PORTUGUESE ANGLE

The news of the fall of Madras to the French reached Nanasaheb, who had to be in attendance to Shahu at Satara. He wrote to Pilaji Jadhavrao on 9 December 1746, that the French were likely to attack the British on the west coast at Mumbai and then, even the Maratha posts of Vasai or Versova, “In the Carnatic the Firangis (French) attacked and took the place of the British. Anwaruddin Khan sent an army, but this was also given a thrashing. They took a few more places. This means they might attack Mumbai or even Vasai and Vesave (Versova). Hence, I am sending you there. In Vasai, you can put wet wood with a little mud around the fort, do not send the horsemen to fight. You are aware of the powerful artillery of the Firangis. Versova is vulnerable to fire from ships, so strengthen it with brave soldiers. Our guns should fire at the ships, they may not be able to stand it. Once Sardars like you are there, the enemy will not be able to approach. I am sending (Sadashivrao) Bhau on a campaign to the Carnatic to distract the Firangis. I had written in the past that you should accompany Bhau. However, you are required at Vasai at this time… in the past the Firangi British had attacked Khanderi, but they were beaten back as the fort was manned by the brave.”

The moment Shahu dispatched Sadashivrao to the Carnatic, Naik got angry and began venting out his frustrations in front of Shahu. On 7 February 1747 a report read, “Babuji Naik is at Satara. He did not complete the ritual feast. The thinking is, present Rajashree with the feast, complete the ritual, and only then embark on the campaign. In Bhau’s campaign, there are twenty-thousand men. The moment Rajashree asked, where Naik would leave for after seeking farewell, Yamajipant informed, he would go towards the provinces of Shire, Chitradurga, Rajadurga, Harpanhalli. Upon hearing this, Rajashree said, ‘Let us see what happens.’”

We get information from Portuguese correspondence of the time about what was at stake. A letter from Goa to the Secretary of State in Portugal in February 1747, discusses a possible Maratha attack on their post at Daman. The Viceroy also asked for troops to attack Vasai but found that Nanasaheb had already sent additional troops to defend the place, “Nana has been detained in the court of Satara for more than a year now. It is learnt that Shahu was scared of him in his Pune court and wanted, therefore, to keep him away from the said court and near to that of Satara to watch him more closely, on account of the jealousy and caution that originated from his power. The junior and senior queens, wives of Shahu, had great animosity with Nana because of the dispute of some lands that the queens wished to gift to one of their persons. Nana was unyieldingly opposed to that gift. Nana began to corrupt the ministers of the Satara court by payment of money. He bribed all the maids of the queens with large sums of money and finally corrupted Shahu himself with very rich presents. He succeeded and planned everything according to his desire.”

Nanasaheb’s own letter of 22 February 1747 gives us his impressions of the matter. The Peshwa wrote to Ramchandrababa that he wished to restore the forts captured from Bhosales of Sawantwadi. However, at this time, it was not possible and the Firangis were not willing to do so. “The Firangi is untrustworthy, he must be taught a lesson, but it is not possible at the present time. We are, therefore, heading towards Bednoor.” This did not, however, prevent the Peshwa from providing the Bhosales with monetary support.

Nanasaheb was, for the Portuguese, the prime mover in the Maratha state. Many of their letters are written with an embedded animosity for the Peshwa. The letter further discusses the other ministers of the court, “Shripatrao (Pratinidhi), Minister of Shahu and enemy of Nana died. Naro Ram, another minister, has reached the decrepit age of eighty. The lone minister, young and intrepid, is Nana now. He has huge forces and a large amount of money. He can soon be master of the entire dominion of Shahu as well as that of Sambhaji II, which, put together will constitute a formidable potency.”

The Peshwa had been at Satara for over a year and a half. In Shahu’s court, Mahadoba Purandare was a partisan, however, Govindrao Chitnis, who had the king’s ear, was considered capable of an independent opinion. Govindrao played a vital role during this time to sound Maharaj about the real state of affairs.

To be continued…

ANJANVEL & GOVALKOT

In a letter dated 11 March 1745, Tulaji wrote, “Rajashree Yesaji Bhosale had planned to get down the Ghats beneath Mahimatgad along with his force, and harm us. So, you wrote that Rajashree Swami and revered mother Baisaheb had dispatched Rajashree Banba to bring Yesaji Bhosale to them. We understand what he would do coming here. Those coming here should have thought what would be the effect and how they would survive. If they decided to come even after this, then our policy of respect must be changed to disrespect. It was good that the Swami turned his forces around. Whoever tries to move a muscle here, would be defeated.”

The British had written to Nanasaheb on 15 January 1745 laying their grievance about Tulaji before the Peshwa, “You cannot but be sensible to the robberies and injuries Tulaji and his predecessors have committed upon the Honourable British Company and those under their protection to the amount of an immense sum which naturally obliges me to take all opportunities of distressing him.”

The letter further gives the importance of Anjanvel for the Marathas and the Peshwa’s own trade from inland territories, since that was the main route by which the British brought and sent goods inland. The route would close once Anjanvel fell into Tulaji’s hands, and the Peshwa would lose revenue, “The port of Anjanvel is to be wished in any hands than Tulaji, in being the only one left which has greatly contributed to the increase of your revenue and consequently the enriching of your dominions.”

