FIVE MARATHA BRANCHES. 321 semicircular moat around part of Calcutta, records to this day 1743, the head of the Berar Maráthás, Raghují Bhonsla, himself 1761-72. The fourth Peshwá, Madhu Ráo, succeeded to the Maráthá Fourth sovereignty in this moment of ruin. The Hindu confederacy Peshwá, 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, had set up for themselves in the old Mughal Province of Málwá and the neighbouring tracts, now divided between the States of Indore and Gwalior. At Pánípat, Holkar, the head of the Indore branch, deserted the Hindu line of battle when he saw the tide turn, and his treachery rendered the Maráthá rout complete. The fourth Peshwá was little more than the nominal centre of the five great Maráthá branches, with their The five respective head-quarters at Poona, the seat of the Peshwás; at Nagpur, the capital of the Bhonslas, 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 Gaekwárs. Madhu Ráo, the fourth Peshwá, just managed to hold his own against the Muhammadan princes of Haidarábád and Mysore, and against the Bhonsla branch of the Maráthás in Berar. Fifth His younger brother, Náráyan Ráo, succeeded him as fifth Peshwá, Peshwá in 1772, but was quickly assassinated.2 Maráthá branches. 1772. From this time the Peshwa's power at Poona begins to Decline recede, as that of his nominal masters, the lineal descendants of the Peshwás, For his career, see Grant Duff's Hist. of the Maráthás, vol. ii. pp. 1772-1818. 115-172. Grant Duff's History of the Maráthás, vol. ii. pp. 174-178. VOL. VI. X of Sivají, had faded out of sight at Sátára and Kolhápur. The Peshwás came of a high Bráhman lineage, while the actual fighting force of the Maráthás consisted of low-caste Hindus. It thus happened that each Maráthá general who rose to independent territorial sway, was inferior in caste, although possessed of more real power than the Peshwa, the titular head of the confederacy. Of the two great northern houses, Holkar was descended from a shepherd,1 and Sindhia from a slipper-bearer. These potentates lay quiet for a time Progress after their crushing disaster at Pánipat. But within ten years of that fatal field, they had finally established themselves Maráthás. throughout Málwá, and invaded the Rájput, Ját, and Rohillá Provinces, from the Punjab on the west to Oudh on the east (1761-71). In 1765, the titular Emperor, Shah Alam, had sunk into a British pensioner after his defeat at Baxar. In 1761-1803. 1771 he made overtures to the Maráthás. 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 Maráthá war. of the northern Sindhia and Holkar, The The third of the northern Maráthá houses, namely, the Bhonslas Bhonslas of Berar and the Central Provinces, occupied themof Berar, selves with raids to the east. Operating from their basis at 1751-1853. Nagpur, they had extorted, by 1751, the chauth or 'quarterrevenue' of Bengal, together with the sovereignty of 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 Maráthá war. Their head-quarter territories, now forming the Central Provinces, were administered under the guidance of British Residents from 1817 to 1853. On the death of the last Raghují Bhonsla, without issue, in 1853, Nagpur lapsed to the British. The The fourth of the northern Maráthá houses, namely, Gaekwárs Baroda, extended its power throughout Gujarát, on the northof Baroda. 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 Maráthá war, in 1817, Baroda has been ruled by the Gaekwár, with the help of a British Resident and a 1 See article INDORE, The Imperial Gazetteer of India. 2 See article GWALIOR, The Imperial Gazetteer of India. 3 See article NAGPUR, The Imperial Gazetteer of India. 4 See article CENTRAL PROVINCES, The Imperial Gazetteer of India. See article BARODA, The Imperial Gazetteer of India. THE THREE MARATHA WARS. 323 subsidiary force. In 1874, the reigning Gáekwár, 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. 1774-95. While these four northern houses of the Maráthás were pursuing their separate careers, the Peshwa's power was being broken to pieces by family intrigues. The sixth Peshwá, Sixth Madhu Ráo Nárayan, was born after his father's death, and Peshwá, during his short life of twenty-one years the power remained in the hands of his minister, Náná Farnavis. Raghubá, 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 Raghuba. These alliances brought on the first Maráthá war (1779-81), ending with the First Martreaty of Salbái (1782). That treaty ceded the islands of Salsette and Elephanta with two others to the British, secured to Raghubá a handsome pension, and confirmed the child - Peshwá in his sovereignty. The latter, however, only reached manhood to commit suicide at the age of twenty-one. áthá war, 1779-81. and last Peshwá, 1795-1818. His cousin, Bájí Ráo 11., succeeded him in 1795 as the Seventh seventh and last Peshwá. The northern Maráthá house of Holkar now took the lead among the Maráthás, 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 Maráthá houses combined to break down this treaty. The second Maráthá war followed (1803-04). General Wellesley Second Maráthá crushed the forces of the Sindhia and Nágpur houses on the war, great fields of Assaye and Argaum in the south, while Lord 1803-04. Lake disposed of the Maráthá armies at Laswári and Delhi in the north. In 1804, Holkar was completely defeated at Dig. 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 English. In 1817-18, the Peshwá, Holkar, Last Marátha war, and the Bhonsla Maráthás at Nágpur took up arms, each on 1817-18. his own account, against the British, and were defeated in detail. That war finally broke the Maráthá power. The Peshwá, Bájí Ráo, surrendered to the British, and his territories were annexed to our Bombay Presidency.1 The Peshwa remained a British pensioner at Bithúr, near Cawnpore, on a End of the magnificent allowance, till his death. His adopted son grew Peshwás, up into the infamous Náná Sáhib of the Mutiny of 1857, when the last relic of the Peshwás disappeared from the eyes of 1849. men. 1 For a summary of the events of this last Maráthá war, vide post, pp. 401, 402. Also Grant Duff's History of the Maráthás, vol. iii. passim. CHAPTER XIII. THE INDIAN VERNACULARS AND THEIR LITERATURE. Indian for India races; THE foregoing chapters have summarized the successive The three settlements of Asiatic peoples in India. The remainder of stages in this volume will deal with altogether different aspects of Indian history: history. For the three essential stages in that history are― (1) first, the long struggle for India by the races of Asia; second, Struggle a shorter struggle for India by European nations; third, the by the consolidation of India under British rule. From the great Asiatic contest of five thousand years, England emerged the victor. We have seen how the tidal waves of Asiatic populations- European (2) by the pre-Aryan, Aryan, Scythic, Afghán, and Mughal-swept across nations; India from the north. The next chapter (xiv.) will exhibit the (3) Consolidation briefer, but not less eventful, efforts of the European maritime of India powers to enter India from the sea. The conquest of India under by the British, and an account of the administration which rule. they have established throughout its widely separated Provinces, will conclude this volume. British temporary, and semi The inroads under Alexander the Great and his successors Greek had proved momentary episodes,-episodes, moreover, of an inroads Asiatic rather than of a European type. The Greek and Græco-Bactrian hosts entered India from the north; they Asiatic in effected no settlements beyond the frontier Province; and the type. permanent element in their forces consisted of Asiatic rather than of European troops. The civilisation and organization of India, from a prehistoric period many thousand years before Christ down to the 15th century A.D., had been essentially the work of Asiatic races. Since the end of that century, when the Portuguese landed on the Malabar coast, the course of Indian history has been profoundly influenced by European nations. of India. Before entering on this new period, therefore, it is desir- Asiatic able to obtain a clear idea of India, as moulded by the civilisation survival of the fittest among the Asiatic peoples who had struggled for the Indian supremacy during so many thousand years. The social constitution of the Indian races on the |