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Baji Rao II
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia- Baji Rao Peshwa ll Reign Started On 4th December 1796
Baji Rao II Peshwa of Maratha empire 
Baji Rao IIReign 1796 - 1798 Coronation 6 December 1796 Spouse Saraswati Bai Issue Nana Sahib (adopted) Dynasty Peshwa dynasty Father Raghunath Rao Mother Anandi Bai Born 10 January 1775
DharDied 28 January 1851
Bithur near KanpurReligion Hinduism Baji Rao II (10 January 1775 – 28 January 1851), also Rao Pandit Pandham, was Peshwa of the Maratha Empire, and governed from 1796 to 1818. His reign was marked by confrontations with the British.Biography[edit]
This section does not cite any references or sources. (October 2014) Baji Rao was the son of Peshwa Raghunathrao and Anandibai. Raghunathrao defected to the English and caused the First Anglo Maratha war that the English lost. Peshwa Sawai Madhavrao committed suicide in 1796, and died without an heir, and with the assistance of Daulatrao Scindiaand Nana Phadnavis, Baji Rao became Peshwa. Writes Manohar Malgonkar, the versatile English novelist of India in his book The Devil's Wind:"Only someone perversely gifted could have succeeded in squandering so vast an inheritance in so short time or disgraced a noble name so thoroughly. He was mean, cruel, vindictive, avaricious but surprisingly well-read and shrewd in financial dealings. He was above all a moral and physical coward, the only Peshwa held in contempt by his subjects" Apopular song about him ran as follows:We emptied the wellAnd drained the land dry,To grow a tree of thorns,'Running' Baji RaoContinues Malgonkar:Dr.Suman Vaidya,has written a well researched book "Akhercha Peshwa" which totally contradicts what Manohar Malgaonkar has written.He was born in 1775 when both his parents were kept in imprisonment by the then Peshwa's cabinet. Till the age of 19, he along with his brothers were kept in confinement denying even basic rights of education. He lost both his parents early and had to carry the unfortunate legacy of his parents who, despite from same Brahmin family, were suspected to be involved in the murder of young fifth Peshwa Narayanrao in 1774 AD. As such, being son of suspected murderers, he was looked down upon by his ministers, nobility and even by his subjects. His every action was viewed with prejudice and it is said that though regarded as a good administrator and builder of modern day Pune, he was often labeled as incapable and a coward Peshwa. Being a thorough Brahmin, he was averse to risks and bloodshed and tried to achieve his goals through crafty diplomacy rather than direct head-on confrontations.After the death of Phadnavis in 1800, the Maratha leaders Yashwantrao Holkar of Indore and Daulat Rao Sindhia ofGwalior contested for control of the empire; their rivalry made its way to Pune, seat of the Peshwa. Holkar ultimately triumphed, and Baji Rao II fled west to Bombay in September 1802 to seek the willing hands of the British who were waiting for this opportunity with great patience. They were profuse with offers of assistance- after all, the fountain head of Maratha confederacy, the biggest power in land then, had come to them seeking aid! There, he concluded the Treaty of Bassein in December 1802, in which the British agreed to reinstate Baji Rao II as Peshwa, in return for allowing in Maratha territory- a force of 6000 infantry troops complete with guns and officered by British, paying for its maintenance and accepting the stationing of a permanent British political agent (Resident) at Pune. Holkar and Sindhia resisted the British intrusion in Maratha affairs, which resulted in the Second Anglo-Maratha War of 1803-1805. The British triumphed, and the Marathas lost and were forced to accept losses of territories due to internal rivalries between Holkars and Scindias and treachery at all the battles done by Scindia's French and other European officers, who mostly handled the imported guns in Maratha army- the Marathas failing to train their own men in sufficient number to handle imported guns.The raids of the Pindaris, irregular horsemen who resided in the Maratha territories, into British territory ultimately led to the Third Anglo-Maratha War of 1817-1818 which ended in the defeat of the Bhosles, Holkars and other maratha feudatories. On Nov 5, 1817, the British Resident at Pune was attacked by Baji Rao II's army led by his Attorney Mor Dixit. Bajirao II could have won this battle had he not halted progress of his forces by succumbing to the request of British Resident Elphinstone for a ceasefire. Baji Rao watched the battle that ensued between his troops and the British from a hill now called Parvati . This battle is referred to as Battle of Khadki. Later his troops moved