The Military System of the Marathas, with a Brief Account of Their Maritime Activities c10.32

c10.32

In the Peshwa period some efforts were made to manufacture their own artillery and ammunition. Baji Rao had his own foundry, which was visited by Captain William Gordon, the English envoy, in 1739. He wrote on 30 June: ‘I visited the foundry, where I saw many coehorns and bomb shells said to have been cast there, and a form of a thirteen inch mortar. I was told they make such with great ease, and have learned the art of running iron for making shot’.¹ During the administration of Madhav Rao I, a cannon-ball factory was established at Ambegavan near Votur in the province of Junnar in 1765-66, and another factory was established at Poona four years later for manufacturing cannons.² But this did not mean that they were seriously thinking of dispensing with foreign arms. On the contrary they steadily looked for such supply and provided for them in their treaties with European nations.