Fall of the Mughal Empire v4.c52.s6: § 6. Bāji Rao proclaimed Peshwā
Fall of the Mughal Empire v4.c52.s6
- Language
- English
§ 6. Bāji Rao proclaimed Peshwā
v4.c52.s6.1
Nānā had an ally in the very citadel of his enemy. Sakhārām Ghātgé, surnamed Sharzā Rao, was a Maratha of the sardār family of Kāgal, who had joined Nānā's personal guards as a poor military adventurer, and gained his confidence by his courage, loyalty and unscrupulous resourcefulness. When Nānā Fadnis fled away from Punā (March 1796) Sharzā Rao passed into Daulat Rao Sindhiā’s service, and soon acquired the greatest influence over him, especially by holding out to his new master the bait of marriage with his beautiful young daughter Baizā Bāi, (a marriage which was eventually celebrated on 26th Feb. 1798). He now worked in the interests of Bāji Rao, over whom Sindhiā had placed him as keeper. Through Sharzā Rao, the prisoner opened communications with Nānā at Mahād for being declared as the Peshwā. Nānā agreed and again through Sharzā Rao’s secret insinuations managed to persuade Daulat Rao to arrest and confine both Bālobā Tātyā and Parashurām Bhāu who were then conducting the Government (26th October 1796). Chimnāji Apā was also removed from his throne and placed in detention. Nānā Fadnis returned to Punā and there at a public ceremony (on 26th Nov.) Bāji Rao II was proclaimed as Peshwā, and Nānā Fadnis became outwardly the supreme executive head of the Government again.
v4.c52.s6.2
∗ Govind Rao Kālé arranged a secret treaty between Nānā and Nizām Ali, which was signed on 7th Oct. 1796. By this contract all the huge war indemnity and cession of territory imposed upon the Haidarabad ruler, were entirely annulled, on condition that Nizām Ali wholeheartedly assisted in installing Bāji Rao in the Peshwāship with Nānā as the sole administrator. (Sardesai, iii. 318-320). The quotations here are from Sardesai's New History of the Marathas, vol. III.
v4.c52.s6.3
The newly enthroned Shrimant immediately plunged into sensual enjoyment in private, while he made an outward show of constant religious devotion worthy of the priestly head of a “Government belonging to Brāhmans and cows.” The ship of State without a helmsman drifted from bad to worse. The veteran prime minister, though nominally restored to his supreme position, “remained sulking as a private onlooker, unable to exercise any effective control over the administration.” As the price of this political *coup* all the claims on the Nizam were written off by Nānā.
v4.c52.s6.4
The derelict Punā Government was utterly insolvent. Daulat Rao Sindhiā was no better off owing to his huge inflated army bill and shrunken revenue-collection from war-ravaged estates. Though Bāji Rao devised and carried out ingenious schemes for squeezing money out of the people, his debts remained unpaid. The first half of the year 1797 passed in this placid stagnation, till at last on 15th August, when Tukoji Holkar died, a storm burst on the Maratha Government, whose unforeseen consequence was to hasten the loss of Maratha independence.