Fall of the Mughal Empire v2.c26.s3.15

v2.c26.s3.15

Soon after parting from Jankoji at Kota, Malhar returned to Indor (September 1758) and had a severe illness. On recovering, he made a journey to Puna, where he arrived in January 1759, after having been detained for some weeks at Sendhwa (midway between the Narmada and the Tapti) by a general Bhil rising in Khandesh. At the Maratha capital his tact and diplomacy removed the Peshwa's recently kindled suspicions about him, and he was sent back to Malwa, reinstated in trust and power. In July he received orders from the Peshwa to go and put pressure on the Maharana of Udaipur, who had not paid a pice of his annual tribute for the last four years, nor the extra contribution laid on him by Jankoji in 1758. The Peshwa's need of money was most pressing and he wrote to his agents in Rajputana not to spare the Maharana's feelings, but to exercise every kind of harshness that was likely to enforce payment from the defaulter. [SPD. xxi. 167, 172.]