On hearing of the defeat, Chanda Saheb returned to Tiruchirappalli while Safdar Ali entered the fort of Vellore. From Arcot, the Marathas spread out into the countryside and there was a rush of refugees into Pondicherry. Chanda Saheb and Safdar Ali’s families and Dost Ali’s widow, and the minister Imam Saheb with his wife – with their treasure – reached there in June 1740. The French received them with full honours and treated them with all consideration. However, immediately on arrival, the unfortunate Imam Saheb’s wife’s clothes caught fire from a Hookah near her couch and she died soon after. Imam Saheb himself took a French ship to Machhlipatnam and reached Hyderabad where he was warmly received by the Nizam’s son Naseer Jung.
The Marathas quickly proceeded to capture the Nawab’s capital at Arcot. But hearing that all its wealth had already been transported to Pondicherry, they were dejected. Raghuji immediately wrote a threatening letter to the official Dumas. To this, Dumas sent a pointed reply and informed him, that the French did not consider the empty threats by the Marathas worthwhile. Their emperor ruled in their home country France, and they only followed his orders. Replying this way, he dispatched some wine bottles as presents for Raghuji. By the time this occurred, Raghuji was given the news of Bajirao’s death, and the affair was given a completely different turn.
In June 1740, the Marathas seemingly withdrew two hundred and fifty miles north, or roughly twelve-days’ march from Arcot. However, there was more to their withdrawal than the treaty with Safdar Ali. Just when Raghuji with his large army was approaching Cudappah, over a thousand kilometres north on the banks of the river Narmada, Bajirao Peshwa died of a brief illness on 28 April 1740. The news must have reached Arcot soon after the battle of Damalcheri, and Raghuji, leaving the bulk of his army in the Carnatic, hurried to Satara. The purpose of this inexpedient move in the midst of the campaign was to influence Chhatrapati Shahu in his choice of the next Peshwa.
Raghuji tried that the office of the Peshwa should be granted to Babuji Naik instead of Nanasaheb. It did not succeed, and Shahu granted the office of the Peshwa on 25 June 1740. In August 1740, after their failure to influence the choice of the new Peshwa, Raghuji Bhosale and Babuji Naik returned from Satara, and rejoined the Maratha army in the Carnatic. Meanwhile, there too many complications occurred.
Safdar Ali began preparing afresh to face the Marathas. His letter to the French says, “I dispatched some horsemen to Jinji and others to Chattagadda and I myself went to Vellore, there to organise the defence. I also sent orders to Hussein Dost Khan (Chanda Saheb) to muster all his forces.”
However, Safdar Ali knew he did not possess the strength to oppose the Marathas. With the Nizam apparently acquiescing in the invasion, if not encouraging the chastisement of the Nevayats, Safdar Ali had little option but to make peace with them. His Dewan Mir Asad, who was a captive in the Maratha camp, began negotiations with the Marathas, agreeing to pay them the Chauth of the region. Chanda Saheb, having entrenched himself at the Tiruchirappalli’s strong fort, began preparing for a Maratha attack. He refused to join his rival Safdar Ali to oppose the Marathas.
The name Tiruchirappalli is derived from a mythological story where Trishira, a three-headed brother of Ravan, lived in the town (Palli) and being a devotee of Lord Shiva performed many a penance. To propitiate the deity, he cut-off his head; first one, then the second one, and when he was about to cut his remaining head, Lord Shiva is said to have appeared and blessed him.
In the eighteenth century, Tiruchirappalli was a strongly fortified town. A description by Orme mentions the city to be: “Ninety miles inland and half a mile from the southern bank of the Kaveri, and about a mile and half southeast from Shrirangam. It is a parallelogram, of which the east and west sides extend nearly 2000 yards and the north and south about 1200. It has a double enclosure of walls, each of which are flanked by round towers, built at equal distance from one another; the outer wall is 18 feet high, and about five feet thick, without rampart or parapet; the inward is much stronger, being 30 feet high, with a rampart of stone decreasing by large steps from the ground to the top, where it is 10 feet broad, and has a thin parapet of stone about seven feet high, in which are loop holes to fire through. There is an interval between the two walls of 25 feet, and with water at different seasons, but never quite dry. In the northern part of the city stands a rock 150 feet high, from which the adjacent country is discovered for many miles around.” This was the city and the fort that the Marathas had to capture. By any reckoning, it was a difficult undertaking.
To be continued…
NDHistories 