bring about a settlement of the troubles by persuasive methods. A vain hope! The mission reached Indore in August 1793 and after spending 18 long months returned to Poona with Tukoji Holkar in December 1794 without effecting any cure, beyond the long paper reports made by Hingne, now printed by Parasnis in his *Itihas Sangraha*.⁶
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Holkar's is only one of the many instances of degeneration varying only in personalities and details, but exemplifying the same moral decline on all sides The Peshwa Bajirao II, Daulatrao Sindia, Sarzarao Ghatge who are soon to come on the stage of Maratha history, have the same tragic tale to unfold.
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4. Babarao Govind, Mahadji's adviser.—Mahadji Sindia's accession to the Regentship of the Mughal Empire, prompted many of the Indian Powers to approach him for gaining their objectives. For example, Nizam Ali of Haidarabad despatched his own trusted agent, Babarao Govind Karmalekar, towards the end of 1784, who arrived and lived in Sindia's camp for several years thereafter advising Mahadji on important affairs and rendering him conspicuous service in many directions, possessed as he was of singular capacity in settling many a vexatious dispute in sweet reasonableness and shrewd argument. Babarao Govind was accompanied in his mission by Mahadji's sister Anandibai who had been married into the family of Rao Rambha Nimbalkar, a vassal jagirdar of Nizam Ali. She suffered from monetary distress and wished to secure some relief from Mahadji. Nizam Ali asked her to support his own suit to Mahadji Sindia. This consisted of the following items :—
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1. The grant of a formal title of Wazir of the Empire which Asaf Jah I, his son and grandson had successively held ;
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6. The curious reader can study the extensive literature contained in the Maheshwar Darbar letters, Hingne Embassy, the Holkar Kaifiat and the recently published sources of Holkar History Vols. I and II.
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Hingne suggested a severe surgical operation as the only remedy, the entire suppression of the Holkar State for incompetency and mis-management. But such a drastic step was beyond Nana Phadnis' powers and he had to content himself along with the great and small of his class in the administration with the adage "after me the deluge."
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2. Indisputable confirmation of Nizam Ali in his rulership of the Haidarabad State which Ghazi-ud-din the younger, now a homeless wanderer was seeking for himself ;
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3. There was a large property in Delhi and its environs with lands and estates once possessed by Asaf Jah, to which now Nizam Ali preferred his claim.
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4. The old Jamuna canal at Delhi was delapidating and required repairs. Nizam Ali now offered to pay two lacs for its repair and upkeep if the canal could be thrown open for public use.
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5. Nizam Ali claimed an amount of more than a crore by way of arrears of tribute from the British for the territory of the Northern Sarkars, which had been ceded to them. Mahadji was asked to realize this along with the sums he was claiming from the British for the Emperor and the Bhosle of Nagpur.
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This mission proved altogether unavailing. Mahadji's sister, an old lady whom Nizam Ali selected as a deliberate family bond, died at Gwalior in 1785, but Babarao continued to stay with Mahadji for more than five years, having earned a name for probity and disinterested service. Through him Mahadji obtained a loan of ten or twenty lacs from Nizam Ali, who was watching with anxious interest the widening gulf at Poona between Nana and Mahadji and who preferred the latter's friendship against the former's greed. When Mahadji in 1791 decided to march to the south, Babarao also returned to his master. He once again met Mahadji in Poona on his master's mission in 1793, when Ghazi-ud-din was trying his luck by raising a fresh Shahzada to the throne of Delhi. But Ghazi's efforts never proved successful as Mahadji did not support him. Nana Phadnis, however, had a soft corner in his heart, for Ghaziud-din ever since the days of Panipat and now assigned a small jagir for his maintenance near Kalpi.⁷
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⁷ Hingne Daftar II. 84.
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In the meantime one Mirza Muzaffar Bakht son of Jawan Bakht, claimed to be the heir-apparent (Vali-Ahad) of the Emperor and came to Poona in 1789 asking the Peshwa's support for being installed at Delhi. He lived at Poona and other places for several years ; but as he failed to obtain Mahadji's support, Nana Phadnis alone could not countenance his efforts, and he died in want some time in 1795. How Mahadji was distracted by such incidents in the midst of the war he was conducting against the Rajputs can be easily understood.
