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Telugu Historyతెలుగు చరిత్ర

Raghoji Bhonsle I

Maratha chief of Berar and Nagpur, the Sena Sahib Subha of the Maratha state. In 1740 he led the great Maratha army into the Carnatic. On its way south it defeated the Nawabs of Kurnool and Cuddapah, and it killed the Nawab of Arcot and took Trichinopoly in 1741. In 1753 the Nizam Salabat Jang made peace with him by giving up land that both sides claimed. Grant Duff dates his death to March 1753. The Vizagapatam gazetteer credits 'the Marathas under Ragoji Bhonsla' with the raid on the Northern Circars in 1754.

Raghoji Bhonsle was the head of the Bhonsle family of Berar and Nagpur.12 This Maratha house held the office of Sena Sahib Subha under Shahu, and it fought alongside the Peshwas, and often against them.12 His armies entered the Telugu country twice: in Rayalaseema in 1740 and, by the record of the Vizagapatam gazetteer, on the northern coast in 1754.34 See the Marathas in the Telugu country.

The Carnatic expedition of 1740

Grant Duff describes the army that entered the Carnatic in 1740 “under the command of Rughoojee Bhonslay”.15 It was made up of the troops of the Raja, the Peshwa, the Pratinidhi, Fateh Singh Bhonsle and other chiefs, about fifty thousand men.15

It came down by a little-used road and appeared behind the Nawab of Arcot, Dost Ali, near the Damalcheruvu pass.15 It “attacked and slew him”, and it collected payments until the Nawab’s son bought it off.15

Raghoji then went back to Satara to oppose the choice of Balaji Baji Rao as Peshwa.56 He returned to the Carnatic, and on 26 March 1741 Tiruchirappalli (then Trichinopoly) surrendered.56 Its governor Chanda Sahib was taken to Satara and kept there by an agent of Raghoji for about seven years.56

The Cuddapah gazetteer gives the Rayalaseema side of the campaign.3 It says that in May 1740 the Marathas “defeated the Nawab of Kandanúr (Kurnool)”.3 Then they “marched against Cuddapah with a force of cavalry said to have been 40,000 or 50,000 strong”.3

The Nawab of Cuddapah, Abdul Nabi Khan, was beaten in a day’s fighting and sent his family to Gandikota.3 He was beaten again “in the defile” (a narrow pass).3 He made peace “by giving them a lakh and a half of rupees and other presents”.3

The Kurnool manual remembers the return of the army in 1741 under “Fatte Sing, apparently an officer of Ragoba”.7 It quotes a local poet on the plundering of “Cuddapah, Chagalmari, Sirvel and Nandyal, in short, the whole of the Srisaila country”.7 See Kurnool and Gandikota.

Peace with Salabat Jang, 1753

War followed the death of Nizam-ul-Mulk.8 The Kistna manual says that in this war the French general Bussy advised Salabat Jang “to conclude a peace with the Mahratta prince, Ragoji Bhonslai”.8 Salabat Jang was to give up “certain disputed territory to the westward, and this was done in January 1753”.8

Grant Duff says that Raghoji died in March 1753, “after his great success in the war against Sulabut Jung”.2 He divided his lands among his four sons, Janoji, Sabaji, Mudhoji and Bimbaji, and left the leadership to Janoji.2

The raid on the Northern Circars, 1754

In 1753 Salabat Jang gave the four Northern Circars to the French.9 His governor Jafar Ali Khan refused to give up Rajahmundry and Srikakulam (then Chicacole).9 Then his ally, the raja of Vizianagaram, went over to the French.9 The Vizagapatam gazetteer says that at this point “Jafar Ali called in the help of the Marathas of Nagpur”.9

With the help of the local zamindar (landholder), the Marathas crossed the Eastern Ghats by the Pachipenta pass.9 They “devastated the two Circars from end to end” and burnt the Dutch factory (trading post) at Bheemunipatnam (then Bimlipatam).9 They beat the raja near Vizianagaram and fought him and the French at Tummapala near Anakapalle.9 Then they went home across a ford of the Godavari “with an immense booty”.9

About Bheemunipatnam the same gazetteer says that “in 1754, the factory was burnt by the Marathas under Ragoji Bhonsla”.4 The Godavari and Kistna manuals tell of the raid without naming the Maratha leader.1011 The Kistna manual adds that the Marathas left “by Ellore and by the hills in the north of the Kondavidu province”.1011

If Grant Duff’s date for Raghoji’s death is right, the raid was made by the Nagpur Marathas after his death, under his sons.2 See Rajahmundry and Eluru.

Footnotes

  1. James Grant Duff, A History of the Mahrattas, Vol. II (1826), p. 2 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6

  2. Grant Duff, History of the Mahrattas, Vol. II (1826), p. 74 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5

  3. C. F. Brackenbury, Madras District Gazetteers: Cuddapah, Vol. I (1915), p. 41 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7

  4. Francis, Vizagapatam (1907), p. 226 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  5. Grant Duff, History of the Mahrattas, Vol. II (1826), pp. 3–4 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7

  6. Grant Duff, History of the Mahrattas, Vol. II (1826), p. 5 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  7. Narahari Gopalakristnamah Chetty, A Manual of the Kurnool District (1886), p. 31 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  8. Gordon Mackenzie, A Manual of the Kistna District (1883), p. 47 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  9. W. Francis, Madras District Gazetteers: Vizagapatam, Vol. I (1907), p. 31 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8

  10. Henry Morris, A Descriptive and Historical Account of the Godavery District (1878), p. 227 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  11. Mackenzie, Kistna District (1883), p. 50 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

References

Sources (6)
  1. James Grant Duff, A History of the Mahrattas, Vol. II (opens in a new tab), Longmans, Rees, Orme, Brown and Green, London, 1826, pp. 1–5, 74. [Public domain]
  2. C. F. Brackenbury, Madras District Gazetteers: Cuddapah, Vol. I (opens in a new tab), Government Press, Madras, 1915, pp. 41–42. [Public domain]
  3. Narahari Gopalakristnamah Chetty, A Manual of the Kurnool District in the Presidency of Madras (opens in a new tab), Government Press, Madras, 1886, pp. 31. [Public domain]
  4. Gordon Mackenzie, A Manual of the Kistna District in the Presidency of Madras (opens in a new tab), Government of Madras (Lawrence Asylum Press), 1883, pp. 47, 50. [Public domain]
  5. W. Francis, Madras District Gazetteers: Vizagapatam, Vol. I (opens in a new tab), Government Press, Madras, 1907, pp. 31, 226. [Public domain]
  6. Henry Morris, A Descriptive and Historical Account of the Godavery District in the Presidency of Madras (opens in a new tab), Trübner & Co., London, 1878, pp. 227. [Public domain]

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