Battles of the Maratha Empire BATTLES OF THE MARATHA EMPIRE By Aneesh Gokhale BATTLES OF THE MARATHA EMPIRE by Aneesh Gokhale Published by Aneesh Gokhale Typesetting Snap Arts, Pune Cover Mukta Ghodke.
BATTLES OF THE MARATHA EMPIRE By Aneesh Gokhale BATTLES OF THE MARATHA EMPIRE by Aneesh Gokhale Published by Aneesh Gokhale Typesetting Snap Arts, Pune Cover Mukta Ghodke First Edition 22 June, 2020 © Aneesh Gokhale, 2020 All rights reserved This book or parts thereof may not be reproduced in any form, stored in any retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means-electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or otherwise-without prior written permission of the author Contents Chhatrapati Shivaji – The Science of hill forts Chhatrapati Shivaji and Afzal Khan, Pratapgad, 1659 The Battle of Salher – 1672 Chhatrapati Shivaji and the Rise of Chhatrasal Bundela Chhatrapati Shivaji & The Importance of Correct Policies Maratha War Of Independence (The 27 year MughalMaratha War) Santaji & Dhanaji - Battles fought during Maratha War of Independence Battles Fought in Maharashtra During the Reign of Chhatrapati Sambhaji Peshwa Bajirao v/s The Nizam, Palkhed, 1728 10 Peshwa Bajirao v/s Mohammed Khan Bangash, Bundelkhand, 1729 11 Peshwa Bajirao v/s Mughals,Delhi, 1737 12 Peshwa Bajirao v/s The NizamBhopal 1738 13 Marathas v/s Portuguese, Vasai, 1739 14 Bhosales Of Nagpur And The Temple Of Puri 15 Govindpant Bundela And Panipat 16 Madhavrao Peshwa v/s Nizam of Hyderabad, Rakshasbhuvan, 1763 17 Mahadji Scindia 18 Marathas v/s East India company, Wadgaon, 1779 19 Ahilyabai Holkar - India’s Cultural Rejuvenation 20 Marathas V/s Nizam Of Hyderabad, Kharda, 1795 21 Marathas v/s East India Company, Delhi – 1803 22 Marathas v/s East India Company - Laswari, 1803 23 Yashwantrao Holkar v/s East India Company, 1804 24 Marathas v/s British 1818 - Fall of the Sahyadri hill forts 25 Rani of Jhansi, 1857 26 Marathas & Bengal Chhatrapati Shivaji as a national hero 27 Marathas did not oust the Mughal - An opinion piece exploring the reasons to do so Preface Between the years 1659 and 1818, the Marathas rose to prominence, grew to dominate the country and were eclipsed by the British empire Along the way, decisive wars and battles were fought across the country by them These battles had important and long term consequences, at times completely changing the political direction of the country e.g the MarathaMughal War or the Second Anglo-Maratha War The book focuses on these battles or series of battles, throwing a spotlight on the chess-like moves and tactics that led to victory (or defeat) on the battlefield After every chapter, I have tried to analyse the effects of the victory or defeat, with the great benefit of hindsight The battles include Chhatrapati Shivaji and his slaying of Afzal Khan at Pratapgad, continue on to the Maratha-Mughal War of 27 years, immerse into the exploits of the Peshwas, Bajirao and Madhavrao, and finally the reasons this empire fell in the face of British opposition Initially written as stand alone articles, either published on my personal website or other online fora, the efforts of the past seven to eight years have finally reached the logical conclusion - a compilation A few of the articles on Peshwa Bajirao, Madhavrao and Mahadji Scindia are entirely new Most books concentrate on a particular persona or time span, thus, a book on Chhatrapati Shivaji seldom mentions Bajirao I and a book on Bajirao I rarely talks about Wellesley and Elphinstone In this book, via the battles fought and the politics involved, I trace the reasons for the rise as well as the fall of the Maratha empire Various readers have asked me to provide them within a single book, allowing them to easily grasp two hundred years of history I am happy to provide one today Also, there is a general feeling that the British succeeded the Mughal empire Nothing could be farther than the truth For it was the Marathas who were in control of large swathes of India and as the Battles of Delhi, Laswari and others will show, it was they whom the British battled for the control of India This book explores the battles that led to their rise as well as fall Having mentioned that it is a compilation, the articles have been re-edited, expanded where required and over thirty maps and pictures added for a better comprehension and reading experience The enormity of Chhatrapati