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5. The Rajput collapse.—During 1790 and 1791 Mahadji's captains were variously occupied in different localities in settling the country and putting down the prevailing disturbances. Khanderao Hari invested Kanod where Najaf Quli's wife assisted by Ismail Khan and the rajas of Jaipur and Jodhpur, had defied Mahadji's power, being fully apprized of the internal disssensions that then raged between Sindia and Holkar. Bijaysinh sent his agents to Poona seeking redress against Mahadji's encroachments. He employed agents to get Mahadji murdered. “Bijaysinh needs a sharp and unforgettable lesson,” wrote the Maratha envoy at Jodhpur. In February 1790 Mahadji managed to form a separate treaty with Pratapsinh of Jaipur, who agreed to pay regularly an annual tribute of fifteen lacs. He loyally carried out his engagement till his death in 1803.
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Mahadji thus gradually succeeded in restoring full Maratha power in the north up to the Satlaj. He also secured an understanding with the Durrani Shah Taimur of Afghanistan, then hard pressed by the Sikhs, who, like his father Ahmad Shah, was covetous of the Punjab. A tripartite arrangement was negotiated on the question of the Punjab between the Marathas, the Sikhs and the Afghans. The territory between Lahore and Attock was ceded to the Shah; the Sikhs were allowed to exercise their sway between Lahore and the Satlaj, and the Marathas to the south of that river. Thus the main point of discord so long affecting the Maratha-Afghan amity was finally removed. There remained only two opponents for Mahadji to deal with, the Raja Bijaysinh of Jodhpur and Ismail Khan. Gopalrao Raghunath was dealing heavy blows to the former from his possession of Ajmere. At such a juncture Bijaysinh and Ismail Khan joined hands and renewed their struggle against Mahadji during the summer of 1790 in the Tonwarwati district of Jaipur, having entrenched themselves at Patan about 80 miles north of that capital. Mahadji took up the challenge and employed his best generals in a concentrated attack. Gopalrao Raghunath, Jivba Bakhshi, Ambuji Ingle, Pratapsinh of Machedi with De Boigne’s powerful brigades came upon Patan and manoeuvred for a position to attack the enemy At this time Mahadji happily secured full co-operation from Tukoji Holkar, having freely and magnanimously granted him a full half share in all his recent conquests. The operations before Patan extended over nearly a month from 24 May to 20 June 1790, on which last day the bloody and decisive action was fought with strong artillery duels on both sides, lasting from morning till late at night. De Boigne’s brigades executed a fearful havoc ; a large booty of elephants and a hundred pieces of cannon were secured. Mahadji sent glowing accounts about this victory to Poona. Ismail Beg saved his life by a precipitate flight to Jaipur.⁸
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⁸ See Sir Jadunath Sarkar’s paper in *Mod. Rev.* May 1943.
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But this victory of Patan did not bring the Rajput war to an end. Sindia’s enemies resumed the offensive again and showed no signs of submission. Mahadji employed his captains to devastate the Rathod territory. Bijaysinh began separate negotiations with Tukoji Holkar, once more trying to effect a breach between the two Maratha chiefs. In the midst of his anxieties Mahadji was heartened to receive from the Emperor the formal farman of his appointment as Naib-i-Vakil-i-Mutlak and the cession of two of the Hindu sacred places, Mathura and Brindaban into Maratha possession. Mahadji held a special Darbar on 7th August 1790 and received the farman in a befitting ceremonial. The event served to announce to the outside world the strong position Mahadji held in the Mughal Government and the high trust the Emperor placed in his capacity and management. Sindia’s prestige was now fully restored in north India.
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It was due to the strength of De Boigne’s disciplined brigades that the victory of Patan was won, confirming the wisdom of the experiment which Mahadji had begun in hesitation five years ago. De Boigne was particular about regular payment to his men. As Mahadji’s financial embarrassments often created trouble, De Boigne frankly demanded some arrangement by which regularity of payment to his men could be assured, and loyal service at all times could be exacted. He was, when first employed, allowed Rs. 4000 a month, which was afterwards increased to six thousand. In order to avoid delay in payment Mahadji allotted to the General's charge his rich districts in the vicinity of Aligarh, estimated to yield twelve lacs a year to cover the payment of his own salary and that of his men. De Boigne administered the fief very ably and so improved its annual yield as to secure the highest efficiency for his new army. The experiment served as a worthy example even for British administrators to copy at a later date.