to Garpir on outskirts towards present day Solapur road to block the British troops coming from Jalna but treachery of one of his chief, Sardar Ghorpade Sondurkar, led to his force withdrawing . Later he captured Chakan Fort from British troops and repulsed the attack of Ghodnadi's Company Regiment at Korgaon, where lots of company officers as well as soldiers were killed including loss of guns at the hands of his feudatory Tryambakji Dengle. Five British columns set out after Baji Rao II in full cry, slavering at the thought of the 'Prize money' that lay at the end of the chase. After running for five months from one fort to another, awaiting the promised help from Scindias, Holkars and Bhosles that did not come, Baji Rao II surrendered to Sir John Malcolm. Much to the chagrin of the Company's Governor-General Francis Rawdon-Hastings, 1st Marquess of Hastings(no relation to Warren Hastings, the first Governor-General of India), Malcolm was prepared to keep him a lifelong prince, allow him to retain his personal fortune and pay him an annual pension of £80,000 (£100,000 according to some sources) every year. In return, Baji Rao II would have to live in a place assigned by the British along with his retainers on the condition that he would never return to his homeland at Pune. He would also have to forsake all his claims to his heritage and could not style himself as Peshwa but there was no objection to call himself as 'Maharaja'. The only reason whyFrancis Rawdon-Hastings ratified the treaty made by Malcolm was his conviction that Baji Rao II would not live long as he was already above 40 and many of his ancestors did not live much beyond that age.To keep Baji Rao II under watchful eyes, the British selected a small village on the right bank of Ganges at a place calledBithur near Kanpur, where they had a large military establishment then. The place selected was exactly six square miles in area and in it, together with his relatives and others who moved from Pune along with him in 1818, there were about 15,000 inhabitants. He had once ruled 50 million. There Baji Rao added 5 more wives and led an empty life, spending the day time in religion and night time in orgies. Contrary to the Company's wishes, he lived for another 33 years and died in 1851 at Bithur.There were many stories making the rounds in the Court of Gwalior about Baji Rao II, where Malgoankar’s grandfather P. Baburao was a minister. One such story was about the ghost of a slain Peshwa, Narayan Rao, haunting Baji Rao throughout his life that was widely known to many people due to Baji Rao II’s unceasing efforts to exorcise the ghost.Narayan Rao was the fifth Peshwa who was allegedly murdered with the connivance of Baji Rao’s parents as was mentioned earlier. In order to get rid of the ghost, Baji Rao employed the priests of Pandharpur, a temple town of Maharashtra on the banks of a local river. Initially the priests succeeded in driving away the ghost and in gratitude, Baji Rao II ordered the building of a riverside embankment in Pandharpur, which still bears his name. However when Baji Rao II was exiled to Bithur the ghost re-appeared and started haunting again. Since he was forbidden to visit his homeland, he performed religious penances prescribed by the priests of Benares (Varanasi) and was extravagant in distributing alms to Brahmins. He built temples, bathing ghats, performed endless poojas (religious prayers), underwent countless stringent fasts, fell at the feet of sadhus and soothsayers, etc., but the ghost wouldn’t leave him. It stayed with him till end warning him that his line will end with his successor, his house will burn to ashes and his clan will perish. Incidentally after the flare-up of the Indian Rebellion of 1857, company troops in July that year, after their successful re-capture of Kanpur, under Major-General Henry Havelock initially and later under the then Brigadier James Hope Grant sacked and burnt down Bithur, including the residence of Baji Rao II (wada) where many members of his extended family except his adopted son, Nana Sahib, resided.In Defence of Bajirao[edit]