Capturing the Govalkot and Anjanvel forts from the Siddis became an important objective for Shahu. He urged his Peshwa to write to his good friends at Bombay, to desist from helping the Siddis, so that Tulaji could take the forts. Taking into consideration the strained relations with Tulaji, Nanasaheb wrote a rather roundabout letter to the British on 18 January 1745 transmitting his sovereign’s request, “Your Honour already knows it is the Raja’s order that Anjanvel and Govalkot should be taken. He has now directed Tulaji Angre to besiege both places, but as he considers Tulaji and you are at variance, and that you may molest his fleet, he orders me to write Your Honour not to do so, or to succour the Siddis, to this purpose; I have before written to you and now do the like. Angre now besieges those places, therefore. I desire you will consider of what I now write you, and as you know what will increase our friendship, you will act accordingly about this business. I have given orders to Tukaram and he will inform Your Honour…”

Later, Maharaj granted the office of Sarkhel to Tulaji, gave him one of the contingents of Fatehsingh Bhosale, and asked Jiwaji Khanderao Chitnis along with the force, provisions and treasury to accompany him. On 23 January 1745, Govalkot and Anjanvel were captured by Tulaji, and he himself wrote the account for the same on 27 January 1745 as follows, “To Rajashree Balaji Raghunath Gosavi, Sarkhel Rajashree Tulaji Angre presents his wishes. We had besieged Anjanvel, and on the second day of the waxing moon fortnight of the month of Magha, Monday, I myself boarded the naval ship, while also attacking the fort from the landward side along with the whole army, we captured it two hours in the day. Writing this for your information. The moment the news about Anjanvel’s fall reached Siddi Yakut at Govalkot, he ran away with ten of his men. The people who had been left behind, tried to entice some of Chiplun’s soldiery to their side, and had acquired their standard and men from that fortress. We had dispatched our navy over Govalkot. They sent one gentleman for negotiations with message, that their act of flying our standard was fine, but take our two hundred men inside the fort. They shouted from the top of the fort disallowing them to approach it. They also opened up a right barrage of cannon- and gunfire over our men. Due to that, five to ten of our men were injured. But they attacked the fort in the afternoon. Thirteen to fourteen hundred men attacked from the water as well. Govalkot was also captured on the Thursday. Writing this satisfactory news for your information. You are our representative at the court. Keep writing about the happenings at court regularly. What more to write about this. Keep your benevolent eye upon us.” Balaji Raghunath Vaidya was Tulaji’s representative kept at Shahu’s court at Satara. This letter was written to him on 25 January 1745.

A happy Shahu congratulated Tulaji and renamed the forts as Gopalgad and Govindgad. The capture finally confirmed Tulaji’s appointment as the Sarkhel of the Maratha fleet.

To be continued…

ANGLO-MARATHA ALLIANCE

The defeat of the Portuguese at Vasai in May 1739 at the hands of the Marathas, led to their territories shrinking to Goa and a few outposts. The forts of Korlai and Chaul held by them were south of Colaba and had a garrison of eight hundred men. However, given their weak position, the Portuguese decided not to retain possession of these and wrote to the British whether they would be willing to take over Chaul and Korlai. The British discussed this offer of the Portuguese Viceroy and wrote back that rather than allow Manaji to get the possession of these strongholds, and the Siddis being too weak to be able to hold them, they should be offered to Shahu. The British refused to take over the forts saying, “Our situation is now so dangerous, as lays upon us a necessity to keep measures with these new neighbours, who would immediately be alarmed with jealousies on our application to the Shahuraja’s court.”

They concluded, “So that there remains no choice but the Marathas, whose effects are already so powerful that the reduction of the whole coast to their obedience seems infallible and sooner or later they cannot fail to get possession of these forts.”

The Marathas at Sashti, only across a narrow strip of water from Bombay, were thus considered such a threat that they did not wish to excite the suspicions of Bajirao and Chimaji by taking over these forts. The Portuguese signed a treaty with the Marathas thereafter, by which the forts of Chaul and Korlai would be handed over to them.

Eventually, it was Sambhaji’s battle with Manaji that did the greatest harm to the power of the Angres as well as the Maratha Navy. In early 1740, when Bajirao and Chimaji Appa were near Aurangabad fighting Naseer Jung, Sambhaji once again made a bid to capture Colaba. To save Manaji, Nanasaheb and Chimaji came to the Konkan, as did Captain Inchbird from Bombay. Sambhaji’s fleet was caught between the Maratha land forces and the British fleet, however, Nanasaheb did not accept the British offer to close the issue and allowed Sambhaji to withdraw.

Nanasaheb did, however, imprison Sambhaji’s brother Tulaji Angre, and carried him off to Pune in chains. Sambhaji Angre, a devotee of Brahmendra Swami, requested him to obtain Tulaji’s release. The Swami assured him that he will get it done and wrote to Chimaji and Nanasaheb. The Swami’s request was complied by Chimaji Appa, who wrote, “You have ordered that I should remove the shackles of Tulaji Angre. So, I have written and it is done.”

Nanasaheb too wrote to the Swami, “There is nothing more to me than your order. I have already brought Tulaji to Pune and broken his shackles.”

Manaji was saved from Sambhaji in April 1740, but the loss of Karanje and Elephanta island to the Peshwa’s army stung him. He felt that the growing power of the Peshwa would soon overwhelm him. He, therefore, patched up with Sambhaji.