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After the battle of Patan Bijaysinh tried various means to seduce the French general from his loyalty to Mahadji. De Boigne replied to him, "What more can you give me? I already fully possess the two kingdoms of Jaipur and Jodhpur," so sure was the General of his victory over the Rajput combination. He at once captured the town of Ajmere and its strong fort Taragad (21st August 1790). The joint endeavour of Mahadji and Tukoji in winning the victory of Patan, brought a temporary reconciliation of the two chiefs. On 19th August they had a cordial meeting at which they held a frank discussion about past occurrences and future plans. A half and half division of all conquests and spoils was agreed upon between them. It seems Mahadji did not abandon his exclusive hold both on the territories and their administration. Once more friction was renewed.
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On 27th August Mahadji went into tents for a fresh campaign to finish the Rajput opposition and celebrated the usual birthday ceremony of Shrikrishna (2nd September) having already despatched Ladoji Deshmukh against Bijaysinh. Gopalrao Chitnis, Jivba Dada, Kashirao Holkar (son of Tukoji) advanced into Jodhpur territory, determined to smash all opposition and reduced Sambhar, Rupnagar and other posts. Bijaysinh on his part took his stand on the plain of Merta and pressed into service all the male members of his whole population between the years of 14 and 60, for a final deadly effort against Maratha hegemony. While the Rajputs were yet waiting for the arrival of Ismail Beg's contingents to join them, De Boigne on the morning of 10th September opened his artillery on the Rajput horse. Four thousand Rathods answered De Boigne's charge in a frenzy and were completely mowed down. The whole enemy camp fell into Maratha hands with all their belongings. Bhimrao Singhvi, the Commander-in-chief of Bijaysinh ran to Nagor and swallowed poison. The battle-field of Merta was covered with the dead and wounded of the Rathod chivalry. Those who were alive were carefully picked up and properly treated by the Marathas. Writes Sir Jadunath, “This was the hardest fight in De Boigne’s career and showed his military genius at its best. It will also be remembered for all time as a classic example of the utter futility of mere courage against discipline, and of the sword against bullets. Merta proved the superiority of the European system of warfare over the old Indian beyond the possibility of doubt.”⁹
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Mahadji at once sent off parties to capture Jodhpur the Rathod capital, when Bijaysinh finding his position hopeless sent envoys to obtain terms of submission. These met Mahadji at Ajmere. The negotiations became unusually protracted on account of higgling and subterfuges. The following terms were at last agreed upon on 6th January 1791, a repetition of the scene acted 45 years ago with Dattaji Sindia :
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1. Forty lacs to be paid by Bijaysinh by instalments in one year and thereafter an annual tribute of 5 lacs;
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2. The city and the fort of Ajmere with the villages under them to be ceded to Sindia in perpetuity.
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3. Sambhar and some other districts to be similarly handed over to the Marathas.
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Ajmere had belonged to the Sindias since Jayappa’s days. It was wrested from them after Lalsot; and now it came back. The holy place of Pushkar also now passed to the Marathas. Here Mahadji erected a splendid new temple. Lakhba Dada was appointed to settle the conquered country. Bijaysinh died soon after the war was over, on 8th July 1793. Just as the field of Patan proved the graveyard of Jaipur chivalry, the battle of Merta broke the power of the Rathods of Jodhpur. Appaji Ram casually remarks, “The Patil Bawa is very fortunate. He possesses marvellous capacity for managing men and affairs, others who tried to imitate his ways have failed.”
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Of all Mahadji’s adversaries in north India Ismail Beg alone now remained to be dealt with. His story need not detain the reader long. Having now no supporter left and rejecting all overtures of Mahadji to win him over, he took to a wandering life. Najaf Quli Khan, another imperial chief, was also in a similar situation, a friend of Mahadji at one moment and an antagonist at another. For a time Mahadji pitted the one against the other. Najaf Quli while engaged in occupying Kanod died on 4th September 1790. Thereafter Ismail Beg occupied Kanod and joined Bijaysinh. When the latter gave up the struggle, Ismail Beg was isolated and was hunted by Mahadji's men from place to place. Early in 1791 he turned to southern Rajputana, raiding Sirohi and Palanpur in search of support. In July he approached Ahmadabad and plundered the surrounding country. Being hunted out from Gujarat, he returned to Jaipur, but nowhere did he receive shelter. Khanderao Hari came on his track and routed him on 4th December 1791. He then was admitted into the fort of Kanod by Najaf Quli's wife who held that place. Khanderao besieged Kanod and having ordered heavy artillery from Mathura captured the place by bombardment. Ismail Beg's person was secured in April 1792 after Mahadji Sindia had already left for Poona. De Boigne offered personal protection to Ismail Beg at the intercession of Moti Begam a relation of Najaf Quli who had married De Boigne. The Beg was confined as a prisoner in Agra with Rs. 500 as an allowance for his monthly expenses. He spent eight years in confinement and died in 1799, the last surviving member of the Mughal service.
