4< The real student of mankind treats no standpoint as abso lutely right or absolutely wrong." OSWALD SPENGLER Printed by M. N. Kulkarni at the Karnatak Printing Press, Chira Ba?ar, Bombay and published by him at the Karnatak Publishing House, Chira Bazar, Bombay 2. PREFACE Why I have attempted this re-examination of Maratha History I have explained in the Introduction. How is, no doubt, a matter for the Reader to judge. The subject is both vast and bristling with controversies. I claim no infallibility for either my conclusions or my authorities. I am open to correction. I am indebted to Rev. Irineu Lobo, S.J., for the citations from Professor Pissurlencar's Portuguese e Maratas, as well as for his genial visits during the arduous moments of my writing; to Professor R. V. Oturkar, M.A., for his robust criticism which I was helpful even when was incorrigible ; and to my colleague Mr. K. G. Nitsure, M.A., who has materially shared my labours throughout and more particularly in the preparation of the Bibliography and the Index. To the venerable Rao Bahadur G. S. Sardesai, B.A., I owe much inspiration and help with books and discussions, especially on the pre-sivaji period. Great as my obligations are to all these and several other friends who patiently criticised portions of my MS., I own the fullest responsibility for all my views and especially my errors of commission and omission. Poona, October 1944. S. R. S. CONTENTS PAGE INTRODUCTION i-xi CHAPTER I. THE BACKGROUND 1 II. THE TUTELAGE 27 III. THE PIONEERS 55 IV. THE INSPIRATION 90 V. THE GRAND STRATEGIST 115 VI. THE CHHATRAPATI 159 VII. THE PATRIMONY 183 ' VIII. THE SEA FRONT . f 206 IX. THE CRISIS 233 X. THE ACHIEVEMENT 266 EPILOGUE 298 NOTES AND REFERENCES 303 BIBLIOGRAPHY 337 INDEX 345 INTRODUCTION No apology is needed to introduce a re-examination of Maratha history which, it will be admitted, has been long overdue. I wish, however, that the task had been attempted by some one more competent or better qualified than myself " to undertake it. The Mahrattas were once a mighty nation ", " wrote Edward Scott Waring in 1810 ; how they rose and how they fell may surely challenge enquiry." Nearly twenty years before Waring's History of the Mahiattas appeared the subject had attracted the attention of a German professor of Halle University who published his now little known Geschichte der Maratten, as early as 1791, for the edification of his European contemporaries. The writer himself admitted that he could not vouch for the authenticity of the earlier parts of his fantastic wark, but that he had compiled it from such accounts as were available to him in the several Euro- con- pean languages. It comprised ^288 octavo pages and also tained a map prepared by Forster in 1786. The book closes ' with the peace with England of 17th *May, 1782.' The author never visited India and the work has little value to-day Ac- cept as a rare specimen of the first European account of the Marathas full of quaint errors. The next in point of interest is the better known work of Edward Scott Waring, published in London in 1810. The author was for seven years attached to the English embassy at Poona and had greater opportunities of gaining informa- tion upon many points than usually fall to the lot of other " " persons. I states, this," he records in his Preface, to excuse the presumption of my undertaking, aware that I expose my- self to the charge of having trifled with my time, and of hav- ing lost opportunities not to be recovered." Modestly conscious " " of his limitations, yet, without arrogance," he adds, I may assume the merit of having been the first to present the reader 11 INTRODUCTION with a connected history of the Mahrattas, derived from origi- nal sources, and sources till lately not known to have existed. I am aware that some portions of Mahratta history are before the Public; none, however, derived from their own annals, and consequently neither so copious nor so authentic ". He particularly assumes merit 'of having considered his subject most fully, and of having spared no pains to procure every possible record that could add greater interest to his work, or the justify favourable opinion of his friends'. His appraisal of the comparative merits and demerits of the Persian and Marathi source materials is worthy of special attention. " Regarding the former, he writes, None, so far as I can can be judge, more fallacious, or can less requite the diligence of patient investigation. Ferishta, who composed a general of history India, as well as a particular history of the Deccan, is almost the only historian who merits the praise of impar- tiality and accuracy. He died before the era of Mahratta f independence, and his man le has not fallen upon any of his