In the previous post, we have read about Lord Wellesley. He came out with a subsidiary alliance policy and made many princely states to became subsidiary to the British EIC. The next man of EIC in India was Lord Hastings.
Lord Hastings
The annexation policy of the East India Company (EIC) was going well during the period of Lord Hastings. The first important achievement of Lord Hastings was that he made Rajputana rulers surrender to the British EIC.
Actually, the long period of peace provided by Mughal and Rajputana ended the sentiment of warrior class Rajputs. Rajputs became the vassals of Scindia and Holkar. Scindia and Holkar surrendered in the second decade of the 19th century. So, Rajputana without resistance fell into the lap of EIC. The biggest achievement of Lord Hastings was to end of Maratha Might. This end of Maratha power took place in different phases.
Mighty Marathas
At the beginning of the 17th century, Mughals conquered Northern India. So, after Northern India, they tuned towards Deccan and South India. This started the clash between Mughals and Deccani states ie Ahmadnagar, Bijapur, and Golconda.
The cultural identity among Marathas was already born due to the contribution of Bhakti Saints like Tukaram and Eknath etc. Marathas became politically conscious after having a struggle with the Mughals and the Deccan States. Ibrahim Adil Shah was the first Deccani ruler to recruit Marathas in Bijapur Army.
From here started giving an edge to Bijapur Army against Mughals. So, inspired by this Jahangir was the first Mughal ruler to recruit Marathas in the Mughal Army. So, both sides Deccans and Mughals took the help of Marathas. All this started increasing the enthusiasm of Marathas.
So, in such circumstances, they got a visionary leader Shivaji, who gave the dream of Maratha Swaraj.
Maratha Swaraj: Chhatrapati Shivaji
In 1674, Mughal princes got involved in Northern trouble (War of Succession after Shahjahan). So, taking advantage of this condition, Shivaji established independent Maratha Swaraj. So, this was the real beginning of the political history of Marathas in which the second phase starts after the death of Sambhaji (Son of Shivaji Maharaj) in 1689.
Aurangzeb in 1689 killed Sambhaji Maharaj and kept his son Shahuji as a prisoner. But, after the death of Aurangzeb his successor Bahadur Shah-I released Shahuji in 1707. Actually, Shahuji Maharaj was released with the intention of creating a civil war among Marathas.
So, in this scenario, Balaji Vishwanath, Peshwa of Shahuji acted as the savior of the status of Shahuji in Deccan. Balaji Vishwanath not only gathered the support of Maratha Sardars but also did the Treaty of Delhi, 1719. It was the treaty between Sayyid Brothers and proved to be “Magna Carta” of Maratha.
So, by this treaty Mughals accepted Maratha Swaraj and also gave the right to Marathas to collect Chauth (1/4th of produce) and Sardeshmukhi (1/10th of produce) of 6 provinces of Deccan. In return of this Marathas promised military help to the Mughal ruler in Delhi.
Peshwas and Their Role
Balaji Vishwanath not only protected the status of Shahuji. But also he succeeded in enhancing the status of Marathas. He got a return for it from Chhatrapati. So, Peshwaship became hereditary. So, Baji Rao-I (1720-1740) succeeded in Balaji Vishwanath.
The civil war between Kolhapur and Satara proved beneficial for Maratha Sardars. Because Balaji Vishwanath, to get the support of Maratha chiefs started Sarangani System. Under this system, Maratha Sardars were given autonomy in their specific areas.
- Scindia: Gwalior
- Bhonsle: Nagpur
- Holkar: Indore
- Gaikwad: Baroda
- Peshwas at Poona as the head of this Maratha Confederacy (Scindia, Bhonsle, Holkar and Gaikwad).
But after the defeat of Peshwa/Marathas in the third Battle of Panipat, 1761, Peshwa’s power started declining. So, in this situation, the Maratha Confederacy started acting in an independent way. So, it became easy for East India Company to fight with the individual Maratha Alliance instead of Maratha Confederacy.
This concluded into two Anglo-Maratha wars (First Anglo-Maratha War, 1775-1782; Second Anglo-Maratha War, 1802-1805). Wellesley was present in India with the policy of Subsidiary Alliance.
Killing of Vitthoji
But, in this situation of external threat, Peshwas Baji Rao-II behaved very reluctantly. He started instigating Maratha chiefs one against another. In this situation, Vitthoji, the brother of powerful Maratha Sardar Jaswant Rao Holkar was killed in Poona. It seems that behind this killing there was Peshwa and Scindia.
So, in this background, Jaswant Rao Holkar defeated a combined army of Peshwa and Scindia in Battle of Hadspar, 1802. In this situation, Baji Rao-II ran in the lap of East India Company. This led to the treaty of Bassein in 1802. By this treaty, Peshwa accepted the subsidiary alliance. But Maratha confederacy refused to accept the subsidiary alliance of Wellesley.
Subsidiary Alliance and Maratha Sardars
When all the Maratha Sardars refused to accept the Subsidiary alliance, so it led to conflict between EIC and Maratha Confederacy. In this Bhonsle accepted subsidiary alliance by Treaty of Deogaon, 1802. By this treaty, the company got Cuttak and the large part of Odisha.
Scindia accepted subsidiary alliance by the Treaty of Surjiarjangaon, 1803. By this treaty, Scindia handed over the Ganga-Yamuna Doab and Mumbai. Holkars made the friendship pact by the treaty of Rajpurghat, 1805. So, in this way, Maratha confederacy was suppressed during second Anglo-Maratha war.
In the upcoming post, we will discuss the Pindari issue and more about Lord Hasting’s reign.
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