Fall of the Mughal Empire v2.c25.s1: § 1. Maratha recovery in the Doab ; their difficulties
Fall of the Mughal Empire v2.c25.s1
- Language
- English
§ 1. Maratha recovery in the Doab ; their difficulties
v2.c25.s1.1
We have seen how by the month of May 1756, all the forces of the Maratha Government had vacated Rajputana and Hindustan north of the Chambal. There was left near Delhi a body of 5,000 horse under Antāji Mānakeshwar, but they were the Emperor's servants whose salary of 13 lakhs a year the wazir had taken it upon himself to pay. There were, besides, small bands of escort with the Maratha managers of Antaji's jagirs in the Doab, (Phaphund, Shukohabad and Etawa), the Hinganes' jagirs further north (in the Bulandshahar and Mirat districts), and the Peshwa's tribute-collectors in the south-east (Kora and Jahanabad.) But all their generals and regular armies had gone back to the Deccan. Raghunath himself had reached Puna on 10 August 1755 after two and a half years of campaigning; and in October 1756 we find him as well as Malhar Holkar at Puna and Dattaji Sindhia due to return there from Ujjain after the Diwāli ceremony. At the end of this year Malhar and some weeks later Raghunath were again despatched to the north.
v2.c25.s1.2
Raghunath reached Indor on 14 February 1757, and at first talked of marching on Delhi, which was in Abdali’s occupation. But we shall see in Chapter 18 why he could not for nearly four months afterwards leave Rajputana nor make any attempt to restore the Maratha power and prestige in the Doab. At last about the middle of May, he detached a force of 20,000 men under Sakhārām Bāpu, with Vital Shivdev, Tātyā Gangādhar (Holkar’s diwan), Antāji Mānakeshwar and the Household troops (*huzarāt*.) They first reached Agra, where they came to terms with the Jats. Suraj Mal, on promising to pay the outstanding balance of the indemnity of 1754, was left in possession of his usurpations in the Agra district and the western border of the Doab (Dankaur &c.) Then the Maratha vanguard crossed the Jamuna and reached Kāsganj on 17th June. As the Maratha horse approached, everywhere there was a panic flight of the agents of the wazir and the Bangash Nawab. The Marathas recovered their former outposts in the Doab with hardly a blow. Antāji Mānakeshwar went to Anupshahar about 2nd July, and a strong Maratha force occupied the Sikandrabad district. It was only at Mirat that Najib’s agents (his cousin and his *bakhshi*) offered fight at the head of 3,000 men, but their opposition was swept away with heavy loss on both sides after two battles (*c.* 10-15 July) with Antaji. A Ruhela contingent, 1,000 strong, which was coming from beyond the Ganges to uphold Najib’s power in Mirat, was scared away from the way by Antaji’s lieutenant who held Hapur. [*SPD.* ii. 79, 76, xxi. 61. 126. *TALS.* 124b-125b. Raj. i. p. 134. *DC.*]
v2.c25.s1.3
Saharanpur, Mirat, Sikandrabad, Shukohabad, Phaphund, Etawa and even southwards as far as Kora-Jahanabad, were all freed from the agents of the Delhi Court or of Najib. The wazir Imād-ul-mulk kept the diwan Nāgar Mal at Anupshahar to entreat the Marathas to make friends with him again. Shujā-ud-daulah had readily agreed to the Maratha proposal to remain neutral during this war in the Doab, as Maratha encouragement had stiffened his opposition to the wazir’s recent attempt to dispossess him of his two subahs by means of the Shāhzādas. But the financial gain of the Marathas was insignificant. Though the Muslim usurpers had been driven away from the region, the normal maintenance of order and the peaceful collection of revenue could not be restored so easily. Thanks to the last four years’ constant change of legally authorized owners, usurpations, political revolutions and foreign invasion, the whole of the Doab had become a No-man’s land, seething with disorder. The eclipse of the legitimate government during Abdali’s invasion and the Ruhela-Maratha contest had tempted every ambitious man to come out with his band, renounce all masters and encroach upon his neighbours’ lands. The Gujars spread in lawless activity through the Dāsna sub-division. The Rajput landlords of this region were a sturdy rebellious lot; almost every village had been fortified with mud walls,—as the English found to their cost in suppressing the Mutiny in 1858,—and the petty Rajahs with their armed bands had seized as much land as they could. Two thousands of such mud-forts were reported in the Doab by the Maratha agents, and their conquest by force would have taken years and a full-sized army and exhaustless gun-munition. [SPD. xxvii. 195, 196, 168, 169, 170. ii. 76.]
v2.c25.s1.4
Hence, the Marathas on their return to the Doab found neither peace nor money, and had even to beg for funds from the Punā Government to save their soldiers from starvation. At the same time the Peshwa was issuing assignments on the hypothetical Doab revenue to every one of his creditors and generals in North India and censuring his local officers there for default of payment. Both Antājī and Bāpu Hingané were accused of peculation of their master’s dues and their properties were escheated! The art of maintaining an empire eternally on credit has not been discovered by any human brain.
Linked texts (1)
- Selections from the Peshwa Daftar — Marathi