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The rise of the Marathas is as
much due to individual leaders as the collective will of the
people, and this is evident from the fact that there are the
most unlikely heroes at different times. If Ranoji Angre was
emerging as the menace to be contended with at seas, then
Balaji, a Chitpavan Brahmin, was successfully implementing a
system which was aimed at strengthening the Maratha power. At
no point of time did Angre dream of establishing an
independent kingdom. His loyalty was firmly first for Sambhaji,
the younger branch of Shivaji, and then inalienably for
Shahuji, Balaji Rao had correctly assessed that Shahuji did
not have the vigour of his grandfather to run an autocracy,
and therefore it would be different for him to run an army
whose officers were salaried. He introduced the system of
offering land to the officers instead of a salary. Thus sowing
the seeds of the Maratha confederacy at an early stage of
their history.
Balaji and
then his illustrious son Baji Rao had also accurately analysed
that the traditional armies of the Mughals and those who were
associated with the Mughal court, could be easily outwitted
and defeated if confronted with fast moving soldiers and
unorthodox tactics. Steeped in convention and devoid of
imagination, the Mughals were easily baffled and beaten by the
fast moving and ingenuous Marathas. Baji Rao also ensured that
there was no complacency in the discipline of his soldiers,
and two incidents mentioned in the book speak volumes of their
fighting qualities. When asked to draw a picture of Baji Rao
by the Mughal emperor, the painter drew a soldier on a
horseback in the dress of a trooper with reins loose on the
horse's neck and the lance resting on his shoulder. But as he
rode he rubbed both hands on the ear of the corn which he ate
after removing the husk. Aghast at the sight, Emperor Mohammad
Shah exclaimed in great alarm, "The man must be the very
devil himself!"
On another
occasion, outwitting and outmarching Sadat Khan and Khan
Dauran, Baji Rao reached Delhi to the utter disbelief of the
Mughal emperor who sent a spy disguised as a beggar to confirm
the entry. When the spy returned and appeared before the
emperor, he produced the alms he had received, some grain, dry
gram, pieces of baked bread and pods of red pepper, which
confirmed the presence of the Maratha forces. It is
instructive to compare these forces of Baji Rao with the
Mughal paraphernalia some two decades after this incident at
the battle of Panipat!
Though the
author has not gone into detail, two aspects of the Maratha
rise are also mentioned by him, one fascinating in its scope
and the other a matter of regret. Throughout history, the
Marathas had waged a ceaseless war against the Mughals,
treating them as aliens in this land. And yet, they had a
strange sense of loyalty which forbade them from annihilating
the Mughals or even allowing others to do the same. Twice
during his lifetime. Baji Rao had the opportunity of
destroying the most potent symbol of the Mughals, the Nizam,
first at Palkhed and then at Bhopal. The presence of the Nizam
in close proximity to the Marathas could only bode ill, and
yet on both occasions he was spared. It is said that this was
done because the Maratha king Shahuji, who was brought up in
Mughal captivity, had a soft corner for them to deliver the
coup de grace.
Similarly,
Baji Rao had Delhi at his mercy. In fact he had gone there
with the explicit intention of destroying it, and yet he
spared it.
On another
occasion, when he was in a position to clear the western coast
of the Portugese presence, he gave up the task when the news
broke of a grave threat to Hindustan from the northern
frontiers in the form of Nadir Shah. He lost no time in
getting in touch with other princes to meet the challenge, and
in fact according to the author, he even forged a new alliance
wherein the Maharana of Mewar was to be crowned the Emperor of
Hindustan.
While his
obsession and fascination with Delhi can perhaps be attributed
to many factors, the inability of the Marathas to assess the
long-term threat that the British colonialists posed is
regrettable indeed. The native wisdom that no stranger should
be allowed to settle down in your courtyard was inexplicably
forgotten when they failed to clear the vicinity of the
obsequious traders. In their obsession with Delhi, the
Marathas failed to see the progress the British were making in
the east of the country. The truth is that when the Marathas
were making inroads into Malwa and Agra, the British were
tightening their stranglehold on the Bengal suba of the
Mughals, and yet they were not perceived as a threat. This
oversight would remain not only a regret but also a blot on an
otherwise brilliant and systematic rise of the Marathas in
general and Baji Rao in particular.
The reader
will also notice that the interlude of the Mastani episode is
based on folklore and hearsay than on documentay evidence.
This is strange since the events belong to an era when much of
it is documented. In fact the historians are not even sure if
Masatni was the daughter of the redoubtable Chhatrasal or the
wily Nizam! Fortunately everyone agrees that she was a Muslim,
but again one cannot be certain if she died on the funeral
pyre away from Pune or committed suicide in Pune on hearing
the news of Baji Rao's death and where her tomb is said to be.
What, however, is acknowledged is that her and Baji Rao's son
had to be brought up as a Muslim because the Brahmins exerted
pressure on Baji Rao and his family.
It is a refreshing book,
coming as it does from a person whose perspective and style is
not bound by the formal approach of an academician. Easy to
read, it is a fast paced story of an astonishing era of Indian
history. The canvas is wide, yet the author has skillfully
kept the focus on the life and works of his subject.
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