With distant campaigns to the south, the north, and the east, the Marathas spread across the Indian land mass in the next two years. Sambhaji’s activities in the south Konkan from his stronghold at Vijaydurg contined, while Manaji stayed at Colaba. Captain Inchbird – the most experienced British diplomat who was well-versed with native customs and language – supported a treaty with the Peshwa against Sambhaji. On 16 May 1740, he submitted his report to the Board at the fort of Bombay, “The Marathas are so jealous of Sambhaji’s power and so many hostilities have already passed between them, that they are bent upon reducing him and will in all probability attack him as soon as a proper season will allow of the entering upon action. Chimaji having at present retreated with his forces up country to secure his family interest and succession on Bajirao’s death. They have been likewise very pressing to gain a declaration of our intentions in case of their attacking Sambhaji Angre whether we will assist them with our fleet or not.

“The Board are unanimously of the opinion that in our present situation and state of war with Sambhaji Angre and the little prospect there is of bringing him to any reasonable terms of peace, we cannot do better than embrace the Maratha party, and assist them in any expedition against him.”

At this time, the British were close friends of the Maratha power. They were also united in their opposition to Sambhaji. In separate letters Shahu wrote to the Peshwa and Chimaji that he trusts them and that “they behave with loyalty”. The talk of a combined Anglo-Maratha force attacking Vijaydurg thus began as early as 1740. It was Bajirao and Chimaji’s death in that year that delayed this measure by over a decade.

To be continued…

CAPTURE OF DERBY

The Derby was attacked on 26 December 1735. An entire day, from six in the morning to five in the evening, had been spent in capturing it, taking down one mast, then another, firing shots into the main body of the ship, until she lay immobile in the water. Then, the British crew surrendered and Angre’s men boarded the captured vessel. A further letter from Captain Abraham Anselone, the ship’s captain said to Bombay, “Seven of our men were killed, five more their legs shot off and many other wounded. There is 115 of us now prisoners with Angres. He seems to insist on peace of no (release?) for us…”

The ship was later taken to Vijaydurg, and the crew sent to prison. British authorities at Bombay began negotiations, however, Sambhaji did not budge.

In April 1736, a royal envoy named Raghuji Rajwada went to meet Sambhaji Angre to convince him to cooperate with Shahu, who was keen to win the Govalkot and Anjanvel forts. He wrote to Chimaji Appa about what transpired in the meeting. “The Sarkhel answered that, ‘the Swami has done good for us! He engaged us for a year saying he will give Colaba, but there is no fruit. Meanwhile, Siddi Saat said to me that in my interest we should help each other. We should defeat the siege at Govalkot fort. He has promised to win Colaba for me. I will act accordingly.’”

Sambhaji not only justified his alliance with the Siddis, but questioned Shahu’s claim on the Konkan. Raghuji Rajwada reported his conversation, “’What has Rajashree (Shahu) got to do in the Konkan? Half is the Shamal’s (Siddi), half is ours, why are you quarrelling here?’ Raghuji asked him, ‘Who gave you the Konkan?’ To this, Sambhaji answered, ‘It was given to me by God.’ (Raghuji asked) ‘But are you not a servant?’ Sambhaji replied, ‘We are rebels, what are you going to do about it?’”

Seeing Sambhaji aligning with Siddi Saat, Raghuji made his recommendation: “If Siddi Saat is sunk, half of Sambhaji Angre’s intoxicated arrogance will disappear.”

Siddi Saat made good his promise to Sambhaji and advanced north to attack Manaji near Colaba. He attacked Maratha forts, and put to the sword the entire Maratha garrison at the fort of Rewas. Hearing this, Chimaji Appa rapidly descended into the Konkan and in a seminal battle at Kamarle, near Sagargad, Siddi Saat was killed and the power of the Siddis was broken.

The death of Siddi Saat was a major triumph for Chimaji. There was a lull in the quest to capture Colaba. Three years would pass before Sambhaji would come back to attack Manaji.

After nearly a year, in November 1736, Captain James Inchbird visited Vijaydurg and met Sambhaji. A strong armada comprising six British warships came to Vijaydurg harbour. However, no agreement could be reached. When Sambhaji’s chief minister, Visajipant, came aboard the British vessel to negotiate, Inchbird refused to let him go until all the British prisoners were released. Inchbird finally agreed to come ashore and meet Sambhaji (after he had taken some hostages as security) and made a visit to Vijaydurg, where he was well-received and even taken around the fort. Eventually, a treaty was signed, and the crew returned to Bombay.

Significantly, Sambhaji’s proposed treaty contained some interesting clauses, two of which assert that he considered Shahu as a Master, but the Siddi and the Portuguese as his friends:

1. To the end that Colaba may be delivered up to me, I insist upon your going down with your fleet, to put me into perfect possession of the same.
2. As I am obliged to obey the Shahuraja, my Master, in order to please him, I must feign an attack against the Siddis with my own fleet.
3. That I look upon the Portuguese and Siddis as my friends, but if any difference should happen to arise, the British shall stand neutral.

The Derby seaman who wrote of the ship’s capture had this editorial comment about Sambhaji’s strategy, “Sambhaji now thought he was assured he had got his ends, and tells Inchbird, ‘I have now,’ says he, ‘made peace with the British of Bombay,’ and so made solemn protestation against those that broke it first; that he did not care for the Shahuraja, nor the Bajirao…”

The Derby affair of 1735 and the long-drawn negotiations for the release of its crew is an example of Sambhaji’s practice and his policy. The Vijaydurg Sardar’s relations with the Peshwa remained rocky with outward civility coupled with inner hostility. As for Shahu, he chose to appear loyal, without actually helping him.