brethren. The Mooslims, of course, view with animosity and anguish, the progress the Mahrattas have made in the con- of their fairest quest provinces ; and which of late years must have been aggravated by the bondage of their king, the un- fortunate representative of the house of Timoor. From such persons little that was favourable to the Mahratta character could be expected. Thef facts they give are garbled and per- verted, while the slightest circumstance against them is seized upon, and extended to an immeasurable length. Their style is also a subject of just reprehension. Their forced and unnatu- ral images, their swelling cadences and modulated phraseo- logy, are as disgusting to a discriminating taste, as they must be inimical to historical truth. For in a history composed in verse, something will be sacrificed -to measure, and much to rhythm. Although the Persian histories be not written in verse, yet they partake of all its faults. They abound in quaint similes and forced antithesis, while the redundancy of their epithets distract and bewilder attention. If this judgment to the Persian scholar seem harsh, I refer him to the history INTRODUCTION ill of the late Nizam of the Deccan, or, if he object, to the un- disputed* master of this prurient style, the celebrated Abul Fazil." One may not quite fall in with this criticism in toto, but it is certainly a welcome corrective to the exaggerated import- ance that is attached by some latter day scholars to the sanc- tity of the Persian authorities. Apart from the linguistic features, the Muslim accounts may not be considered more reliable or authentic simply because they contradict the native sources. There is much truth in Waring's warning that from such persons little that was favourable to the Maratha char- * acter could be expected : The facts they give are garbled and perverted, while the slightest circumstance against them is seized upon, and extended to an immeasurable length'. " On the contrary, Not so the Mahratta histories ", states " Waring. Their historians (some will deny them the name) write in a plain, simple and unaffected style, content to relate passing events in apposite terms, without seeking turgid imagery * or inflated phraseology. 'Excepting in the letter addressed to the Peshwa, by the great Mulhar Rao Holkar, no attempt is made to make the worse appear the better reason. Victory and defeat are briefly related ; if they pass over the latter too hastily, they do not dwell upon the former with unnecessary minuteness. They do not endeavour to bias or mislead ftie judgment, but are certainly deficient in chronology and in historical reflections. Whether I have done justice to their works I am at a loss to determine, aware of my own incompe- tency, and not ignorant of the deficiency of my materials." The frankness and modesty of Waring are worthy of emulation, though we may not accept all his conclusions. The premier historian of the Marathas in English, though not on that account unchallengeable, has been and still is, James Cunningham Grant Duff. He was captain of the Native Infantry of Bombay and Political Agent at Satara (1806-22). The first edition of his well-known History of the Mahrattas was published in London in 1826 (in 3 vols.). In its latest form (1921) it has been resurrected in two volumes edited by iv INTRODUCTION ' ' S. M. Edwardes with an interesting Memoir of the Author and a learned Introduction. * "The want of a complete history of the rise, progress, and decline of our immediate predecessors in conquest, the Mahrattas," writes Grant Duff, "has been long felt by all that persons conversant with the affairs of India ; in so much, it is very generally acknowledged, we cannot fully understand the means by which our own vast empire in that quarter was acquired, until this desideratum be supplied/' Aware of the difficulties and shortcomings of the inde- fatigable Orme and the pioneer Scott Waring, Grant Duff honestly strove ('working twelve and fourteen hours daily without intermission subject to very serious headaches, which at last became very agonising, returning every fifth day, and lasting from six to sixteen hours at a time, requiring me to work with wet cloths girt about my head') to maktf good their deficiencies, with what result modern scholars best know. "Circumstances placecj me'\ he says in his Preface to " the first volume of the original edition, in situations which at once removed many of the obstacles which those gentlemen (Orme and Waring) encounteised, and threw materials within my reach which had ben previously inaccessible." Neverthe- less, he confesses his initial lack of education and heavy pre- occupations with civil and military duties, "ill-calculated for preparing us for the task of historians".