Fall of the Mughal Empire v4.c52.s4.6

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.