The release of the crew did not end the war between Sambhaji and the British and there were skirmishes at sea until 1739. Manaji had similar encounters with the British near Colaba. The British too brought warhips from Mocha to blockade Angre’s ports. Periodically, there were letters seeking a reconciliation. However, both sides knew their offers of peace were a kind of subterfuge. The British and Angre, therefore, remained on their guard at all times. Sambhaji was careful in the selection of the ships to attack and usually steered clear of any armed fleet. Indeed, the British navy was unable to ply with any assurance of safety owing to sudden attacks by Angre.

To be continued…

SAMBHAJI VS MANAJI

The relations between the Peshwas and the Sarkhel were on a downswing since 1733. At that time, it was the failure to secure help from Sambhaji Angre that forced Bajirao to abandon the campaign against Janjira. Sambhaji felt that as the newly appointed Sarkhel, it was his right to have Colaba under his charge. However, Manaji was reluctant to be subservient to Sambhaji. Sambhaji attacked Colaba, therefore, and Manaji fled to Revdanda fort further south. Lakshmibai Angre, Kanhoji’s widow, complained of Sambhaji’s actions to Shahu, “Chiranjeev came from Vijaydurg to Colaba, he spoke ill to me and Manaji, I was driven out and he decided to take Manaji’s life. On hearing this, early morning he fled to Revdanda.”

Sambhaji followed Manaji to the fort of Revdanda, and once again he had to flee. Manaji was in dire financial straits, which is reflected in the letters he wrote to moneylenders at Alibaug, seeking small loans for himself. At this time, Sambhaji too wrote to Bajirao (in December 1734), seeking a personal meeting and mediation to resolve the domestic dispute between the two brothers. In 1735, Bajirao brokered a peace between Manaji and Sambhaji. A division of assets between the two brothers was planned. Manaji was designated as the Wajaratmab and given control over Colaba, while Sambhaji was given Suvarnadurg and Vijaydurg forts. The brokered agreement, however, did nothing to soothe Sambhaji’s desire to be the sole master of the Angre Navy. In fact, it achieved quite the opposite.

After a year of cooperation with Shahu and trying to capture the Siddi’s fort of Govalkot and Anjanvel, Sambhaji once again tried to capture Colaba. Seeing the strength of the Peshwa’s land forces and his support to Manaji, Sambhaji made common cause with the Siddis of Janjira, at that time the arch enemy of the Marathas, on the west coast. Several letters testify to this alignment. Nanasaheb, who was in Satara, wrote to Chimaji Appa and mentioned Chhatrapati Shahu’s letter to Sambhaji, “The Rajashree Swami has written to the Sarkhel (that), ‘we have heard that you plan to give forts Mandangad and Vijaydurg to the Shamal (an alternative name for the Siddis due to their dark skin) and sign a treaty with him; what is this? Your father served us loyally at so many places and you are his son. Is it possible for you to do such a thing? Henceforth, do not entertain such thoughts and protect and reinforce the places in your charge.’”

Eventually, Sambhaji Angre did join forces with the Siddis. A letter from the Maratha Subedar Ramaji Mahadev Biwalkar to Chimaji Appa on 23 December 1735 said, “The Shamal (Siddi Saat) and Sarkhel have come to an agreement. They have a joint Chowki at Kelshi (a village in Konkan) and their officers collect dues jointly. They have sent robes of honour to each other.”

Sambhaji Angre’s fleet was indeed powerful, and his exploits at sea could not be checked by the British or the Dutch. In December 1735, a British ship named ‘Derby’, that did not carry his passport was attacked and captured. It was brought to Suvarnadurg and its cargo removed to compensate for the payment. The crew was kept in prison and the British at Bombay had to negotiate for their release.

Sambhaji’s method of capture of the Derby is graphically described by one of the sailors on board the Derby, and gives us an idea of the Maratha mode of naval warfare, using their smaller, swifter ships against larger ships carrying larger ordnance, “About six in the morning, the enemy fired upon us, which was returned, everybody being in their Quarters according to the Quarter-Bill fix’d at the Mizzen-mast (the aft-most mast in a two or three mast ship; it is shorter than the main mast). We kept continual firing, and finding they kept under our stern, cut away our Transome (the flat part of the ship at the stern that is above the water) and Balcony, for the more convenient traversing our stern guns. The Captain proposed putting the ship about; I being in the Waist, and having everything ready, heard that there was an objection made thereto, so stood Head to Sea. About eight o’clock they destroyed most of our rigging. We got our men to splice our rigging; and clap stoppers on, but was shot away as fast as repaired. By ten o’clock the Mizzen-mast was shot by the board, having so little wind, could not make the ship answer her helm. Our long-boat catching fire, cut her away; our Yaul (a two-mast ship) at the same time being shot down upon deck, hove her over boar. At one, the main-mast went. At the same time, two double-headed shots came into the Bread-room between wind and water, one under the Chesstree – the ship at the same time having two-foot water; and tho’ proper endeavours were taken to stop the leaks yet made a great deal of water. Had two double-headed shot and a large stone in the Fore-mast, which damaged it so much, we deemed it incapable of service.

“Our ship lying all the time of the engagement, like a log in the water, not having any wind to command her, he (Captain) thought proper to consult with his officers what would, or could be done, telling them that we might fight an hour or two longer, but it would be to no purpose. That he was persuaded the enemy would not leave us, since they had shot away all our masts and that it was impossible for us to get clear of them, and that by contending longer, would be only murdering our mem. Therefore, by 4 or 5 o’clock in the evening, the Captain and the officers jointly agreed to surrender the ship. Accordingly, she was surrendered, and the enemy came aboard us.”

