Having read the history from multiple facets and being an admirer of the Maratha Confederacy, the writer took up the task of bringing the awareness of people to the warrior who was not only kept in dark but was stripped of his due credit due to reasons which were viewed as anti-religious, the warrior who died a death of valour due to superhuman physical exertion in the speedy realisation of his goal of liberating the land from the clutches of the invaders, but unlike other stories this blog intends to only highlight the life of the warrior on the battlefield and not otherwise. Peshwa Bajirao 1 was a warrior of unmatched resilience and foresight had it been that Bajirao did not appear on the scene the Maratha Confederacy would have been just another empire which was crushed in its desire to seek liberation. If one observes. Peshwas were the real rulers who managed the matters of the kingdom. The untimely death of Peshwa Balaji Vishwanath, put forward a matter of serious concern in front of Chattrapati Shahu, who was to be the next Peshwa? although there were those had a desire to be coronated as the Peshwa which included men like Panth Pratinidhi but Shahu had given his word to Vishwanath and Bajirao was coronated as the next Peshwa, at a young age of 20. Baji had been assisting his father on the battlefield ever since he was 12. When Baji was born, the local priest had made three predictions for him of which one was, death at a young age. Rao was full of enthusiasm and zealousness from a very young age, his mother Radha Bai played a pivotal role in his life and it is viewed that very often Rao dedicates his success to her. RadhaBai, like many other figures in history, has been kept in dark for reasons unknown but after the death of Balaji Vishwanath, it was she who looked after the Peshwai. The eagerness of Rao to achieve the ideal of Hindu Padpadhshahi was recognized by all when a discussion in the courtyard of Satara was taking place over the military strategy to rip the invaders from the throne of Delhi and install the bright Gherua banner, to which Baji with sublimity and clarity of his vision exclaimed enthusiastically: Towards Delhi, Towards Delhi ! We will press and strike straight at the roots of Moslem Swaraj. Why stand ye hesitating and faltering here? Press on ye, Hindu Warriors, ahead: the hour of Hindu Pad Padhshahi has come! Impossible? Oh no. I have measured my sword against them I know their mettle. I ask for nothing more from you Chattrapati just sanction this and bless me and I shall go straight and strike and bring down this obnoxious growth root and branch.
Rao soon proved himself as a worthy student and follower of Shivaji on the field. On the 7th of August, 1727, when it was raining in torrents, Baji led his army to the girlf e,Aurangabad he first levied war contributions on Jalna and the districts round about it, which were held by the Nizam. As soon as the Nizam's forces under Ewaz khan advanced to him, Baji, engaging them half-heartedly a while and suddenly out-marching his opponents rushed towards Mahu and then to Aurangabad, giving it out that he would extract a heavy contribution from that city. Nizam, hastening towards Aurangabad learned to his dismay that the enemy, he wanted to protect the city from, was already in Gujarat. Furious at this he wanted to beat back Baji Rao. Nizam thought of using military tactics of Maratha and to plunder Rao's territory. But he was too late in learning his lessons of Maratha Strategy. Rao had already invaded, plundered the Nizam's treasure and entered his territory again. While Nizam was fancying that he would invade Rao's territory to his utter discomfort he found out that Baji had already plundered. The forces of two empires had a face off near the banks of Godavari, to his disgust his army was already exhausted and Nizam found out that it was impossible for them to shake the Maratha's , he now had two choices either to consent the utter destruction of his forces or submit to whatever Baji dictated , Nizam chose the latter. Ever since 1689 in the province of Malva the Hindus were troubled due to the tyranny of Mughal forces. Fortunately, for the Hindus, the most influential prince in Malva was one of the most enthusiastic advocates of the cause of Hindu independence. He was Sawai Jaisingh, prince of Jaipur. Maharaja Chattrasal who when incapable of protecting his small kingdom from the alien forces and was either to live in refuge of the Muslims in a non-Hindu alien rule decided to take help from the only united Hindu force of Maratha Confederacy, the wisdom of Chattrasal guided Jaisingh too and he opened his negotiations with Marathas who with zealousness helped their co-religionists, the Maratha army lead by brave brother of Baji Rao, the commander in chief of their army , Chimmaji Appa surrounded the province of Malva from all sides and gave a crushing defeat to the Mughal viceroy , but the emperor was not so stupid to do away with such a prosperous province he sent his forces mustered with a new viceroy who laid terrible plans to defeat them in Mandava Ghat. Marathas with the help of Malva Hindus outwitted the forces of Nizam and gave them a crushing defeat, never to return again. The joy of Hindus at the Malva knew no bounds. The Marathas soon restored order, dismissed all Mughal officers and began to administer the province as a regular part of the Maratha Empire. The emperor at Delhi persisted in hoping against hope and sent a new Viceroy named Mohammad Khan Bangash, who was so brave and was a master of martial arts as to win the title of " The Lion of War". From the imperial court, he was specially charged to crush the rising spirit of the Bundella Chief, Chattrasal, first and then from that point to expel Marathas from Malva. Bnagash attacked Bundela the king of Bundella's Chattarasal was old to face the viceroy, hence it was natural for an old Hindu warrior bought p in the Pan-Hindu spirit of Shivaji to turn up to Baji Rao, who not only represented Shivaji's strength but also his mission. With a force of 70,000, Baji along with Malharrao Holkar and Pilaji Jadhav and twelve other Maratha Generals met the old hero and raced towards Banagash even though the rain had set in. Bangash, on the other hand, living in a fool's paradise puffed up with his little victory over the Bundelkhand, entitled himself of rest in the rainy season. Without caring about the thick dense forest and paying no heed to torrential rains Rao's army suddenly fell upon Khan Bangash and captured him. The old king entered his capital in full state. So grateful did the old man feel that he adopted Rao as his third son. On his death, true to this. a third portion of the kingdom was handed over to Bajirao.
