History of Aurangzib, Based on Original Sources v5.c78.s1: § 1. Ramchandra Nilkantha, the Regent of the West, 1689-1697.
History of Aurangzib, Based on Original Sources v5.c78.s1
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§ 1. Ramchandra Nilkantha, the Regent of the West, 1689-1697.
v5.c78.s1.1
When Rajaram, the newly crowned king of the Marathas, fled away to the Madras coast (July, 1689), affairs in the Maharashtra country were left to his ministers. Ramchandra Nilkantha was created Regent of the West, with the title of Hakumat Panah, and he guided the fortunes of this virtually kingless State with remarkable wisdom and tact. He checked the progress of the Mughals, organised raids into imperial territory, sent succour repeatedly to his master who was then shut up in the far-off fort of Jinji, and—what was more difficult than all these,—he succeeded in keeping peace among the intractable and mutually jealous Maratha generals, each of whom felt himself to be his own master. Letters, no doubt, passed between the king and his Regent in the West, but the route was long and often unsafe and Rajaram could not exercise any real control over Ramchandra, who enjoyed full initiative and supreme authority in the homeland during the nine years of the king's absence.
v5.c78.s1.2
Rajaram, in addition to being plunged into debauchery in the Karnatak, was naturally weak-minded. His position made him powerless. He was a king without an army or treasury of his own, or subjects under his undisputed rule. Cooped up in a fort, he had to be all things to all men, and could not say No to anybody, nor enforce discipline among his servants. Any Maratha captain who could get together a thousand or even five hundred men of his own, could dictate the terms of his obedience to his nominal king.