Balaji Vishwanath
Balaji Vishwanath | |
---|---|
Baji Rao I | |
Personal details | |
Born | |
Spouse(s) | Radhabai |
Children | Bajirao I Chimaji Appa Bhiubai Joshi Anubai Ghorpade [1] Bhikaji Ranoji |
Parents |
|
Balaji Vishwanath Bhat (1662–1720) was the first of a series of hereditary
Early life and career
Balaji Vishwanath Bhat was born into a
Role during Maratha Civil War
Since the death of
In the intrigues following the death of Aurangzeb, the Mughal governor of the Deccan released Shahu from captivity, hoping to keep the Marathas locked in an internecine struggle between the partisans of Shahu, and Tarabai, the widow of Rajaram who governed in the name of her son Shivaji and denounced Shahu as an impostor substituted by the Mughals for the son of Sambhaji.[citation needed]
Tarabai sent the Maratha Senapati Dhanaji Jadhav to attack Shahu. Balaji Vishwanath was despatched by Dhanaji Jadhav to meet secretly with Shahu and verify his bona fides. Balaji is believed to have persuaded his master to support the cause of Shahu. Dhanaji's forces met Shahu's at Khed, in Pune District. Instead of attacking Shahu, Dhanaji Jadhav declared him to be the rightful successor to the Maratha throne. Dhanaji's confidence in Balaji Vishwanath, however, aroused the jealousy of his son and successor, Chandrasen Jadhav.[11]
After the death of Dhanaji Jadhav in June 1708, Shahu appointed Dhanaji's son Chandrasen Jadhav as Senapati, but the rivalry between Chandrasen and Balaji led the former to intrigue with Tarabai, while seeking an opportunity to eliminate Balaji. A dispute over the conduct of a junior officer in Balaji's employ led Chandrasen to attack Balaji, who fled to the fortress of Purandar. Chandrasen besieged Purandar whereupon Balaji fled again to Pandavgad whence he sent an emissary to plead for help from his sovereign. Shahu had Balaji Vishwanath brought under escort to his capital Satara and asked Chandrasen to make the case against Balaji Vishwanath before him. Instead of obeying Shahu Chandrasen defected to the cause of Tarabai in April 1711. Haibatrao Nimbalkar, who Shahu had dispatched against Chandrasen, also defected to Tarabai, and Shahu's fortunes were an at their lowest. Bereft of his experienced generals, Shahu turned to Balaji Vishwanath, who undertook to raise a new army in the cause of Shahu. For his efforts, Shahu bestowed Balaji with the title of Senakarte or Organiser of Maratha armies (20 August 1711).[12]
Balaji next turned against Tarabai and her own armory of intrigue.
Appointment as Peshwa
Next Shahu turned to subdue the Angre clan. Tukoji Angre had commanded Chattrapati Shivaji's navy, and was succeeded in 1690 by his son
Northward expansion
This section needs additional citations for verification. (March 2022) |
There existed a power vacuum in the
To rid himself of the tutelage of the Sayyids in 1718, Farrukhsiyar dispatched Sayyid Hussain Ali Khan as Viceroy of the
In July 1718, Balaji negotiated a Maratha-Mughal treaty with Hussain Ali Khan, demanding the Maratha right of "Chauth" (literally: 1/4th of revenues) and "Sardeshmukhi" (an additional 10% of revenues) of the old Mughal provinces of the Deccan. To this Balaji Vishwanath added the demand of Chauth and Sardeshmukhi over the rich provinces of Gujarat and Malwa, and the restoration of Chattrapati Shivaji's conquests in Karnataka, in return for which Balaji promised that Shahu would acknowledge the nominal overlordship of the Mughal Emperor, and the Marathas would provide a force of 15,000 armed horsemen to the Mughal Empire.To these demands, Sayyid Hussain Ali Khan readily agreed, with a view to utilize the Maratha soldiers to their advantage in their struggle with the Emperor.