The tremendous successes and conquest of Gujarat, Malva, and Bundelkhand Rao were not to halt and thus kept extending the power of the empire. His aim was a consolidated Hindu Empire that should embrace all Hindustan in its sweep. His wish was to see all the religious shrines of Hindus freed and cleansed from being polluted by the alien and faithless touch of enemies of Hindu Dharma. His mission did not, therefore, confine itself to the sacred temple of Parasharam in Konkan alone. Kashi, Gaya, Mathura were still groaning under the sway of the Muslim insolence and fanaticism. So we find Baji Rao and other Maratha general again and again trying to strike for the liberation of these holy cities. Bajirao threatened the Muslim emperor with nothing less than an attack on Delhi itself if his demands- including the recovery of Kashi, Gaya, Mathura, and other religious places thereabout- were not conceded. The Muslim leaders at Delhi frozen with fear and not less than 22 generals marched against the Hindu rebel and when they could show no real success against the Marathas, they resorted to imaginary ones to tickle their fancy and wrote exaggerated accounts to the emperor that Rao was utterly crushed in a battle. When informed of this Baji with a grim smile on his face muttered " Well I will take my Maratha forces to the very walls of Delhi and prove our existence in the north to the Muslim emperor in the dismal light of the flames of his capital. HE KEPT HIS WORD. But a twist in fate came when a Muhammadan plot bore fruit and Nadirshah crossed the Indus. The Muhammadans thought Nadirshah could revive what the impotent Emperor and his generals could not. Instead of being daunted, the soaring genius of Bajirao rose to higher altitudes and aspirations at this great national crisis. In the coming of Nadirshah, he saw an opportunity of compressing centuries of Hindu history in years. Nadirshah soon realized that he had been brought face to face with a different Hindu power far different than that Ghaznavi had to face in 1120, in terms of diplomacy, statesmanship. patriotic fervor and above all the ability to sacrifice. Soon Rao spoke with the same fervor and told his allies OH yeh heroes: why ye doubt and deliberate? Advance unitedly and the day of Hindu Pad Padshahi is at hand. It is this stubborn attitude of the revengeful Marathas that checked and chilled to death the anti-Hindu ambition of the Persian ruler. Nadir wrote to Rao commanding him to obey the Mughal emperor at Delhi and threatening how otherwise punishment would be meted out to the rebels. Nadir beat a clever retreat, Shahu, the CHHATRAPATI, openly proclaimed in the assembly in the Royal Assembly on the 14th June 1739 that Nadirshah had fled the country due to fear of Marathas.
The retirement of Shah left the Nizam in the lurch. The Marathas marched forth towards Delhi to inflict a punishment on him for his participation in the anti-Hindu designs of Nadir and hesitation to carry out the terms of the treaty. But just then Bajirao, the greatest general that ever walked the land, passed away on 22nd April 1740.
No one strove more successfully for the furtherance of the great cause of Hindu Independence. He died in the camp, in the very act of leading his forces against the enemies of Hindus. Throughout his campaigns, he knew only victory. His premature death due to superhuman exertions he underwent for the speedy realization of the ideal of Hindu Pad Padhshahi was a greater blow to the Hindu cause than half a dozen invasions of Nadir could have ever been.
Sources - Hindu-Pad-Padshahi - V.Savarkar
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