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Thus by the end of 1791 all north India from the Narmada to the Satlaj came into Sindia's nominal possession and was reduced to a kind of settled political order. In southern Rajputana, Rana Bhimsinh the ruler of Udaipur had been faced by an internal revolt fostered by his namesake Bhimsinh of Salumbra, who had forcibly occupied Chitodgad and could not be dislodged. Chitod was a precious possession of Udaipur which the ruler could not afford to lose. In March 1791, when Mahadji came to Pushkar to perform there his spring festival, he was approached for help by the Rana for the recovery of Chitod. He was then in a hurry to proceed to Poona and did not immediately accept the Rana's call. But the Rajput affairs kept him occupied much longer than he had expected, and he arrived near Chitod where the Rana came for his visit which took place on 5th September. Chitod was at once besieged and forced to surrender to Mahadji’s men on 17th November. It was given back to the Rana’s possession; the tribute from Udaipur was finally fixed and Mahadji proceeded to the south. On 4th December 1791, he thus wrote to the Peshwa :—
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“Extremely anxious to pay my respects to you at Poona after such a long separation, I moved from Mathura through the Marwar territory, and receiving an appeal on the way from the Rana of Udaipur for reducing his ancient possession of Chitodgad, held by the rebellious chief Bhimsinh, I arrived before the fort and reduced it in a short time. It was due to your blessing that the renowned fort which took the great Akbar twelve years to reduce, was captured in a few days. I have settled the affairs of Udaipur, and having appointed Ambuji Ingle for the defence of the Rajput territory, I am going to reach Poona quickly and offer my humble obeisance.” The Rana and the rebel Bhimsinh both paid parting visits to Mahadji on 5th January 1792. The vakils of Jodhpur and other states also paid similar visits, confirming their cordial obedience and effecting a settlement of the outstanding disputes in mutual negotiation. Mahadji left Mewar on 6th January escorted by Ambuji Ingle and Samru’s battalions for a short distance. During the ensuing absence of Mahadji in the south, Ambuji discharged his duties in the north with exceptional ability, which the historian Tod has highly extolled.
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1777, Feb. 8 | Ghasiram appointed Kotwal of Poona. ---|--- 1789, Aug. | Nana Phadnis building a house at Benares. 1791, Aug. 29 | Ghasiram confines Brahman criminals. 1791, Aug. 31 | Ghasiram stoned to death. 1792, Feb. | Mahadji reaches the Godavari. ,, Mar.-May | Mahadji visits Tulzapur. ,, May 11 | Peshwa initiated in office-work. ,, June 12 | Mahadji arrives at Poona. ,, June 22 | Mahadji's Darbar at Wanavdi. ,, Aug. 9 | Mahadji entertains the Peshwa at dinner. ,, ,, | Sindia's claims being examined at Poona. ,, Oct. 8 | Holkar's camp beaten at Suravli. 1793, Mar. 13 | The grand colour festivals at Poona. ,, Mar. 23 | Ill-treatment of the Sachiv. 1793, April | Reconciliation between Sindia and Nana attempted. ,, April-May | Sachiv's affair investigated. ,, June 1 | Holkar routed at Lakheri. ,, July 23 | Reconciliation between Sindia and Nana reported. 1794, Feb. 12 | Mahadji Sindia dies at Poona.
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SINDIA AT POONA
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[1792—1794]
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1 Sindia’s aims in coming to the Deccan. 2 The Darbar of 22nd June, 1792. 3 Sindia’s antagonism to the Poona Ministers. 4 Holkar’s rout at Lakheri. 5 Sindia’s triumph at Poona. 6 The ill-treatment of the Sachiv. 7 The tragic end of Ghasiram Kotwal.