To be continued…

ANGRE BROTHERS’ DISPUTE

Robert Orme gives a similar description for the Galbats: The gallivats are large row-boats built like the grab, but of smaller dimensions, the largest rarely exceeding 70 tonnes. They have two masts, of which the mizzen is very slight; the mainmast bears only one sail, which is triangular and very large… In general, the gallivats are covered with a spar deck, made for lightness of bamboos, split; and those only carry petteraroes fixed on swivels in the gunnel of the vessel; but those of the largest size have a fixed deck, on which they mount six or eight pieces of cannon from two to four pounders. They have forty or fifty stout oars and may be rowed four miles an hour.

The Ghurabs were between a hundred and fifty to three hundred tonnes, and broad, narrowing from the middle forwards. They had somewhat larger guns of nine to twelve pounders in the front of the ship as well as on the sides.

Over time, Kanhoji grew in strength and stature and became one of the important Sardars in the administration of Chhatrapati Rajaram, and after his death in 1700, in the reign of his wife Tarabai. Kanhoji later signed a treaty with Balaji Vishwanath Peshwa, promising allegiance to Shahu and obtaining support from the Maratha army when he was threatened by the Portuguese, the Dutch and the British – each of who maintained a sizeable presence on the Konkan coast.

In 1721, ships of the Royal Navy under Commander Matthews came to India. Charles Boone, the Governor of Bombay, once again tried to put down Kanhoji along with Portuguese help. This would not be the first, nor the last time that the Royal Navy joined forces of the East India Company, which at times appears to have the support of the British Government in attacking territories in India and during crucial battles. The major battles that the Company later on won, were with the aid of the British Army and Royal Navy. At this time, Bajirao Peshwa, with an army of six thousand men foiled the attempt. Even as Matthews landed near Colaba to observe the Maratha force, a horseman rode up from behind and injured him with a lance. The defending Portuguese were scattered to the winds by Bajirao and Pilaji Jadhav, while the British were still trying to clamber up the walls of Colaba. A treaty was first signed with the Portuguese at that time. However, the British kept having skirmishes at sea with the Angres.

Kanhoji sent a proposal for peace to the British at Bombay but was rebuffed and called a ‘pirate’. Kanhoji replied, “It little behoves merchants to say that his government was supported by violence, insults, and piracies; for the great Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj founded his kingdom by making war against four kings; and that he himself (Kanhoji) was but his humble disciple; and that he was very willing to favour the merchants trading according to the laws of his country.”

A treaty was eventually signed with the British in 1725, with an exchange of prisoners. The death of Sarkhel Kanhoji Angre in 1729, left his six sons a stirring legacy to live up to. The six children from Kanhoji’s three wives were Sekhoji & Sambhaji, Manaji & Tulaji, Dhondji & Yesaji or Appaji. Sekhoji was the eldest and succeeded his father as the Sarkhel. Sambhaji and Tulaji were then at Vijaydurg while Manaji and the two other brothers stayed at Colaba, which was Kanhoji’s chief base, south of Bombay. The Angres and the Maratha power on the Deccan plateau were in a way complementary to each other, and until the sons of Kanhoji were united, they could guide the destiny of the kingdom. The rivalry amongst the sons of Kanhoji Angre had festered since 1729, when the patriarch died. As long as Sekhoji was in charge, he managed to keep a lid on it.

Sekhoji and Bajirao cooperated in the 1733 campaign against the Siddi of Janjira and captured most of the Siddi’s territory by August that year. In June 1733, Sekhoji had to withdraw from the campaign against the Siddi. Almost apologetically, he wrote to Bajirao, “When you are in the midst of a campaign, to come away is not fair. However, what does one do about disputes in the house?”

Their combined effort by land and sea against Janjira could have succeeded, had Sekhoji not succumbed to a short illness in August 1733. On Sekhoji’s death, Sambhaji was appointed the Sarkhel. However, his brother Manaji at Colaba contested the appointment and Sambhaji insisted on getting possession of the fort of Colaba, which was Kanhoji’s capital. The seeds of future dissension between them were sown at this time.

The eighteenth century, true to its feudal character, saw internecine family feuds over succession. The Angre family rivalry for the next two decades on the west coast, eventually damaged the strength of a unified Maratha naval wing. Without Sekhoji’s moderating influence, the dispute was now out in the open. Sambhaji had his base at the southern coastal fort of Vijaydurg, popularly called Gheria by the Europeans, and he had not joined Shahu and Bajirao’s battle against the Siddis in 1733. As the Siddi obtained help from the British, Janjira could not be captured. After Sekhoji’s death, Bajirao had to come to terms with the survival of the Siddis and return to Pune.

To be continued…

FALSE ‘PIRACY’ CHARGE

Piracy along the west coast was practised by the men from the Malabar, Gujarat, as well as Europeans for long. The events of 1685 when two Gujarati merchants returning from Mocha laden with goods were robbed on the high seas sent all of Surat into a tizzy. The British Topikars (those who wore hats) were suspected and Aurangzeb launched a war on the British, who took shelter on the islands on the sea where no Mughal could reach them. The four-year war between them from 1687 led to the British attacking all Mughal merchant ships plying in the Arabian Sea. Soon, even American pirates sailed from the Caribbean to the Indian Ocean region, with the Danes plying in the Persian Gulf.

