The Military System of the Marathas, with a Brief Account of Their Maritime Activities c7.55

c7.55

Feudalism was not the only evil which the Marathas suffered from. With the expansion of their empire they gradually but completely lost the early impulse, the original idea which had converted a disunited race into an imperial power. Shivaji had given the Marathas a common cry; and none appreciated the potency of that cry more clearly than Peshwa Baji Rao I. Shivaji’s military reforms he would not or could not revive, but he stood forth, as Shivaji had done, as champion of Hinduism. Circumstances had suffered considerable change since Shivaji’s days. The Marathas were no longer confined within their own province; they had crossed the Narmada and the whole of Hindustan stretched before them. Baji Rao, therefore, declared that his aim was to found a Hindu empire or *Hindupad Padshahi*, as he called it. It was a Hindu empire that Shivaji also wished to establish; but it was to be a Maratha state as well, for he appealed not merely to the religious feelings but also to the racial sentiments of the Marathas. Baji Rao, on the other hand, had to win the sympathies of Hindus outside Maharashtra, and he wisely forebore to emphasise the racial character of his mission. The Hindus of Central and Northern India saw in him a new deliverer. They had not forgotten the humiliations imposed upon them by Aurangzib’s religious intolerance, and they willingly ranged themselves on Baji Rao’s side at considerable sacrifice. Raja Jai Sing Sawai of Jaipur secretly favoured Baji Rao’s cause and influential Zemindars like Nandalal Mandloi¹ openly joined him. The Mughal Government had the wisdom to send two Hindu Viceroys to Malwa, Girdhar Bahadur and Daya Bahadur, at the time when Baji Rao was gradually accomplishing its conquest and annexation. The two Viceroys did their utmost to win the Hindu nobles of Malwa back to the Mughal side. But the latter were inspired by a new spirit, which finds expression in a letter addressed by Raja Jai Sing Sawai to Nandalal Mandloi on 26 October 1731.¹ ‘News of Malwa affairs, written on your behalf, have reached me and I have taken note of them. And Baji Rao Ballal Peshwa Pradhan of the Deccan has written on 29th Rabilakhar that, as desired by you, victory has been won in Malwa on the 21st (21-10-1731) and Viceroy Daya Bahadur fell in action. On that occasion Rao Sahebji, Thakur Narhardasji and Mayaramji Vakil, had voluntarily assisted with their own person, wealth, brothers, sons and officers but the Emperor’s Subha had made such (excellent) arrangements on the pass of Mandava, three mines had been run across the route and 25,000 soldiers were stationed there and the casualty among the Marathas as they attempted to ascend the pass was very great and if they had ascended a few steps more, the defenders of Mandava would have fired the mines and the entire army would have been lost. At such a crisis Rao Saheb sent us information and changing the route of Mandava he got the army safely across another route, that of Bheron Ghat, and his own people, son, brothers and officers were blown by mines on the ghat and were killed before his eyes. I am unable to describe what assistance he rendered. Such is the information I have received, but you had not given me these details. Thousand praises to you that relying on my words alone you chiefs of Malwa have ousted the Muhammadans from Malwa so that the welfare and the prosperity of our religion may be secured.’