the the Hindu or third Deccan. There were thus, from 1650 onwards, three powers Three in the Deccan: first, the ever-invading troops of the Delhi parties in Empire; second, the forces of the two remaining independent Deccan, Muhammadan States of Southern India, namely, Ahmednagar 1650. and Bijapur; third, the military organization of the local Hindu tribes, which ultimately grew into the Marhattá confederacy. During the eighty years' war of Shah Jahan and Aurangzeb, Strength of with a view to the conquest of Southern India (1627-1707), the third or Hindu party fought from time to time on both party. sides, and obtained a constantly increasing importance. The Mughal armies from the north, and the independent Muhammadam kingdoms of the south, gradually exterminated each other. Being foreigners, they had to recruit their exhausted forces from outside. The Hindu confederacy drew its inexhaustible native levies from the wide tract known as Maháráshtra, stretching from the Berars in Central India to near the south of the Bombay Presidency. The Marhattás Courted by were therefore courted alike by the Imperial generals and by the independent Muhammadan sovereigns of the Deccan. With true Hindu statecraft, their leader, Sivají, from time to time aided the independent Musalmán kingdoms of the Deccan against the Mughal avalanche from the north. Those kingdoms, with the help of the Marhattás, long proved a match for the imperial troops. But no sooner were the Delhi armies driven back, than the Marhattás proceeded to despoil the independent Musalmán kingdoms. On the other hand, the Delhi generals, when allied with the Marhattás, could completely overpower the independent Muhammadan States. the other two. SIVAJI Saw the strength of his position, and, by a course Sivaji, of treachery, assassination, and hard fighting, won for the born 1627, Marhattás the practical supremacy in Southern India.1 died 1680. As a of horse men. basis for his operations, he perched himself safe in a number of impregnable hill forts in the Bombay Presidency. His His hill forts. troops consisted of Hindu spearmen, mounted on hardy ponies. They were the peasant proprietors of Southern India, His army and could be dispersed or called together on a moment's notice, at the proper seasons of the agricultural year. Sivají had therefore the command of an unlimited body of troops, without the expense of a standing army. With these he swooped down upon his enemies, exacted tribute, or forced them to come to terms. He then paid off his soldiery by a His tactics. part of the plunder, and retreated with the lion's share to 1 The career of Sivají is traced in Grant Duff's History of the Mahrattas, vol. i. pp. 90-220. Coins money. Visits Delhi, 1666. his hill forts. In 1659, he lured the Bijápur general into an ambush, stabbed him at a friendly conference, and exterminated his army. In 1662, Sivají raided as far as the extreme north of the Bombay Presidency, and sacked the Imperial city of Surat. In 1664, he assumed the title of king (Rájá), with the royal prerogative of coining money in his own name.1 The year 1665 found Sivají helping the Mughal armies against the independent Musalmán State of Bijapur. In 1666, he was induced to visit Delhi. Being coldly received by the Emperor Aurangzeb, and placed under restraint, he escaped to the south, and raised the standard of revolt.2 In Enthrones 1674, Sivají enthroned himself with great pomp at Ráigarh, weighing himself in a balance against gold, and distributing the precious counterpoise among his Bráhmans.3 After Died 1680. sending forth his hosts as far as the Karnatic in 1676, he died in 1680. himself, 1674. Aurang zeb's mistaken The Emperor Aurangzeb would have done wisely to have left the independent Musalmán Kings of the Deccan alone, until policy, he had crushed the rising Marhattá power. Indeed, a great 1688-1707. statesman would have buried the old quarrel between the Sambhaji 1680-89. Sahu, 1707. Muhammadans of the north and south, and united the whole forces of Islám against the Hindu confederacy which was rapidly organizing itself in the Deccan. But the fixed resolve of Aurangzeb's life was to annex to Delhi the Muhammadan kingdoms of Southern India. By the time he had carried out this scheme, he had wasted his armies, and left the Mughal Empire ready to break into pieces at the first touch. of the Marhattás. SAMBHAJI Succeeded his father, Sivají, in 1680, and reigned till 1689. His life was entirely spent in wars with the Portuguese and Mughals. In 1689, Aurangzeb captured him. The Emperor blinded his eyes with a red-hot iron, cut out the tongue which had blasphemed the Prophet, and struck off his head. His son, SAHU, then six years of age, was also captured and kept a prisoner till the death of Aurangzeb. In 1707 he was restored, on acknowledging allegiance to Delhi. But his long captivity among the Mughals left him only half a Marhattá.5 He wasted his life in his seraglio, and resigned the rule of his 1 Grant Duff's History of the Mahrattas, vol. i. p. 146. 