Shivaji’s achievements or the beauty of Peshwa Bajirao’s cavalry moves over the expanse of hundreds of square kilometres is sometimes lost due to the lack of visual cues Similar argument can be made for the activities of Chhatrapati Sambhaji, Santaji and Dhanaji or even the temple-building of Devi Ahilyabai Holkar A plethora of maps strives to overcome this shortcoming I have also included a few chapters on the cultural aspects, such as the rejuvenation of Jagannath Puri by the Marathas as well as the activities of Ahilyabai Holkar - to show that the battles and campaigns had a positive outcome and, in fact, were necessary to establish political supremacy The second volume is in the pipeline, which will cover some more significant battles, such as - Umber Khind, Assaye and Mahidpur It will also focus on the battles fought by the Maratha Navy Chhatrapati Shivaji – The Science of hill forts The double walled bastions of the hill fort of Rajgad are quite majestic Rajgad “the king of forts”, literally Two of the long spurs on the famous fort are covered in this unique defense mechanism The defensive wall of the fort has a further layer of stone, thus, requiring an invading army double the time and effort The space between the walls is narrow, a passage that is barely a single person wide Should anyone break the first layer, the guards on the top of the ramparts could easily attack them A simple but ingenious defense! In the distance, at the end of a long ridge stands another strong fort - named Torna Further away, the grey silhouette of Sinhagad As one takes in the breathtaking view, thoughts go back to words written by Ramchandrapant Amatya in the 17th century - “Swarajyache saar te durg” Loosely translated as ”Forts are the bedrock of Swarajya” Chhatrapati Shivaji’s ‘Hindavi Swarajya’, which fought gallantly for a whole generation after his death against the mighty Mughals The same enemies who had brought an army five lakh strong to subdue these forts But the Marathas prevailed, primarily because of the impregnable forts Even then, the mere presence of the strong forts did not guarantee them victories throughout Had that been the case, the strong fortress and the capital city of Deogiri would have never fallen to Allaudin Khilji! Neither would have these forts fallen like ninepins to the British Chhatrapati Shivaji wielded the forts into one giant weapon, which bravely faced a behemoth like the Mughal empire and enabled the Marathas to prevail Each of the forts in the Sahyadris is unique Essays, nay books, can and have been written on singular forts This chapter will provide an overview of how the hilltop forts, as a whole, enabled the establishment and growth of Chhatrapati Shivaji’s “Hindavi Swarajya” Chhatrapati Shivaji knew that power in Maharashtra meant control of the forts Ali Adil Shah, who ruled the Western Ghats from his capital in Bijapur, too, was aware this Which is why, while he had given the jagir of Pune to Shahaji, he kept the forts to himself! Chhatrapati Shivaji, slowly but surely, got the forts under his command – some by sleight, some by waging war Certain traits of the forts, some predating Chhatrapati Shivaji, many devised by him enabled a strong kingdom to rise Both, structural as well as administrative changes were made First and foremost, the most basic necessity - ‘water’ was given due consideration The Marathas built huge water tanks on the forts, enough to serve hundreds of soldiers Where water tanks already existed, they augmented or increased their Seir 11 Peshwa Bajirao v/s Mughals - Delhi 1737 Bajirao I - An outstanding cavalry general - Col Palsolkar (Retd) Bajirao I and the Maratha Expansion - Dighe Marathyancha Itihas - Kulkarni and Khare Era of Bajirao - Dr Uday Kulkarni Marathi Riyasat - GS Sardesai New History of Marathas, Vol 2 - GS Sardesai The First Nizam - Yusuf Husain 12 Bajirao Peshwa v/s The Nizam, Bhopal - 1738 Bajirao I - An outstanding cavalry general - Col Palsolkar (Retd) Bajirao I and the Maratha Expansion - Dighe Marathyancha Itihas - Kulkarni and Khare Era of Bajirao - Dr Uday Kulkarni Marathi Riyasat - GS Sardesai The First Nizam - Yusuf Husain Malwa in transition or a century of anarchy - Raghubir Singh 13 Chimaji Appa v/s Portuguese, Vasai, 1739 Konkan - Earliest times to 1818 - Khobardekar Bajirao I - Outstanding Cavalry General - Palsolkar Vasaichi Mohim - Kelkar History of Konkan - Nairne