British rule in Maharashtra
The Company’s Directors sent Lord Wellesley as the Governor General of the Company’s territories in India, in 1798. He was destined to transform the British Empire in India into British Empire of India before he was recalled in 1805 for, charges of ‘rapacity, Oppression, cruelty and fraud’ and also overstepping the legal limits of the powers delegated to him. He used to system of subsidiary alliances to trap and isolate the powerful Maratha Chiefs.
The beginning of the nineteenth century opened a new chapter in the history of Maharashtra and for that matter consequently of India. The Company’s new Governor General Lord Wellesley’s arrival in India when the Company owed a debt of seventeen millions to the British Government. Napoleonic wars were being fought in Europe and the Egyptian expedition of Napoleon had created panic in the British dominion in India, Lord Wellesly was however fortunate to find that the Maratha Country was passing through a difficult period. The death of Pashwa Madhavrao II (Madhavrao Narayan) in October 1795 without a child had led to the civil war in Maharashtra in 1797. The succession claims to Peshwaship between the adopted son of Raghunathrao (the grandfather of the deceased Peshwa) and Reghunathrao’s own son involved the Maratha Sardars-Shindes and Holkar in the dispute. The two families of Shinde and Holkar were traditional enemies of each other. Shinde supported Bajirao, son of Raghunathrao and Holkar supported adopted son of Raghunathrao named Amritrao. The illustrious head of the rival families of Shinde and Holkar namely Mahadji Shinde and Ahilyabai Holkar (Daughter in law of Malharrao Holkar) were dead and succeeded by Daultrao Shinde and Yeshwantrao Holkar who were in their twenties. Yeshwantrao Holkar attacked the combined armies of Bajirao II and Daulatrao Shinde and defeated them at Hadapsar near Pune in October, 1802. Peshwa fled to the Konkan and appealed to Jonathan Duncan, Company’s Governor of Bombay. The Peshwa was given the protection by the English East India company. On December, 31, 1802 the Peshwa concluded a subsidiary treaty with the Company at Bassein. The Treaty of Bassein bartered away the independence of the Maratha Country to the Company for Protecting the Peshwa from his hostile sardars.
Lord Wellesly and his Subsidiary Alliances (1798 – 1805)
Lord Wellesley the Governor General (1798-1805) was extremely happy at the turn of events as now a lawful right was established to interfere in the preservation of the Peshwa’s authority, wherever it should be attacked. “As already referred to above the Peshwa was the defacto head of the Maratha State. The fugitive Peshwa’s action was resented by the Maratha Chiefs-Yeshwantrao bitterly remarked “Bajirao has destroyed the Maratha State”. It was however Daulatrao Shinde and Raghuji Bhosle of Nagpur who decided to resist the interference of the Company. They refused to give their accord to the Treaty of Bassein. Lord Wellesley’s vigorous diplomacy succeeded in keeping Gaikwad of Baroda neutral and Yashwantrao out of spite for Shinde decided to proceed to Mahva to await the result of the struggle. The two allies decided to declare war in August 1803. We are not concerned with the details of the wars and the activities of the Peshwa and the other Maratha Chiefs that forms the part of Maratha History paper. We shall however point out whatever is relevant to our particular purpose of describing the political conditions in Maharashtra.
The Capital of the Maratha State that is Pune had put on a miserable look during the two decades after the death of Madhavrao II. The war between the Company holding the fugitive Peshwa under its arms and the two Maratha Chiefs ended in failure of the two allies – Shinde and Bhosle. The war was fought in two different zones. In the south General Arthur Wellesley and in the north Lord Lake the commander – in – Chief of the Company’s forces were leading the compaigns. There was no glory in the victory of the Company as the treachery of the European officers precipitated the defeat of the Marathas. The strong fort of Ahmednagar was surrendered to General Arthur Wellesley by Shinde’s European officer who went over to the English Company. At Assirgarh the Keeper of the fort received seven lakhs from the English and surrendered the fort. Many European officers in Shinde’s service changed his side.
In the north also the European officers played the same trick. Perron the Commander of Shinde’s forces who should have fought against Lord Lake surrendered Aligarh without firing a shot. Grant Duff expressed surprise. He says “the rapidity of the conquests and the speedy termination of the war surprise all India”. His information not upto date at that time.
The defeat of Shinde and Bhosle and the consequent treaties concluded in December ,1803 changed the political equation. The Mughal Emperor Shah Alam II was now placed under Company’s protection and thus end of Mughal Empire was signalled in 1803. Yeshwantrao Holkar after wasting the precious time in the “wait and watch’ game stirred up and attacked Jaipur which had entered into an alliance with the Company in 1803. The Company Government started war with Holkar in April, 1804. They fought the war for two years. In the meanwhile Lord Wellesley was recalled in 1805 as the shareholders of the Company had become nervous because of the dangerous policy of wars of expansion in India. The Company ‘s debt rose from 17 millions in 1797 to 31 millions in 1806. The Company reversed its policy and once again followed the policy of non-intervention.
