Fall of the Mughal Empire v4.c52.s4.7

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.