At his end, the queen Sakwarbai took Maharaj from the Vanwaswadi to his royal mansion. She installed her own security on the palace and outside. She made various Brahmins sit in ritual worship at various places. She began toying with the ideas like nobody should be allowed to enter the royal mansion to meet Maharaj without her permission, Pradhan and Chitnis should be quickly dispensed with. The Peshwa took precaution regarding this, and decided to bring the child of Pangaon as per Maharaj’s orders. When the queen began insisting with the Maharaj trying to force his hand, Maharaj said to her, that her plans would not succeed without a strong army. Both parties began amassing their forces. Govindrao alone personally visited the houses of the Pratinidhi, Senapati, Sarlashkar, Akkalkot’s principal, Bimbaji Bhosale, Raghuji and Mudhoji Bhosale, etc.; sat with each of them for quartiles upon quartiles, days on end, and informed them the orders of Maharaj, checking whether anybody was desirous of taking the responsibility of running the kingdom. But none of them accepted the responsibility. Bai tried very hard to entice Govindrao to her party. She issued grant-notification conferring upon him various Inams. But he would not listen. So then, she planned to eliminate him. In that, due to a mistake, one of his assistants Tulaji was killed. Bai invited Sambhajiraje along with his armies from Kolhapur. But Maharaj sent Bapuji Khanderao to him, and informed him that he should not intervene in this matter, due to which he returned.
Shahu communicated his decision that Tarabai’s grandson Ramraja should be brought and crowned as the next king. On 1 October 1749, the king made two lists addressed to the Peshwa. These lists seem to be written around the occasion of Vijayadashmi, in the Navaratri festival. In these two lists, the king wrote,
“List 1 – Rajashree Balaji Pandit Pradhan is hereby ordered. You must take command of the entire force. I ordered everyone else to do this, but it is not their destiny. Maharaj is ill and does not appear will get better. The Government must carry on. Our dynasty should be placed on the throne. Do not place the one from Kolhapur. We have informed Chitnis everything, act according to that. The successor from my dynasty should be obeyed and the Confederacy properly run. Chitnis is the Swami’s trusted confidante. With mutual consultations, preserve the kingdom. My successor will not interfere with you. Rest, you are wise enough.
“List 2 – Rajashree Balaji Pandit Pradhan is hereby ordered. The Swami is confident that you will run the state’s administration. I had already thought so, but the Chitnis made my faith unshakeable. I have placed my hand on your head. My successor will continue your appointment as Pradhan. We bind them in pledge if they ever waver from this path. Run the kingdom by his orders. Preserve the kingdom. What more to write! You are wise enough.”
These two lists were like the grant notifications issued by Shahu to the Peshwa detailing the authority of the executive office of the Maratha Confederacy. Although the original letters do not have the royal seal, they are entirely in Shahu’s own handwriting, and the king’s intention is quite clear. The Peshwa was given the responsibility of looking after the kingdom with Ramraja as the king, who would not remove him from his post.
The orders within these lists for the Peshwa are clear enough. He should bring his army and secure the region. As informed to the Chitnis, the Peshwa should bring in a new master, and he himself should manage the whole administration. He should not bring in Kolhapur’s Sambhaji II. Whatever were doubts in Maharaj’s mind about the Peshwa, was driven away by the Chitnis. So, Shahu blessed him and ordered him to honestly run the administration. He followed it. At the end, Shahu warned the Peshwa, “’We have issued various charitable endowments for different deities, Brahmins, have assigned them the authority of first worship, have set up various charities, have awarded many benefices, Jagirs, villages, and land-parcels for their service, to various people like our own brethren, those born in the same Gotra, various other Kunbi Marathas etc., and even people from other castes, which you should respect after us. You should not block anybody. If you disturb the awards committed to by us, and oppress people who had been respected by us, then the office of the Peshwa would not remain with you permanently.’ Informing everybody thus, Chhatrapati Shahu Maharaj applied ritual ash on his arms and sides, wore the garland of Rudraksh beads, lay down a white blanket over a bed of straw, chanted Lord Shriram’s name and the words ‘Shiva Har Har’ eleven times, stopped his breath, and went to his heavenly abode, on the above-mentioned date, in the royal mansion, at Satara.”
This overall event proves that Shahu finalised whatever he felt was the best possible arrangement in relation to the future system, and then laid down his life. He suspected that Sakwarbai etc. people would begin a dispute at the end. Therefore, he decided that Ramraja should be brought to the throne after him. Otherwise, at the time of his death, the capital would have been torn between two warring factions. The Peshwa desired to remove the dissension between the two halves of the kingdom by bringing Sambhaji II to the throne. It did not succeed due to the above arrangement. In all this, Tarabai tactfully succeeded in her plan. It turned out to be harmful for the kingdom later. Sambhaji II’s capability was also not much to write home about. So, one cannot say that his prowess would have shined brighter than that of Ramraja. The Peshwa did not think twice before satisfying Tarabai as well. It was not as if the Peshwa intentionally brought an incapable person on the throne and captured all the power for himself. It was clear that the benefit of the kingdom and the Peshwa himself lay in having a capable person as the master. Chitnis and the Peshwa worked together and protected the kingdom. Sakwarbai had begun troubling Chitnis, but the Peshwa supported him through that. Shahu had thought about adopting Raghuji’s son Mudhoji. He was Queen Sagunabai’s cousin’s son. His character was revealed later in the history of Nagpur. It shows clearly that he too did not have the capability to take care of the Marathi kingdom. This way, Shahu’s reign came to an end and a new revolution was brought in the Maratha Empire.
To be continued…
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