Armed resistance to the British Occupation
The Treaty with Shinde was signed by the Company in November 1817. In the same month the Peshwa burnt the British Residency at Pune and attacked the British camp at Kirki. The Peshwa was betrayed by his European Commander Captain John Ford, and the Company’s army defeated Peshwa’s army led by Bapu GokhaIe in the battle of Ashti in the Sholapur district in February, 1818. In the meantime Appasaheb Bhonsle made a common cause with the revolt of the Peshwa. He attacked the company’s army in November, 1817 but was defeated at Sitabaldi in November and again at Nagpur in December, 1817. He fled to the north and later on died in 1840 in Jodhpur. Another Maratha Chief Malharrao Holkar II also revolted in sympathy with Peshwa and Bhosle. He put up a stiff fight but was decisively defeated at Mahidpur in December, 1817.
The Peshwa ran from place to place, except for Shinde and Gaikwad the other two Maratha Chiefs Bhosle and Holkar had joined him in the war for preservation of independence. The Peshwa had to surrender to Sir John Malcolm in June, 1818 and was exiled by the Company to Bithur near Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh. He died there in 1851, His vices, failures and weakness of character seemed to have been wiped off in the last ditch battle he fought against the foreign aggressors. He can be easily blamed for many ommissions but his defiance and his desperate efforts to put up a fight against the foreign overlords was the last flicker of the flame of freedom that was dying out. The English Company and their able soldiers and diplomats served their country by enslaving Maharashtra. During the same time General Arthur Wellesley, elevated to the position of Duke of Wellington, had defeated the Child of the French Revolution-Napolean Bonapart at Waterloo in June 1815. He had impeded the revolutionary spirit in Europe before the fall of the Marathas. Maharashtra and all the lands controlled by the Maratha rulers lost their political freedom; the other parts of India were enslaved in the next four decades or so.
Other centres of political power in Maharashtra
When the East India Company was struggling to bring the Maratha Empire to its end there were other centres of power where princes of old dynasties were wielding authority over the people of Maharashtra. The descendents of Shivaji were confined to Satara. Although the Peshwa had desposed him of his realm, his family received the traditional respect and public esteem. Besides Pune, Nagpur, Kolhapur, Sawantwadi and Janjira were the important centres of political power.
Since the time Yeshwantrao Holkar started his campaign against the Company in 1804, Kolhapur and Sawantwadi had become a nest of pirates. The trade of the East India Company was suffering because of the piracy. Raja of Kolhapur was following a different policy from that of the Central Government of the Maratha State. The Sangola conference of 1749 had divided the spheres of influence between the senior and junior lines of the House of Shivaji. There was known enmity between the Maratha Government in Kolhapur and the Peshwa Govemement at Pune.
When the Company’s Government was fighting the last war with Peshwa Bajirao II in 1817 Sawantwadi affairs were under the Regent Rani Durgabai, a spirited lady who defied the English authority. She threatened to invade the British territory in the neighborhood of Sawantwadi. The Company had to send Sir W. Grant Kier to resist the invasion. He took the fort of Yeshwantgad and Nivti in 1818. The army of occupation forced the Rani to come to terms in 1819. She died soon after and the widows of Khem Sawant III were busy fighting for their claims, when the Maratha Empire was dissolved.
The State of Janjira also known as Habsan or Abyssynian domain was bounded on the north by the River Roha and to the South by the River Savitri. The founder of Ahmednagar, Ahmad Shah had established an Abyssynian as captain of Janjira (1490-1508). The Abyssynians or Siddis of Janjira later on co-operated with the Mughals to check the progress of the Marathas. They became commanders of the Mughal Fleet on the West Coast. The rise of the Maratha sea-power and the supremacy of the English on the seas restricted the piracy on the West Coast. The Siddis were on friendly terms with the Company and were used by the English as a counter-weight against the Marathas. The Marathas throughout their long career of a hundred and fifty years even with the establishment of their power on the West Coast under the leadership of the Angrias could not conquer Janjira. The Siddis of Janjira were not inclined to co-operate with the English during the period of war between the English and Marathas. Janjira was subjected to British power only in 1834.
The other region which had historical importance was the modern Raigad district, then known as Kolaba. The traditional admirals of the Maratha Fleet were the Angrias. Their power was the English Company at Bombay to check the activities of the Angrias. The Angrias were not amenable to the discipline by the Central Government of the Marathas at Pune. The disputed succession had rendered the naval power of the Angrias ineffective. However Mahad enjoyed important position. Nana Phadnis had concealed his private treasure at Mahad. The Peshwa Bajirao II when Yeshwantrao HoIkar was chasing him in 1802 escaped to Mahad on the way to Raigad. Shinde’s Commander in-Chief Buburao was controlling the region. The Peshwa sent his wife with his private treasure to Mahad. The Angrias with their enclave at Raigad were in a miserable condition. Manaji Angria died in 1817 and Raghuji, a boy of 14, succeeded him. Lieutenant Colonel Prother and Major Hall held the charge of the region. The Claims of the Angrias were settled in 1822 and the company brought the region under its power.
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