New History of the Marathas v3.c37.s3.35

v3.c37.s3.35

Vithoji Holkar proclaimed himself as an agent of Amritrao throughout the regions he devastated, adding that Bajirao had proved himself incompetent and unworthy of his position and that he (Vithoji) was maintaining the rule of Amritrao with the sole object of saving the Maratha State from the approaching ruin. This anti-Bajirao campaign began in 1799 and continued in ever increasing violence up to the end of 1802 when it culminated in the treaty of Bassein. These four years of disturbances and outbreaks, clearly disclosed to the world how at the hands of Bajirao no improvement was possible. The two brothers Yashvantrao in the north and Vithoji in the south practically destroyed all the vestiges of the power which the Peshwa and his henchman Sindia exercised. The Peshwa felt so terror-stricken that he thought Amritrao and Vithoji had finished him. In his embarrassment he hurriedly collected whatever men he could secure and sent them under Baloji Kunjar and Bapu Gokhale against Vithoji. The insurgence, however, broke out sporadically in diverse localities, so that Bajirao could easily encounter and crush his enemies separately; many of them were secured and many slain. Bapu Gokhale captured Vithoji Holkar alive and brought him in chains before the Peshwa, who in a fit of insane rage had him tied to the feet of an elephant, dragged about in the palace compound and killed with horrid cruelty, a sight which Bajirao and his minister Kunjar gleefully watched from the terrace above. The dead body was exhibited for full twenty-four hours before the funeral rites were allowed to be performed. This event took place on 16th April 1801. How this rash and thoughtless deed would recoil on himself, Bajirao in his infatuation failed to realize. Several well-wishers of the Maratha State earnestly pleaded for softer measures against a member of the Holkar house, but the Peshwa paid no heed to them.