Antiquities of Chaul and Bassein - Marathyancha Itihas - Vol 2 - Kulkarni & Khare 14 Bhosales of Nagpur and Jagannath Puri Orissa under Marathas (1751 - 1803) - BC Ray Orissa district Gazetteer, Puri Contributions of Marathas towards Shri Jagannath Culture - Pabitra Mohan Barik History of Odisha - Manas Kumar Das Seir Mutaqherin Maharashtra State Gazetteer 15 Panipat - Govindpant Bundela Panipat - TS Shejawalkar Marathi Riyasat - GS Sardesai Military System of Marathas - Surendranath Sen History of the Marathas - Kincaid and Parasnis Marathyancha Itihas - Kulkarni and Khare 16 PeshwaMadhavrao v/s Nizam of Hyderabad - Battle of Rakshasbhuvan Selections from Satara Raja and The Peshwa Diaries Peshwa Madhavrao I : Ganesh Cimnaji Vad Marathi Riyasat, Nigrahak Madhavrao - GS Sardesai New History of Marathas Vol 2 - GS Sardesai History of the Marathas - Kincaid and Parasnis 10 Marathyancha Itihas - Kulkarni and Khare 11 History of Marathas - James Grant Duff 17 Mahadji Scindia Conquest of Delhi Affairs of Northern India Peshwa Madhavrao I - 1761 to 1772 Selections from Satara Raja and The Peshwa Diaries Peshwa Madhavrao I, Vol 1 : Ganesh Chimnaji Vad Selections from Satara Raja and The Peshwa Diaries Peshwa Madhavrao I, Vol 2 : Ganesh Chimnaji Vad Marathi Riyasat - Nigrahak Madhavrao The Great Maratha Mahadji Scindia - NG Rathod New History of Marathas Vol 3 - GS Sardesai History of Marathas - Grant Duff History of Marathas - Kincaid and Parasnis Shah Alam and the East India Company 18 Marathas v/s East India Company, Battle of Wadgaon Battles of Honourable East India Company - MS Naravane History of Marathas - Kincaid and Parasnis Mahadji Scindia, The Great Maratha - NG Rathod Nana Phadnis and External Affairs of the Maratha Empire - YN Deodhar History of Marathas - James Grant Duff Marathyancha Itihas, Vol 2 - Kulkarni and Khare New History of Marathas - Vol 3 - GS Sardesai Poona Akhbar 19 Devi Ahilyabai Holkar Punyashlok Ahilyabai Holkar yanche charitra Purshottam Ahalya Baee - Mrs Joanna Baillee (poem) Life and work of Devi Shree Ahilyabai Holkar - Vasudev V Thakur Karnatak Devi Shree Ahilyabai Holkar - 20 Battle of Kharda - 1795 Poona Residency Correspondence, Vol Maratha Nizam Relations (1792 - 1795) - VG Dighe Marathi Riyasat, Sawai Madhavrao - GS Sardesai New history of the Marathas - GS Sardesai Our Faithful Ally the Nizam - Capt The Calcutta Review - Vol 65 A history of the Marathas, Vol 3 - James Grant Duff 21 Marathas v/s East India Company, Delhi, 1803 Battles of Honourable East India Company - NS Naravane Marathyancha Ladhayancha Itihas (1802 - 1818) - Joglekar History of Marathas, Vol III - James Grant Duff History of Marathas - Kincaid and Parasnis Marathi Riyasat - GS Sardesai Advanced Study in History of Modern India - Dr JL Mehta Marthyancha Itihas - Kulkarni and Khare Decisive Battles of India - GB Malleson Delhi Past and Present - Fenshawe 22 Marathas v/s East India Company, Laswari, 1803 Battles of Honourable East India Company - NS Naravane Marathyancha Ladhayancha Itihas (1802 - 1818) Joglekar History of Marathas, Vol III - James Grant Duff History of Marathas - Kincaid and Parasnis Marathi Riyasat - GS Sardesai Advanced Study in History of Modern India - Dr JL Mehta Marthyancha Itihas - Kulkarni and Khare Decisive Battles of India - GB Malleson 23 Yashwantrao Holkar v/s East India Company, 1804 New history of the Marathas, Vol 3 - GS Sardesai Battles of Honourable East India Company - MS Naravane A history of the Maratha People - Kincaid and Parasnis Life and Correspondence of Charles, Lord Metcalfe John William Kaye Marathyancha Itihas - Vol 3 - Kulkarni and Khare Marathyanchya Ladhayancha Itihas - Paranjape Anglo Maratha Relations and Malcolm - Chakraborty 24 Marathas v/s East India Company - Fall of the Sahyadri hill forts, 1818 Papers respecting the Mahratta and Pindari Wars (1824) Memoir of the operations of the British Army in India, during the Maratha War of 1817,1818 and 1819 - Col Valentine Blacker Journals of the Sieges of the Madras Army - Lt Edward Lake Gazetteer of Bombay Presidency, Vol XVIII Part III Poona (1884) Local history of Poona and its battlefields - Col Shakespeare Panhala - Rao Bahadur Parasnis Indian History Congress proceedings Bombay Miscellany (1862) Good Reads and Sunday Magazine (1878) 10 European Magazine and London Review - Vol 74 (Intelligence from London Gazette) 11 Economic History of