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1. Sindia’s aims in coming to the Deccan.—Mahadji Sindia’s arrival in the Deccan synchronised with the end of the Allies’ War with Tipu Sultan, the indirect consequence of which in the opinion of close observers was the preponderance gained by the British power in the politics of India and the proportionate decrease in the Maratha prestige. To counteract this result before it was too late, was the first object which Sindia now set before his eyes. This was a moment when he had become the most powerful among Indian chiefs, the foremost champion of the cause of India’s self-rule. He was a creation of the Peshwas, that is to say, he was one of those chiefs who from the small beginnings laid out by the great Shivaji, had raised the Maratha power to a position in which the founder’s dream of a Hindu-pad-Padshahi was all but accomplished, when early in 1772 this Sindia under the direction of the able Peshwa Madhavrao I, had carried the Emperor from the British control to Delhi and restored him to his ancestral seat. Twenty years had now passed since that restoration, a period which had witnessed momentous changes in Indian politics, particularly the advent of a new rival to the Maratha power, this time not from the trans-Indus Afghan regions, but from the trans-ocean lands of Europe. Is this new power to be allowed an easy passage to the supreme position and for ever mar the prospect of self-rule or Swarajya for this vast ancient continent of glorious memories? Or should not the sons of the soil do their utmost to keep off the prospective enslavement? Jayapal, Jayachand, Prithviraj, Ramdev of Devgiri, Ram Rai of Vijaynagar these and others died in an attempt to resist the Muslim subjugation of India. We cannot say that they entirely failed. For in the course of time the conquerors settled in this land, assimilated its life and culture, and became one with the people. The process now threatened to repeat itself in a more dangerous form. Sindia perceived the shadows creeping forward and set his face towards resisting British supremacy. Few then living realized the gravity of the danger. But Nana Phadnis at Poona and Sindia at Delhi were perfectly alive to it, on account of their daily contact with British diplomats, whose dealings have been plentifully reflected in the extant records now available for study. This was the main purpose which brought Sindia to Poona and which then puzzled not a few politicians of the day. The century of foreign rule we have experienced, has so perverted the post-Maratha trend of India’s history, that it is high time those early conditions are put in their proper perspective.
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Sindia’s visit to his homeland created quite a stir not only in Maharashtra but throughout India. A few friends welcomed him; but a vast majority sensed either personal or national danger from that event. The curiosity of all was roused as never before. Long in advance of his actual arrival at Poona, people began to form their own views about the possible reason and likely consequences of Sindia’s visit. In the midst of the glow of his power few cared to remember that he was coming indeed to his home after an absence of twelve long years. There was a time when all Maratha chiefs were required to pay yearly visits to their master at the head-quarters. But his twelve years’ absence with the momentous events that had happened in the interval, had obliterated all past memories, had made Sindia himself a stranger to Poona, to the Peshwa’s Court with its youthful growing master, and with the rising generation of his compatriots in the Deccan. Most men believed that Sindia had carved out an independent kingdom for himself in the north and would have no longer any reason to maintain relations with the south. He was supposed to have amassed vast treasure and to have become invincible on account of his French-trained battalions, who had enabled him to master the Emperor. Why may he not then similarly overthrow the Peshwa too? Such wild and fanciful notions filled the atmosphere of Poona, when on the sultry 12th of June Sindia reached the outskirts of the capital. There he was a lion among hyenas and every one had to face him.
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Mahadji himself was not a little surprised to notice the unprecedented stir about an event, which he looked upon as an ordinary matter of course. He marched slowly and warily trying his utmost to calm the popular alarm. In order to disarm wicked suspicions he sent back from Burhanpur part of the battalions that had at first accompanied him. His confidential secretary Balarao Govind, who had long been posted in the Deccan to give him full reports from that quarter, advanced and met Mahadji at Toka on the Godavari early in February and communicated to him the alarm and unfriendly sentiments agitating the political circles of the capital. Mahadji thereupon wisely changed his course. From Toka he proceeded to Bid to see his Muslim *guru* and receive his blessings. From Bid he went to Tulzapur to offer worship to his family deity. Here he married another wife hoping to get a son and heir and then took up his residence at Jamgaon, his ancestral home. He thus spent four long months away from the atmosphere of Poona, utilizing the interval for visits and talks with people of all shades of opinion and sentiment, and quieting their groundless suspicions. The initial storm was thus allowed to blow over.
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A contemporary bard named Ramchandra has composed a ballad on the battle of Kharda in which the following refrain occurs at the end of each stanza¹ :—
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¹ हिंदुस्तान गुजरात सोडून सिंदा दख्खनंत आला ॥ हुकूम केला बादशहानें त्याला ॥
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¹ Shah Alam was an opportunist. While he gave his support to Sindia, he intrigued with British agents at Delhi. See P. R. C. I, p. 276 and II pp. 128-132.
