Sixth Peshwá, 1774-95. While these four northern houses of the Marhattás were pursuing their separate careers, the Peshwa's power was being broken to pieces by family intrigues. The sixth Peshwá, Madhu Ráo Nárayan, was born after his father's death, and during his short life of twenty-one years the power remained in the hands of his minister, Náná Farnavis. Raghobá, the uncle of the late Peshwá, disputed the birth of the posthumous child, and claimed for himself the office of Peshwá. The infant's guardian, Náná Farnavis, having invoked the aid of the French, the British sided with Raghobá. These alliances First Mar- brought on the first Marhattá war (1779-81), ending with the treaty of Salbái (1782). That treaty ceded the islands of Salsette and Elephanta with two others to the British, secured to Raghobá a handsome pension, and confirmed the childPeshwá in his sovereignty. The latter, however, only reached manhood to commit suicide at the age of twenty-one. hattá war, 1779-81. Seventh Second war, 1803-04. His cousin, Bájí Ráo 11., succeeded him in 1795 as the and last seventh and last Peshwá. The northern Marhattá house of Peshwá, 1795-1818. Holkar now took the lead among the Marhattás, and forced the Peshwá into the arms of the English. By the treaty of Bassein in 1802, the Peshwá agreed to receive and pay for a British force to maintain him in his dominions. The northern Marhattá houses combined to break down this treaty. The second Marhattá Marhattá war followed (1803-04). General Wellesley crushed the forces of the Sindhia and Nágpur houses on the great fields of Assaye and Argaum in the south, while Lord Lake disposed of the Marhattá armies at Laswári and Delhi in the north. In 1804, Holkar was completely defeated at Díg. These campaigns led to large cessions of territory to the British, the overthrow of the French influence in India, and the replacement of the titular Delhi Emperor under the protection of the Last Mar- English. In 1817-18, the Peshwá, Holkar, and the Bhonslá hattá war, Marhattás at Nágpur took up arms, each on his own account, 1817-18. against the British, and were defeated in detail. finally broke the Marhattá power. The Peshwá, Bájí Ráo, surrendered to the British, and his territories were annexed to our Bombay Presidency. The Peshwá remained a British That war pensioner at Bithúr, near Cawnpore, on a magnificent allowEnd of the ance, till his death. His adopted son grew up into the Peshwás, infamous Náná Sáhib of the Mutiny of 1857, when the last 1857. relic of the Peshwás disappeared from the eyes of men. 1 For a summary of the events of this last Marhattá war, see post, pp. 302-304. Also Grant Duff's History of the Mahrattas, vol. iii. passim. CHAPTER XII. EARLY EUROPEAN SETTLEMENTS (1498 TO 18TH CENTURY A.D.). 1498. THE Muhammadan invaders of India had entered from the north-west. Her Christian conquerors approached by sea from The Portuthe south. From the time of Alexander to that of Vasco da guese in India. Gama, Europe held little direct intercourse with the East. An Vasco da occasional traveller brought back stories of powerful kingdoms Gama, and of untold wealth; but the passage by sea was scarcely dreamed of, and by land, wide deserts and warlike tribes lay between. Commerce, indeed, never ceased entirely, being carried on chiefly by the Italian cities on the Mediterranean, which traded to the ports of the Levant.1 But to the Europeans of the 15th century, India was an unknown land, which powerfully attracted the imagination of spirits stimulated by the renaissance, and ardent for discovery. The materials for this period 1 The following is a list of the most noteworthy early travellers to the East, from the 9th century to the establishment of the Portuguese as a conquering power in India. The Arab geographers will be found, in great detail, in Sir Henry Elliot's first volumes. The standard authority is The Book of Ser Marco Polo the Venetian, edited by Colonel Henry Yule, C.B., 2 vols., second edition, 1875. My best thanks are due to Colonel Yule for the personal assistance he has kindly afforded me both here and in those parts of the Imperial Gazetteer that came within the scope of his researches. 881 A.D. King Alfred sends Sighelm of Sherburn to the shrine of Saint Thomas in India. 851-916. Suláimán and Abu Zaid, whose travels furnished the Relations of Reinaud. 912-30. The geographer Mas'udi. 1159-73. Rabbi Benjamin of Tudela; visited Persian Gulf, reported on India. 1260-71. The brothers Nicolo and Maffeo Polo, father and uncle of Marco Polo; make their first trading venture through Central Asia. 1271. They started on their second journey, accompanied by Marco Polo ; and about 1275, arrived at the Court of Kublai Khán in Shangtu, whence Marco Polo was entrusted with several missions to Cochin China, Khanbulig (Peking), and the Indian Seas. 1292. Friar John of Monte Corvino, afterwards Archbishop of Pekin; spent thirteen months in India on his way to China. S [Ibn State of India on arrival of Portuguese. have been collected by Dr. Birdwood in his admirable official 1328. Friar Jordanus of Severac, consecrated Bishop of Quilon. 1327-72. Sir John Mandeville; wrote his travels in India (supposed to be 1420-40. Nicolo Conti, a noble Venetian; travelled throughout Southern India and along the Bombay coast. 1442-44. Abd-ur-Razzak; during an embassy to India, visited Calicut, Mangalore, and Vijayanagar, where he was entertained in state by the Hindu sovereign of that kingdom. 1468-74. Athanasius Nikitin, a Russian; travelled from the Volga, through Central Asia and Persia, to Guzerat, Cambay, and Chaul, whence he proceeded inland to Bidar and Golconda. 