3 Idem, vol. i. pp. 191-193. For the career of Sambhají, see Grant Duff's History of the Mahrattas, vol. i. pp. 220-261. * The career of Sahu is traced in Grant Duff's History of the Mahrattas, vol. i. pp. 297-306. territories to his Bráhman minister Bálají Vishwanáth, with the title of Peshwá.1 This office became hereditary, and the Rise of the power of the Peshwá superseded that of the Marhattá kings. Peshwás. The family of Sivaji only retained the little principalities of Sátára and Kolhapur.2 Sátára lapsed, for want of a direct heir, Sátára and to the British in 1849. Kolhapur has survived through their Kolhapur; clemency, and is now ruled, under their control, by the last of Sivaji's Sivaji's line. the last of line. Meanwhile the PESHWAS were building up at Poona the Progress great Marhattá confederacy. In 1718, Bálají, the first Peshwá, of the Peshwás, marched an army to Delhi in support of the Sayyid 'king- 1718. makers.' In 1720, he extorted an Imperial grant of the chauth or 'one-fourth' of the revenues of the Deccan. The Marhattás were also confirmed in the sovereignty of the countries round Poona and Sátára. The second Peshwá, Second Bájí Ráo (1721-40), converted the tribute of the Deccan Peshwá granted to his father into a practical sovereignty. In fifteen the years he wrested the Province of Málwá from the Empire Deccan, (1736), together with the country on the north-west of the 1720-40. Vindhyás, from the Narbada to the Chambal.5 In 1739,6 he captured Bassein from the Portuguese. conquers Deccan. The third Peshwá, Bálají Bájí Ráo, succeeded in 1740, and Third carried the Marhattá terror into the heart of the Mughal Peshwá, 1740-61. Empire. The Deccan became merely a starting-point for a vast series of their expeditions to the north and the east. Conquests Within the Deccan itself he augmented his sovereignty, at the in the expense of the Nizám, after two wars. The great centres of the Marhattá power were now fixed at Poona in Bombay and Nagpur in the Berars. In 1741-42, a general of the Berar branch of Expethe confederacy known as the Bhonslás, swept down upon beyond it: Bengal; but, after plundering to the suburbs of the Muhammadan capital Murshidábád, he was driven back through Orissa To Bengal, by the Viceroy Alí Vardí Khán. The 'Marhattá Ditch,' or 1742-51; semicircular moat around part of Calcutta, records to this day the panic which then spread throughout Bengal. Next year, 1743, the head of the Berar branch, Raghoji Bhonslá, himself invaded Bengal in force. From this date, in spite of quarrels 1 For Bálaji's career, see Grant Duff's Hist. of the Mahrattas, i. 307-339. 2 See articles KOLHAPUR and SATARA, Imperial Gazetteer, vols. v. pp. 430-433, and viii. pp. 206-212. See ante, p. 255. History of the Mahrattas, vol. i. pp. 324, 325. 5 History of the Mahrattas, pp. 393-395. • For Bájí Ráo's career, see History of the Mahrattas, vol. i. pp. 344-410. His career is sketched in History of the Mahrattas, vol. ii. pp. 1-115. ditions To the Punjab, 1760. 1761. Fourth Peshwa, 1761-72. between the Poona and Berar Marhattás over the spoil, the fertile Provinces of the Lower Ganges became a plundering ground of the Bhonslás. In 1751, they obtained a formal grant from the Viceroy Alí Vardí of the chauth or 'quarterrevenue' of Bengal, together with the cession of southern Orissa. In Northern India, the Poona Marhattás raided as far as the Punjab, and drew down upon them the wrath of Ahmad Sháh, the Afghán, who had wrested that Province from Delhi. Pánipat, At the battle of Pánipat, the Marhattás were overthrown, by the combined Muhammadan forces of the Afgháns and of the Provinces still nominally remaining to the Empire (1761). The fourth Peshwá, Madhu Ráo, succeeded to the Marhattá sovereignty in this moment of ruin.1 The Hindu confederacy seemed doomed to destruction, alike by internal treachery and by the superior force of the Afghán arms. As early