Fall of the Mughal Empire v4.c52.s4: § 4. Death of the Peshwā (October 1795), Nānā Fadnis's intrigues against Bājī Rao II
Fall of the Mughal Empire v4.c52.s4
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§ 4. Death of the Peshwā (October 1795), Nānā Fadnis's intrigues against Bājī Rao II
v4.c52.s4.1
During the years 1793 and 1794, the thoughts of the Punā ministers were absorbed by one problem which only grew in urgency with the passing of months. Their Government had been working under a heavy deficit for years, and the addition of the many krores adjudged as due to Mahādji Sindhiā by the settlement of September 1793 would make the financial burden unbearable to their insolvent State. Yet there was money in sight, if only it could be got at. The Nizām of Haidarabad owed several krores to the Peshwā as war indemnity and chauth, but for many years past he had evaded payment. The problem for the Peshwā's ministers was how to make this defaulting debtor honour his treaty obligations. Diplomatic discussions, appeals to friendly Powers for mediation, and even threats of coercion failed to move the Haidarabad Government to a settlement of the claim. The Nizām's ministers,—whom the Governor-General Sir John Shore at this time aptly called 'foxes in their holes'—were passed masters in the use of delaying tactics, duplicity and evasion. The Nizām possessed an immense hoard of treasure, but he would not touch it. His ministers intrigued with all the enemies of the Peshwā and fomented the jealous quarrels among the Marātha sardārs in order to prevent a decision and thus put off the evil day.
v4.c52.s4.2
At last the Marātha Government's patience was worn out, and they decided to use the only argument which the Court of Haidarabad ever understood. In January 1795 a vast Maratha army set out from Punā under Nānā Fadnis, the Peshwā, and Parashurām Bhāu Patwardhan. This was the last time that all the Marātha sardārs without any exception, gathered under the national banner in the field. After a short campaign, marked only by the cowardice and folly of Nizām Ali Khan, he was driven into the village of Khardā (11th March) and there forced to make a complete submission promising an indemnity of five krores (payable in three years) and a cession of territory worth 30 lakhs a year, and delivering his minister Mushir-ul-mulk into the hands of the Marāthas as a hostage.
v4.c52.s4.3
The treaty was concluded on 27th March. But only seven months after it, an event happened which nullified all the gains of the treaty and brought to the Peshwā's throne its destined destroyer Bāji Rao II. The young Peshwā Mādhav Rao II died of an accident on 27th October 1795, and a scene of hopeless bewilderment and mischief opened in Punā. Two months later General De Boigne who had served as a sobering influence on Daulat Rao Sindhiā, left his service for return to Europe, and that young prince was left free to prance to self-destruction.
v4.c52.s4.4
The story of the revolutions that began in Punā in 1795 is no doubt the direct concern of the historian of Mahārāshtra. But as their repercussion naturally shook the Marātha administration in Hindustan, the present history must trace their course, though in outline only.
v4.c52.s4.5
The nearest heir of the dead Peshwā was Bāji Rao, the eldest son of that Raghunāth Dādā who had sat on an uneasy throne for eight months after the murder of Nārāyan Rao Peshwā in August 1773. Nānā Fadnis had effectually kept him out of power and relentlessly tracked down and punished with death or torture every participant in the conspiracy against Nārāyan Rao and every leading supporter of Raghunāth. Moreover, he had doomed Raghunāth Dādā, his wife, and three sons (Bāji Rao and Chimnāji Apā sprung from his own loins, and Amrit Rao an adopted son) to long and humiliating captivity. Their hearts were sore against him, and if Bāji Rao now gained the throne Nānā Fadnis would inevitably lose his power and wealth, and if he escaped death by reason of his sacred caste, he would certainly be subjected to public humiliation and secret torture.
v4.c52.s4.6
Nānā Fadnis’s one thought was how to keep Bāji Rao out of the succession. He proposed to set aside the entire house of Raghunāth Dādā as blood-stained, and give the Peshwāship to a boy from a collateral line to be adopted by the last Peshwā’s widow as her son. Nearly all the chief men in the State objected to this violation of hereditary right. Then Nānā changed his plan; he would make Raghunāth’s younger son Chimnāji Apā, a boy of eleven, Peshwā (Feb. 1796), so that the old minister might enjoy a further long lease of power as the guardian of the minor. This proposal also met with public disapproval.
v4.c52.s4.7
Four months were wasted by Nānā Fadnis in these manoeuvres and indecision, till all his supporters abandoned him and he was driven to come to terms with Bāji Rao, who had secretly won over Daulat Rao Sindhiā (through his minister Bālobā Pāgnis) by promising to pay him 1¼ crores of Rupees in cash and lands worth 25 lakhs a year, as the price of his support. On 11th March 1796, Bāji Rao and Nānā Fadnis made a solemn pact by which they guaranteed each other’s position as Peshwā and prime minister, without the intervention of Sindhiā, who thus lost his claim to the money promised before. It bitterly antagonised Daulat Rao, and started a series of almost kaleidoscopic changes. Nānā, finding his own life in danger from Sindhiā’s troops, suddenly left Punā (21st March) and went to Satara and thence to Mahād in the western hills. Punā was left without a master.