1494-99. Hieronimo di Santo Stefano, a Genoese; visited the port of Malabar and the Coromandel coast as a merchant adventurer, and after proceeding to Ceylon and Pegu, sailed for Cambay. 1503-08. Travels of Ludovico di Varthema. In the Hakluyt Series. partitioned out the Deccan. But the Hindu Rájá of Vijayanagar still ruled as paramount in the south, and was perhaps the most powerful monarch to be found at that time in India. After staying nearly six months on the Malabar coast, Da Rájá of Calicut's Gama returned to Europe, bearing with him the following letter, letter from the Zamorin to the King of Portugal :-'Vasco da 1499. Gama, a nobleman of your household, has visited my kingdom and has given me great pleasure. In my kingdom there is abundance of cinnamon, cloves, ginger, pepper, and precious stones. What I seek from thy country is gold, silver, coral, and scarlet.' The safe arrival of Da Gama at Lisbon was celebrated with national rejoicings as enthusiastic as those which had greeted the return of Columbus. If the West Indies belonged to Spain by priority of discovery, Portugal might claim the East Indies by the same right. The Portuguese mind was intoxicated by dreams of a mighty oriental empire. The early Portuguese discoverers were not traders or private Portuguese adventurers, but admirals with a royal commission to conquer expediterritory and promote the spread of Christianity. A second expedition, consisting of thirteen ships and twelve hundred soldiers, under the command of Cabral, was despatched in 1500. 'The sum of his instructions was to begin with preaching, and if that failed, to proceed to the sharp determination of the sword.' On his outward voyage, Cabral was driven by stress of weather to the coast of Brazil. Ultimately he reached Calicut, and established factories both there and at Cochin, in spite of active hostility from the natives. a tion, 1500. in eastern In 1502, the King of Portugal obtained from Pope Alex- Portuguese ander vi. a bull constituting him 'Lord of the Navigation, supremacy Conquests, and Trade of Ethiopia, Arabia, Persia, and India.' seas, 1500In that year Vasco da Gama sailed again to the East, with 1600. fleet numbering twenty vessels. He formed an alliance with the Rájás of Cochin and Cananore against the Zamorin of Calicut, and bombarded the latter in his palace. In 1503, the great Alfonso d'Albuquerque sailed to the East in command of one of three expeditions from Portugal. In 1505, a large fleet of twenty-two sail and fifteen thousand men was sent under Francisco de Almeida, the first Portuguese Governor and Viceroy of India. In 1509, Albuquerque succeeded as Governor, and widely extended the area of Portuguese influence. Having failed in an attack upon Calicut, he seized Goa in 1510, which Albuhas since remained the capital of Portuguese India. Then, querque sailing round Ceylon, he captured Malacca, the key of the navi- 1510, takes Goa. Cruelties of Portuguese in India. Their bravery. gation of the Indian archipelago, and opened a trade with Siam and the Spice Islands. Lastly, he sailed back westwards, and after penetrating into the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea, returned to Goa only to die in 1515. In 1524, Vasco da Gama came out to the East for the third time, and he too died at Cochin, in 1527. For exactly a century, from 1500 to 1600, the Portuguese enjoyed a monopoly of Oriental trade.1 'From Japan and the Spice Islands to the Red Sea and the Cape of Good Hope, they were the sole masters and dispensers of the treasures of the East; while their possessions along the Atlantic coast of Africa and in Brazil completed their maritime empire.' 2 But the Portuguese had neither the political strength nor the personal character necessary to maintain such an Empire. Their national temper had been formed in their contest with the Moors at home. They were not traders, but knights-errant and crusaders, who looked on every pagan as an enemy of Portugal and of Christ. Only those who have read the contemporary narratives of their conquests, can realize the superstition and the cruelty with which their history in the Indies is stained. Albuquerque alone endeavoured to conciliate the goodwill of the natives, and to live in friendship with the Hindu princes, who were naturally better pleased to have the Portuguese, as governed by him, for their neighbours and allies, than the Muhammadans whom he had expelled or subdued. The justice and magnanimity of his rule did as much to extend and confirm the power of the Portuguese in the East as the courage and success of his military achievements. In such veneration was his memory held, that the Hindus of Goa, and even the Muhammadans, were wont to repair to his tomb, and there utter their complaints, as if in the presence of his shade, and call upon God to deliver them from the tyranny of his successors. The cruelties of Soarez, Sequeyra, Menezes, Da Gama, and succeeding viceroys, drove the natives to desperation, and encouraged the princes of Western India in 1567 to form a league against the Portuguese, in which they were joined by the King of Achin.' But the undisciplined Indian troops were unable to stand against the veteran soldiers of Portugal; 200 of whom, at Malacca, utterly routed 15,000 1 For a full account of the Portuguese in India, and the curious phases of society which they developed, see article GOA, Imperial Gazetteer, vol. iii. pp. 387-396. Also for local notices, DAMAN, DIU, Bassein, Calicut. 2 This and the following paragraphs are condensed from Dr. Birdwood's official Report on the Miscellaneous Old Records in the India Office, dated 1st November 1878 (folio, 1879). |