Although a truce was called in 1690, piracy did not cease. In 1690, after Sambhajiraje was captured and killed by Aurangzeb, the Maratha Navy was practically taken over by the Siddis, and save the sea-fort of Colaba, held by Kanhoji Angre, the rest of the Maratha territory, including their capital Raigad was taken by the Mughals.

In 1692, some Englishmen landed at the port of Mangrol, near Junagadh, and began to sell goods at a suspiciously cheap rate. The townspeople lulled them by an offer of a feast and informed the local Governor, who sent them in chains to Agra. An order was passed whereby all European commerce was to be stopped at Mughal ports. There remained, of course, a strong British presence among pirates, and the name of Captain Kidd comes down to us as one of the prominent ones among them.

Despite the stoppage of commerce, in an incident in 1695, Aurangzeb’s own ship Ganz-i-Sawaiee was taken by British pirates with all its goods, and several Muslim ladies travelling on it were dishonoured. Once again, a ban on all commerce at Surat was ordered. As a consequence, a new system where ships were escorted by armed vessels of the French and the Dutch began. The system did not last long, however, as the Mughals stood aloof from the new arrangements. Eventually, the Dutch protested and left Surat for Batavia.

With fluid political boundaries, slow transmission of orders, and loose administrative control in the eighteenth-century India, each Sardar had a certain degree of autonomy within the territory allotted to him.

Sidhoji Gujar and Kanhoji Angre were one of the first Maratha Sardars of the Navy. Kanhoji succeeded Sidhoji Gujar around 1698. Kanhoji’s father Tukoji Sankpal had been one of the first to join the Maratha navy in 1658 and begun his career at the island fort of Suvarnadurg. The name of Angre came from his ancestral village Angarwadi near Pune. In his days at Suvarnadurg, Kanhoji first crossed swords with the Siddis and was captured. However, he escaped and went back to the fort, foiling the Siddis’ attempt to take it.

Kanhoji’s chief aim was to oppose the Siddis and claim the coastal waters of the Maratha territory as his jurisdiction. He, therefore, insisted that passage through these waters would need his permission. Kanhoji built a strong navy and led attacks on the Portuguese and the Siddis, as well as British ships that did not carry his passport. In case such a pass was not obtained by the ships, they were boarded, and their goods confiscated. The Europeans refused to obtain a passport from Angre and called his acts ‘piracy’. Kanhoji, therefore, became a common enemy for the Siddis and the Europeans.

Kanhoji’s ships were the larger Pals, the Shibad, the Machwa, the Galbat, and the Ghurab. Of these, the Ghurab was the chief, supported by the smaller Galbats which were essentially row-boats that towed the larger ships to the sea.

Ghurabs or Grabs have rarely more than two masts, although some have three; those of three are about 300 tonnes burden; but the others are not more than 150; they are built to draw very little water, being very broad in proportion to their length, narrowing, however, from the middle to the ends, where instead of bows they have a prow, projecting like that of a Mediterranean galley. The grabs carried a number of guns, two of them from nine to twelve pounders, placed on the main deck so as to fire through portholes over the prow, and the rest usually six to nine pounders fitted to give a broadside.

Galbat or Gallivat – a large row-boat of about seventy tonnes, much used in the shallows on the coast of Hindustan from Bombay to Goa; as they are frequently used by pirates, they are constructed so as to carry six or eight large cannon, beside petteraroes (a small gun); which are furnished with forty or fifty stout oars, by which means they are rowed at the rate of four miles an hour. They will carry from two to three hundred men in each, who fight and row by turns.

To be continued…

WESTERN COAST

The Arabs and the Maratha coastal seafarers were perhaps the last to enter the lucrative business of attacking ships with goods for easy money. The Arabs and the Portuguese fought many wars, and once the Arabs even attacked Diu. The anarchic conditions in the second half of the seventeenth century extended to the provinces of Bengal and Bihar, where Mughal Governors came down heavily on the Europeans.

The Marathas were one of the few seafaring people in India who assembled a fleet of warships. The long Indian coastline was difficult to guard and in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, the arrival of the Portuguese, the Dutch, the British, and the French led to a chain of ports used by the trading companies, from Chandernagore in Bengal to the ports of Gujarat. The lucrative trade in Indian cotton, silk, pepper, and the market for European goods in India, brought European companies to Indian shores either by acts of Parliament as in the case of England, or through companies managed by the king, as in the case of the French or the Portuguese. Bit by bit, these early adventurers who voyaged over huge distances across uncharted seas, surviving shipwrecks and disease, came to India to make big fortunes through trade. The entire East was open for trade and the goods brought huge profits back home in Europe.

Bit by bit, the Europeans began to build factories and forts, and imported guns to defend themselves. Later, they were drawn into local conflicts, as in the Carnatic. On India’s western coast, the Portuguese were the first and the most pre-eminent of the seafarers and demanded that anybody plying the sea needed to obtain a passport, or cartez, from them. Gradually, this was challenged, and the British and the Dutch began to ply their ships without a Portuguese cartez.