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“The Sindia has left Hindustan and Gujarat ;
Has now sojourned to the Deccan,
At the behest of the Emperor.”
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This is perhaps according to one view the real motive of Sindia’s visit. He had certainly formed a plan of his own for future action and come to the south at the command of the Emperor, the sole master of India, to put that plan into action, viz., to keep the British from further encroachment. The snubbing he had received from Cornwallis rankled sorely in his heart. The Emperor had received every insult and every rebuff from the British ever since Clive's days. He lost territory, he lost tribute, he lost even the stipulated allowances for his maintenance in exchange of the Diwani. Shah Alam had witnessed the vain struggles of Siraj-ud-daula, of Mir Qasim and Mir Jafar, of Shuja-ud-daula, of Najib Khan, of Chetsinh and the Rohillas and of the poor Begams of Oudh, against British aggression. Clive, Anderson, Brown, Malet, Kirkpatrick, to these in succession and in rising degree, the Emperor became a dupe, finding to his cost his power slipping fast out of his hands. Mahadji alone had saved him and rescued him from intolerable indignities. He alone understood how Indian potentates now suffered at the hands of the British, like the Nawab Wazir of Oudh, the Bhosles of Nagpur, Nizam Ali of Haidarabad and even their creature Nawab Muhammad Ali of Arcot, now undergoing the agonies of misrule and interminable debts.
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As this dismal aspect of Indian politics now became patent all over India, every eye began to look to Sindia as the saviour, as he had assumed the role of the Emperor's protector, having vindicated his capacity by successfully overcoming the Rajput and Muslim opposition. He had won the friendship of the Sikhs and the trans-Indus Afghans. Nizam Ali and Tipu Sultan courted his goodwill. Babarao Govind a diplomat of high order was striving to organize a unanimous combination of Indian Powers to save Indian independence. The most vital requirement for the success of the experiment, viz., the armed forces trained on European model, had now been secured by Sindia with the help of a French expert. The Maratha jagirdars of the Deccan were now to be impressed with the same crying need of improving their armaments. Thus by common consent Mahadji came to a position best fitted to champion the cause of Indian independence against foreign aggression. Such a move required the support of the Central Maratha Government for which a young promising master was being reared. So Sindia came to Poona, apart from other declared objectives, to remodel the Maratha power and put fresh blood into its organization so that the united power of Delhi and Poona should prove effective. The ballad-singer has rightly disclosed the inner motive.
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At the same time Mahadji was fully alive to the drawbacks of this plan. He had accurately gauged the strength of British arms and the ramifications of their diplomacy with Malet and Kennaway planted at Poona and Haidarabad, working under the guidance of Lord Cornwallis. He, therefore, moved cautiously, giving out his grievances against Nana Phadnis and his desire to exact satisfaction for them. The various British Residents tried to fathom Sindia’s motives and reported each in his own way what they learned and gathered on the subject of Sindia’s plans, suggesting action for restraining his growing power. He gave out as his ostensible objects (1) the settlement of his claim of several crores against the Poona Government for the expenses he had incurred during his operations in north India since 1777 under the Peshwa’s orders ; (2) he was ready to prove that he had not bagged heaps of money by his capture of Delhi and swallowed them instead of paying it to his master ; (3) he also demanded an authoritative decision of his vexatious disputes with Ali Bahadur and Tukoji Holkar. These and other points were certainly given out as the ostensible objects of his visit, but the real object which he had set before himself, as disclosed in the extensive literature of the period, was the resuscitation of the Maratha Government with a view to meeting the threatening dangers which surrounded it.
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Mahadji, however, was shrewd enough not to rouse any hostile sentiment either among his brother chiefs or the representatives of the outside Powers. He carefully avoided any clash of arms. As soon as he arrived at the Narmada he sent special agents to Raghuji Bhosle and Nizam Ali in order to fathom their views on the existing situation. Mahadji himself proposed to go to Nagpur direct, but dropped the visit for various reasons. The British Residents at Poona and Haidarabad sensed that an important political move was afoot and tried each in his own way to counteract it. Nana received cordial support from Malet against any mischief from Sindia.²
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² How Nana Phadnis was worming himself into British hearts is well illustrated in the following correspondence :—
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Malet, however, was cautious and shrewd and advised his superiors to observe a strictly waiting attitude towards the Marathas and afford no cause for offence during the lifetime of those two powerful chiefs. This advice both Cornwallis and his successor Shore fully endorsed and acted upon against the contrary suggestions of Kennaway at Haidarabad.
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