This section does not cite any references or sources. (October 2014) Bajirao II has been panned as deceitful by all English writers. It is said he plotted against them even before the ink at Bassein ran dry. The treaty of Bassein was fashioned in peculiar circumstance and the Peshwa, to regain his seat of power, had no option to play the English against his opponents, the Holkars and his brother Amrutrao in Pune. Immediately he secured this objective he tried to shake off the treaty in insidious ways and later when he felt his independence to deal with the chiefs being stifled, more openly. Yet, he lacked that fire and risk taking ability or warriorship that his grandfather Bajirao I was known for. All his diplomacy crashed before his own weak soldiership. Bajirao II could have lived a most opulent life amongst all princes of India, yet in 1817 he chose to throw it away and cross swords with the powerful English war machine, to try to retain his independence. The English armies looked after their soldiers well and in battles like the one at Koregaon (31 Dec 1817), the Peshwa could not achieve complete victory due to the intrepid fight put up by the British army. Opposing Bajirao II and the Marathas of the day were stalwarts like Wellesley, Malcolm and Elphinstone. Daulatrao Scindia and Yeshwantrao Holkar could not match the genius of these English stalwarts. The 'style' of fighting changed, also, and French generals abandoned Scindia before important battles.Bajirao II, himself, was not trained in the craft of war or to rule. Kept in prison practically since birth, his education was neglected, something his mother always lamented. The death of Sawai Madhavrao Peshwa propelled him to the office of Peshwa with the help of a very young Daulatrao Scindia, adopted son of the great Mahadji. Bajirao had neither an army nor a treasury, and so he remained a puppet of the Scindia - till Scindia finally left to look after his Northern domains in 1801-2. The war between Holkar and Scindia erupted shortly after and Bajirao sought Scindia's help to keep the warrior Holkar at bay. The combined armies of Scindia and Peshwa were defeated at Hadapsar near Pune in 1802 and the Peshwa left Poona, as he feared being killed by Yeswantrao Holkar (owing to his killing a Holkar a few years earlier for rebelling against his (Peshwa's) authority). Bajirao II quit Poona and went to Bassein where the English offered him allurements to sign the Subsidiary Treaty in return for the throne. After deliberating for over a month, and after threats that his brother would otherwise be recognised as Peshwa, Bajirao II signed the treaty surrendering his residual sovereignty, and allowing the English to put him on the throne at Poona. The English armies then waged war and defeated the Scindia and Holkar armies separately. The divisions in the Maratha confederacy therefore helped the British defeat the Maratha power. It is ironic that at a time when British armies boasted of men like the Wellesley brothers at the helm of affairs, the Marathas had small leaders without a strategic vision like Bajirao II, Daulatrao Scindia and Yeshwantrao Holkar. The death of Tipu Sultan in 1799 and of Nana Phadnis in 1800 had indeed cleared the path for British sovereignty in India on the back of Indian soldiers.Bajirao II began to feel his subservient status after 1811, and challenged the whittling down of his authority by the new English Resident Mountstuart Elphinstone. This accelerated after the 1815 murder of an agent of the Gaikwad, named Gangadhar Shastri, at Pandharpur. Secretly, Bajirao II began gathering an army ostensibly to fight the Pindaris. Finally, but too slowly, he made his move in 1817 and his army attacked the British residency in Poona. The Battle of Khadki was neither won nor lost and after losing the skirmish at Yerwada due to treachery, a few days later Bajirao II chose to leave Poona rather than inflict hardships on the city. His running battle with the British continued for four months until, having lost his army, his Generals and many wars, he surrendered to John Malcolm in 1818 and was pensioned off. Bajirao's story deserves to be retold and re-analysed. His personal life was no different from the rulers of the time. He tried to shake off his treaty with the British, but was not strong enough to build an all-India coalition. Scindia stayed neutral and did not move against the British. His proteges, Nana Sahib, Rani Laxmibai, Tatya Tope and Rao Saheb, were at the forefront of the 1857 war of independence that followed his death in 28 January 1851 at Bithoor near Kanpur.It was not the fault of Bajirao II that the bonding between the Maratha Sardars, especially Bhosale-Shinde-Holkar and many such others, had weakened substantially since the 1790s. The power of the British and their political connections across India had increased phenomenally. Such a situation — nothing less than "Shivaji Maharaj" — could have re-established the Maratha supremacy. Unfortunately, Bajirao II was neither born nor trained to be the head of the Maratha Confederacy. At least he showed the will to fight against the British until the end, unlike the Shinde, Holkar, and Bhosale, who shook hands with the British to save their skin. Even the Chhatrapati himself (the owner of the state), Pratap singh, withdrew his support to save his Gaddi.See also[edit]
Thursday, December 4, 2014
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