Farrukhsiyar refused to ratify this treaty, and sought to depose and murder the Sayyids.The plot was betrayed to Sayyid Abdullah Khan who was in Delhi, who succeeded in neutralizing other powerful Mughal nobles like
Farrukhsiyar was dethroned, blinded and imprisoned by the Sayyid's, who substituted in his place a more pliable puppet,
Conflict with Sambhaji II
Battle of Panhala
After Balaji Vishwanath returned from Delhi with imperial sanads, he decided to march against Sambhaji. He captured Ashta, Yelvi and other villages in the Warana valley, and went on to attack Panhala. At that time Yashwantrao Thorat was in Bijapur territory. He got the news that Balaji Vishwanath captured his jagir in Warana valley and went to attack on Panhala fort. He immediately took some troops with him and went towards
Personal life
Balaji married Radhabai Barve and had two sons,
Death
Balaji returned in triumph from Delhi to Satara, having also secured the release after decades of Mughal captivity, the mother (Yesubai), wife (Savitribai) and half-brother (Madan Singh) of Shahu. Weary from his labors and the tiresome journey back from the imperial capital, Balaji Vishwanath's health began to fail. In October 1719 he obtained leave from Shahu to retire to the village of
Administration
Balaji Vishwanath also laid the foundation for the complex administrative system of the Marathas that held sway for a century after his death. The Maratha tax collection system from a wide swathe of nominally Mughal provinces was based on a widespread network of agents and collectors. "To it as much as to their victories in the field the Marathas owed the spread of their empire".[20][21] The mechanism of revenue collected was supported by credit facilities from established banking families.
Legacy
A statue of Balaji Vishwanath stands at his ancestral village of Shrivardhan near Raigad, Maharashtra.
In popular culture
- Manish Wadhwa plays the role of Balaji in Peshwa Bajirao (TV series).[22]
See also
- Peshawe Family
Notes
- ISBN 978-81-89093-06-8.
- ISBN 978-9-38060-734-4.
- ISBN 9788170998396.
- ISBN 9780202369334.
- ISBN 9780520255593.
- ISBN 978-81-8069-582-7.
- ^ Sardesai, G S, ed. (1946), "'Rise of Balaji Vishwanath'", New history of the Marathas Vol 2, p. 18
- ISBN 1-932705-54-6
- ISBN 9781343884571. Retrieved 12 May 2017.
- ISBN 978-81-207-2508-9
- ISBN 9781343884571. Retrieved 12 May 2017.
- ISBN 9781343884571. Retrieved 12 May 2017.
- ^ See Kincaid & Parasnis p151
- ^ LT GEN K. J., SINGH (5 November 2018). "As NDA cadet, I was witness to Vice Admiral Awati's kindness". ThePrint.In. Retrieved 7 November 2018.
- ^ Kincaid & Parasnis, p.156
- ISBN 9781343884571. Retrieved 12 May 2017.
- ISBN 9781343884571. Retrieved 12 May 2017.
- ISBN 9781343884571. Retrieved 12 May 2017.
- ISBN 9781343884571. Retrieved 12 May 2017.
- ^ Kincaid & Parasnis, p181
- ^ Nayeem, M.A., 1977. The Working of the Chauth and Sardeshmukhi System in the Mughal Provinces of the Deccan (1707-1803 AD). The Indian Economic & Social History Review, 14(2), pp.153-191.
- ^ "Peshwa Bajirao Review: Anuja Sathe shines as Radhabai in the period drama", India Today, 25 January 2017
References
- Palsokar R. D & Reddy T. Rabi. Bajirao I:an outstanding cavalry general, Reliance Pub. House, 1995
- Kincaid, Charles Augustus & Parasnis D.B. "A History of the Maratha People, Volume II (1918)
- Imperial Gazetteer of India, v.2, Pg 441
- Cox, Linda. The Chitpavans, Illustrated Weekly of India, 22 February 1970
- Mehta, J.L. "Advanced Study in the history of Modern India 1707–1813", New Dawn Press Group 2005.