the Bombay Deccan and Karnatak (1818 - 1868) - RD Choksey 25 Bundelkhand and East India Company, 1857 - The Rani of Jhansi Jhansi ki Rani - Subhadra Kumari Chauhan (poem) Recollections of the Campaign in Malwa and Central India under Maj Gen Sir Hugh Rose - John Henry Sylvester History of the Indian Mutiny - Kaye and Malleson Operation Red Lotus - Parag Tope The Rani of Jhansi - DV Tamhankar The Rebellious Rani of Jhansi - Brig Sir John Smith 26 Marathas and Bengal - Chhatrapati Shivaji and the Indian National Movement Tilak and Gokhale, A comparitive study - Mohammed Shabbir Khan Shivaji, The Great Maratha - Vol IV - HS Sardesai Shivaji and the Indian National Movement - Anil Samarth Revelry, Rivalry and longing for the Godessess of Bengal - Rachel McDermott Life and Times of Aurobindo - Kaushal Kishore Swami Vivekandanda in London - Mahendranath Dutta Maharashtra State Gazetteer Seir Mutaqherin Shivaji and His Times - Sir Jadunath Sarkar 10 Poetic plays of Sri Aurobindo - Bimal Narayan Thakur Acknowledgements This book is the culmination of efforts of the past few years, during which I have had the pleasure of writing articles on Maratha history, right from the time of Chhatrapati Shivaji to the fall of the Maratha Empire Various publications have carried over a dozen of my write ups on their esteemed websites, thus, providing me with the encouragement to write more Much of this book is a compilation of those articles First and foremost, I would like to thank Shri Harikiran Vadlamani for bringing together many like-minded people under his initiative ‘Indic Academy’ I thank Nithin Shridhar of IndiaFacts for carrying some of the articles on the Marathas on his esteemed webzine Sumati Mehershi and Amar Govindrajan for carrying articles on some of the cultural aspects of Maratha rule, as well as on the administrative aspects in their reputed publication - Swarajya Magazine and its associate website “Creative India” I would like to extend my gratitude to Amit Mishra and Shubhangi Tiwari of TFI Post for publishing articles related to Marathas and the East India Company ; as well as Rahul Dewan of Srijan Talks (now Sangam Talks) Kaustubh Kasture for clearing a few doubts and providing some rare evidences which helped me in this book Mr Vinay Gokhale, an architect by profession, for helping me create over forty maps for this book, thus bringing alive the text visually Mukta Ghodke for the time and effort put in to create a wonderful cover page which truly captures the essence of the book As also for helping create a few of the battle maps especially Kharda and Palkhed Pranati, my better half, for the constant encouragement and help provided by her She has read my articles several times, helping them make the journey from good to better As they say, behind every successful man is a woman! Finally, I wish to thank my readers, whose encouragements and constructive criticism have helped me in becoming a better writer My apologies if I missed naming anyone Aneesh Gokhale CHHATRAPATIS OF SATARA AND KOLHAPUR GENEALOGY BALAJI VISHVANATH BHAT (1662-1720) About the author Aneesh Gokhale is a navigating officer in Merchant Navy and pursues writing as a hobby He is the published author of two books - ‘Sahyadris to Hindukush - Maratha conquest of Lahore and Attock’ and ‘Brahmaputra - The Story of Lachit Barphukan’ He has written regularly for a history column in DNA newspaper as also articles for various online publications such as Swarajya, IndiaFacts, TFIPost, The Tilak Chronicles and others He has given talks on numerous occasions on Maratha and Assamese history across India Notably, at INTACH-Delhi, the inaugural Pondicherry Lit Fest, Pune Lit Fest, History Dept of Wadia College, Pune, Indian Institute of Democratic Leadership, Mumbai TCET - Talk at Thakur College, Mumbai and various other locations ... BATTLES OF THE MARATHA EMPIRE By Aneesh Gokhale BATTLES OF THE MARATHA EMPIRE by Aneesh Gokhale Published by Aneesh Gokhale Typesetting Snap Arts, Pune Cover... For it was the Marathas who were in control of large swathes of India and as the Battles of Delhi, Laswari and others will show, it was they whom the British battled for the control of India This... changing the political direction of the country e.g the MarathaMughal War or the Second Anglo -Maratha War The book focuses on these battles or series of battles, throwing a spotlight on the chess-like moves