The Military System of the Marathas, with a Brief Account of Their Maritime Activities c12.55

c12.55

The picture may or may not have been overdrawn, but it should be remembered that the offenders were the Pendharis and the Purvias, and not Marathas. These mercenaries were responsible for the worst crimes associated with the Maratha name. It was they who plundered and defiled the Sarada temple of Shri Shankaracharya of Shringeri during Parashram Bhau Patwardhan’s campaign against Tipu Sultan.¹ It was they again who harassed the Brahmans of the South when Sindhia’s trained battalions arrived in the Deccan to revive their master’s waning influence at Poona. The mercenaries of the North were accustomed to plunder their own camp even during the Mughal days, and the Maratha leaders alone should not be held responsible for the outrages committed by these myrmidons.²