In the seventeenth century, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj founded his Swarajya and gave a clarion call that the rule of the Bahmani Sultans or the Mughals was anything but ‘self-rule’ and in fact, a period of bondage. The Swarajya of Shivaji Maharaj was etched out from his patrimony in Pune and enlarged to the Konkan coast in 1658, when he captured the town of Kalyan. Here, in the inland waterway of that town, he hired a Portuguese father-and-son surnamed Viegas and some more of their creed to build the first Maratha warships. The Portuguese at Goa did not look kindly at this, and soon asked their countrymen to withdraw. By then, the Marathas had learnt the basics of ship-building. The Maratha Navy was, therefore, founded in 1659. The purpose of the Navy, besides defence, was to protect the merchant vessels that travelled across the Arabian Sea to littoral states. After 1664, many coastal forts were built that gave the Maratha navy safe harbours. The role of the British at Bombay was recognised for the value they brought to goods produced in the Maratha country. Their transgressions were kept in check and from time to time, when they supported either the Mughals or the Sultan of Bijapur, they were punished.

The Navy grew over the next twenty years, and Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj is known to have gone by the sea to attack the port of Basnoor in the Bijapur kingdom in the 1670s. The names of the first captains of the navy that come down to us are men like Daryasarang, Maynak Bhandari, and Daulat Khan. Besides the Portuguese, there were the Siddis or Habshis (Abyssinians) – and these men came from Abyssinia and joined the Bijapur kingdom. They held many sea forts, of which the chief was the island of Janjira. The Habshis had acquired sufficient strength to rule over a contiguous piece of land in the Konkan, and along with the Portuguese, indulged in religious oppression of the local populace. Maratha rule over Konkan could only be secured provided the Siddi, the most powerful of the rulers there, be adequately controlled. Without a navy, this was difficult. Sir Jadunath Sarkar writes, “Without a navy, his subjects on the sea-coast and for some distance inland would remain exposed to plunder, enslavement, and slaughter at the hands of the Abyssinian pirates.”

The naval arm of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj was thus necessary to check these foreign elements. Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj did not just build ships, but many forts along the coast, chief of these were at Colaba, Vijaydurg, and Sindhudurg. On islands near Mumbai, Goa, and Janjira, he erected forts like Padmadurg, Suvarnadurg, and Khanderi to threaten the alien powers. The Maratha navy could boast of two to three hundred ships with six to eighteen guns each. These small ships were easy to manoeuvre and to navigate, some with two masts and larger ships with three masts. Their speed and manoeuvrability gave them an edge over the well-armed larger ships of the Europeans.

After 1680, Sambhajiraje, the son and successor of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, spent many years battling the Siddis and the Portuguese on the Konkan strip. After the Bijapur kingdom was extinguished by Aurangzeb in 1685, the Habshis went over to the Mughals.

To be continued…

CHRONOLOGY – BALAJI VISHWANATH

A brief timeline that can be drawn for the beginning of the Peshwa era as follows.

Date	Events
Around 1660	Balaji Vishwanath born.
18 May 1682	Shahu born in Konkan near Raigad.
3 November 1689	Shahu falls into Badshah’s captivity.
9 June 1696	Tarabai’s son Shivaji II born.
23 May 1698	Rajasbai’s son Sambhaji II born.
20 February 1707	Aurangzeb dies at Ahmednagar.
5 March 1707	Azamshah assumes throne.
13 March 1707	Azamshah grants protocol robes to Shahu.
4 May 1707	Azamshah arrives at Sironj.
8 May 1707	Shahu returns to Deccan from the Doraha halt. Ambu Pande joins him. Beejagad’s Mohan Singh helps Shahu. Halt for some time at Lambkani. Parsoji Bhosale joins him there.
8 June 1707	Azamshah killed in succession battle and Bahadurshah ascends the throne.
August / September 1707	Shahu arrives at Ahmednagar. Tarabai declares ‘Shahu not rightful heir’.
4 October 1707	Shahu sacks Aurangabad.
12 October 1707	Battle of Khed – Shahu emerges victorious. Dhanaji Jadhav joins Shahu. Balaji Vishwanath follows suit.
27 October 1707	Shahu acquires Rohida, Rajgad, Prachandagad, Vichitragad.
1 January 1708	Shahu takes Satara.
12 January 1708	Shahu coronated.
28 February 1708	Tarabai writes to Khem Sawant.
March-June 1708	Rangna Campaign, Shahu beats retreat.
27 June 1708	Dhanaji Jadhav dies.
20 November 1708	Balaji assumes ‘Senakarta’ office. Bahadurshah arrives in Deccan.
3 January 1709	Kaambaksh defeated and dies.
23 March 1709	Kanhoji Angre writes to Shahu, gets Sarkhel office.
May 1709	Badshah confers protocol robes on Shahu at Ahmednagar.
23 August 1709	Raibhanji Bhosale dies.
1710	Parsoji Bhosale dies.
17 August 1711	Chandrasen’s revolt. Joins Tarabai. Changes side to Daud Khan Panni.
21 August 1711	Balaji conferred upon the benefice of twenty-five lakh rupees.
1 October 1711	Santaji Jadhav assumes ‘Senapati’ office.
20 November 1711	Parashurampant Pratinidhi arrested.
2 December 1711	Khatawkar’s revolt broken.
December 1711	Kanhoji Angre joins Tarabai.
1712-1714	Mansinghrao More as ‘Senapati’. Thorat initially joins Tarabai and then the Mughals.
17 February 1712	Bahadurshah dies.
19 January 1713	Jahandarshah dies.
February 1713	Nizam-ul-Mulk made the Subedar of Deccan.
17 November 1713	Balaji Vishwanath gets the protocol robes of the office of the Peshwa at Manjri.
8 February 1714	Balaji meets Angre and Treaty.
July 1714	Tarabai and Shivaji II arrested. Rajasbai and Sambhaji II set up Kolhapur seat.
July 1714	Sawai Jaisingh made Subedar of Malwa.
1715	Rambhaji Nimbalkar joins the Nizam.
30 January 1715	Siddi surrenders and enters into treaty with the Peshwa.
25 March 1715	Shahu and Kanhoji meet at Jejuri.
19 November 1715	Ramchandrapant Amatya pens down ‘Aadnyapatre’.
26 December 1715	Charles Boone made President at Mumbai.
May 1715-November 1718	Sayyed Hussein Ali made Subedar of Deccan.
December 1718-August 1720	Aalam Ali made Subedar of Deccan.
August 1720-January 1722	Nizam-ul-Mulk made Subedar of Deccan.
1, 2 April 1715	Dabhade and Kanhoji Bhosale enter Malwa. Depalpur destroyed. Another contingent at Kampel.
10 May 1715	Marathas defeated in Malwa. Jaisingh congratulated.
26 August 1715	Daud Khan and Sayyed Hussein Ali fight at Burhanpur. Daud Khan falls.
2 April 1716	Raorambha and Dabhade fight. Rambha’s son dies. Ajit Singh made Subedar of Gujarat.
October 1717	Santaji Bhosale in Malwa. Roopram arrested. Handia Pargana captured.
1718-1724	Angre-British War.
17 April 1718	British armada at Vijaydurg.
18 June 1718	British armada returns defeated to Mumbai.
2 November 1718	Boone attacks Khanderi.
1716-1718	Damaji Thorat’s hooliganism.
13 January 1716	Raoji and other Thorats join Sayyed Hussein Ali.
2 April 1716	Raorambha and Dabhade fight.
5 August 1716	Damaji arrests Balaji at Hingangaon. Released later.
11 January 1717	Khanderao Dabhade assumes ‘Senapati’ office.
24 April 1717	Dabhade defeats the Mughals at Ahmednagar.
28 February 1718	Farrukhsiyar deposed. Mohammedshah assumes throne.
November 1718-March 1719	Marathas at Delhi. Accompanying Sayyed Hussein Ali.
23 February 1719	Badshah and Sayyed Hussein Ali meet at Delhi.
28 February 1719	Some Marathas massacred at Delhi.
3 March 1719	Chauth agreement signed with Marathas.
15 March 1719	Sardeshmukhi agreement signed with Marathas.
20 March 1719	Balaji Vishwanath returns from Delhi bearing the grant-notifications. Queen Yesubai and others released.
September 1719	Fight with the Thorats at Panhalgad.
March 1720	Balaji fights with Karweer Chhatrapati Sambhaji II at Islampur.
2 April 1720	Balaji Vishwanath dies at Saswad.