as 1742, the Poona and Berar branches had taken the field against each other, in their quarrels over the plunder of Bengal. Before 1761, two other branches, under Holkar and Sindhia, held. independent sway in the old Mughal Province of Málwá and. the neighbouring tracts, now divided between the States of Indore and Gwalior. At Pánipat, Holkar, the head of the Indore branch, deserted the Hindu line the moment he saw the tide turn, and his treachery rendered the Marhattá rout complete. The fourth Peshwá was little more than the The five nominal centre of the five great Marhattá powers, with their Marhattá respective headquarters at Poona, the seat of the Peshwas; branches. at Nagpur, the capital of the Bhonslás, in Berar; at Gwalior, the residence of Sindhia; at Indore, the capital of Holkar; and at Baroda, the seat of the rising power of the Gáekwárs. Madhu Ráo, the fourth Peshwá, just managed to hold his own against the Muhammadan princes of Haidarábád and Mysore, and against the Bhonslá branch of the Marhattás in Berar. His younger brother, Nárayan Ráo, succeeded him as fifth Peshwá in 1772, but was quickly assassinated.2 Fifth Peshwá, 1772. Decline of the Peshwás, From this time the Peshwá's power at Poona begins to recede, as that of his nominal masters, the lineal descendants 1772-1818. of Sivají, had faded out of sight in Sátára and Kolhapur. The Peshwás came of a high Bráhman lineage, while the actual fighting force of the Marhattás consisted of low-caste Hindus. It thus happened that each Marhattá general who rose to independent territorial sway, was inferior in caste, although possessed of more real power than the Peshwá, the 1 For his career, see Grant Duff's Hist. of the Mahrattas, ii. 115-172. 2 History of the Mahrattas, vol. ii. pp. 175-178. northern titular head of the confederacy. Of the two great northern houses, Holkar was descended from a shepherd,1 and Sindhia from a slipper-bearer.2 These potentates lay quiet for a time after their crushing disaster at Pánipat. But within ten years Progress of that fatal field, they had finally established themselves throughout Málwá, and invaded the Rájput, Ját, and Rohillá Marhattás. Provinces, from the Punjab on the west to Oudh on the east Sindhia (1761-71). In 1765, the titular Emperor, Shah Alam, had and sunk into a British pensioner after his defeat at Baxar. In 1761-1803. 1771, he made overtures to the Marhattás. Holkar and Sindhia nominally restored him to his throne at Delhi, but held him a virtual prisoner till 1803-04, when they were overthrown by our second Marhattá war. Holkar, Bhonslás The third of the northern Marhattá houses, namely, the The Bhonslás of Berar and the Central Provinces, occupied them- of Berar, selves with raids to the east. Operating from their basis at 1751-1853. Nágpur,3 they had extorted, by 1751, the chauth or 'quarter revenue' of Bengal, together with the sovereignty of Southern Orissa. The accession of the British in Bengal (1756-65) put a stop to their raids in that Province. In 1803, a division of our army drove them out of Orissa. In 1817, their power was finally broken by our last Marhattá war. Their headquarter territories, now forming the Central Provinces, were administered under the guidance of British Residents from 1817 to 1853. On the death of the last Raghojí Bhonslá, without issue, in 1853, Nágpur lapsed to the British. of Baroda. The fourth of the northern Marhattá houses, namely, The Baroda, extended its power throughout Guzerat, on the north- Gaekwárs western coast of Bombay, and the adjacent peninsula of Káthiáwár. The scattered but wealthy dominions known as the territories of the Gáekwár were thus formed. Since our last Marhattá war, in 1817, Baroda has been ruled by the Gáekwár, with the help of an English Resident and a British subsidiary force. In 1874, the reigning Gaekwár, having Baroda in attempted to poison the Resident, was tried by a High Com- 1874. mission consisting of three European and three native members, found guilty, and deposed. But the British Government refrained from annexing the State, and raised a descendant of the founder of the family from poverty to the State cushion. 1 See article INDORE, Imperial Gazetteer, vol. iv. 2 See article GWALIOR, Imperial Gazetteer, vol. iii. p. 491. 3 See article NAGPUR, Imperial Gazetteer, vol. vii. pp. 29-32. ♦ See article CENTRAL PROVINCES, Imperial Gazetteer, vol. ii. pp. 356-357 5 See article BARODA, Imperial Gazetteer, vol. i. pp. 451-454. |