The Rise of the Phoenix of Deccan- Part 1

In this series of the pages of the history of pre-modern India, let us take a look at the first major comeback of the Maratha Empire post the debacle at the Third Battle of Panipat on 14th January, 1761.

                  Peshwa Madhavrao I


In merely 10 years after Panipat, in 1771, the Marathas had gained back the status of the paramount power in India by recapturing Delhi. But this eventual comeback came after a string of internal and external struggles which were successfully overcome by the Marathas. This delayed the eventual British rule in India for over 50 years.


THE EMPIRE TREMBLES-

After the debacle at Panipat, Nanasaheb Peshwa called back all of his troops spread across India back to Pune. 
The withdrawal of troops from the Maratha dominions and the death of Peshwa Nanasaheb on 23rd June 1761; merely 5 months after Panipat plunged the Marathas in a crisis.

Peshwa Madhavrao, a sixteen year old teenager and son of Peshwa Nanasaheb was handed over the reigns of the empire and Raghunathrao, his uncle, acted as a Regent in July 1761. 

However, Raghunathrao being over- ambitious desired to become the Peshwa himself and was over confident due to his previous miltitary successes at Attock in 1759. This created internal conflicts between the uncle-nephew duo leading to internal conflicts and fissures among various Maratha generals who chose one of the sides or remained neutral.

Seeing the crisis-ridden Marathas, many of their enemies were fast to take advantage of the situation; including the Nizam of Hyderabad, who was smarting under the defeat of Udgir he faced in 1759 at the hands of the Marathas. He had lost a territory worth Rs. 60 lakhs along with Burhanpur and forts of Devgiri, Shivneri and Ausa.

Seeing an opportunity to strike the crisis- ridden Marathas, the Nizam decided to strike. He decided to attack the Maratha territories and gradually move towards Pune. He caused destruction of temples at Toka and Ellora and eventually reached Uruli(Modern day Uruli Kanchan) near Pune. 
Many of the Maratha generals in Nizam's army were hurt by destruction of temples by Nizam and defected to the Peshwa's side. This considerably weakened the Nizam and he was trapped at Uruli. 

                   Raghunathrao Peshwa

However, Raghunathrao, who was leading the offensive, along with his loyalist the famous Sakharam Bapu Bokil, put forth very liberal terms of treaty for the Nizam. This was due to the reason that Raghunathrao sought the Nizam' allegiance in securing the Peshwai for himself. 

This deepened the strife between the nephew and uncle and eventually Raghunathrao, along with the Maratha generals loyal to him, left for Vadgaon near Pune in September- October 1762. Not surprisingly; he started mustering an army against the Peshwa along with the help of the Nizam. Raghunathrao even offered Nizam the territory won at Udgir so that an alliance against the Peshwa would be formed. Raghoba even looted Paithan in this campaign, hence crossing all limits of treachery.

Eventually the Peshwa along with the part of the generals loyal to him and Raghoba along with the Nizam met near Ghodnadi. To avoid bloodshed of his own people from both the sides, Madhavrao Peshwa surrendered to Raghunathrao at Alegaon along with just a few of his loyalists. 

From here on, the command of the army went to Raghunathrao. Nizam headed back to his capital at Aurangabad. Boosted with his victory, Raghunathrao headed south to address the conquests of Hyder Ali, who had usurped the throne of Mysore in 1761. 
Raghunathrao also decided to reward all the generals who supported him and started a streak of rewards and concessions on them. 

This angered many of the generals that had sided with Madhavrao Peshwa or had remained neutral. Due to this discontent, many of the Maratha generals and mutsaddis defected and started joining the Nizam including the Patwardhans of Miraj, who were the staunch supporters of Madhavrao Peshwa. 

Seeing yet another crisis in Marathas, Vitthal Sundar, the Minister of Nizam, and one of the "Three and half wise men" of the time; advised Nizam to start an offensive against Pune. Vitthal Sundar also lured Janoji Bhosle of Nagpur to the Nizam's side as he dreamt of being coronated as the Chhatrapati at Satara. 

The defection from the Maratha side along with the Nizam's own armies increased his strength to over 1,32,000.
In January 1763, the Nizam started his march towards Pune yet again.

Raghunathrao, who was taken aback by Nizam's treachery was livid and cancelled his march towards the south and now the Maratha side started hatching their plans to counter the Nizam's movements. The trembling empire of the Marathas, ridden with internal and external conflicts was to face a major challenge. 

All these rapid changes on the board post the third battle of Panipat were going to lead to strategic movements between the Maratha and the Nizam's armies and a final showdown eventually. 


To know more about the first stepping stone of the Marathas back to glory after the battle of Panipat, stay tuned for the next part of this series. 



Sources-
1)The Mastery of Hindustan: Triumphs and Travails of Madhavrao Peshwa by Dr. Uday S. Kulkarni

2) The Maratha Century by Dr. Uday S. Kulkarni


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