To be continued…

ANGRE DISPUTE

We must step back a little to see how Bajirao had previously tried to settle the dispute between two Angre brothers who managed the most important arm of the kingdom. Western coast had always been an important boundary of the Maratha kingdom, and the kingdom’s benefit lay in taking good care of the same. Since after Kanhoji, disputes arose amongst his sons, it began hurting the kingdom. The Peshwas tried to stop this as much as possible. In this intervention, or partly because of it, the relations between the Angre family were destroyed. All this history is memorable and eminently readable in many respects.

While Shahu’s Siddi campaign was going on, the dispute between Sambhaji and Manaji Angre intensified. Due to this, the Angres were not able to perform much in this campaign. Kanhoji Angre had three wives, Mathurabai, Lakshmibai and Gahinabai. Out of them, Mathurabai and Lakshmibai seemed to have some kind of capability and intention to preserve the prestige of their family, on the basis of available correspondence. Sekhoji and Sambhaji born to Mathurabai; Manaji and Tulaji to Lakshmibai; and Yesji alias Appasaheb and Dhondji to Gahinabai; were the Angre sons. The family went into self-destruct mode mostly because of the disputes amongst these brothers. After Sekhoji’s death, Sambhaji began looking after the administration. Due to that, a dispute arose between him and Manaji. Many of the court officials at Shahu’s court like Naro Ram Shenvi etc. favoured Sambhaji, while Manaji had the support of the Peshwas. At the beginning of 1734, Sambhaji took Tulaji along and attacked the Siddis to capture Anjanvel from them. Before beginning the campaign, Sambhaji gave the responsibility of Colaba to Dhondji, while that of the navy to Manaji. But after coming back, Sambhaji did not like the way these two had run the affairs. Manaji had deviously brought the Portuguese into Colaba, gave the position of the Dewan to Tulaji, came to Colaba during the night, and blinded Yesji. Sambhaji came to know that Manaji was conspiring against him upon the advice of the Peshwas and Brahmendra Swami, and had begun to align the British and the Portuguese to his cause. Due to this, he was incensed. Nagaon’s Parasnis (Farsi interpreter) Mahadaji Ram was dispatched to the British at Mumbai by Manaji, fearing that Sambhaji would kill him, and he himself had gone to live at Revdanda in the Portuguese realms. The two brothers had been acting against each other for quite some time this way. Sambhaji’s nature was impatient and short-tempered, due to which he became unacceptable to many. The British took the advantage of this dissension in the ranks and planned to remove Sambhaji. While Sambhaji’s project to capture Anjanvel and Gowalkot stations from the Siddis (Abyssinians), the British provided some help to the Siddis (Abyssinians). Due to that, Sambhaji’s project failed, and he was even more angry at Manaji. On 27 November 1734, Manaji wrote, “Due to Sambhajibaba’s indiscretion, we intentionally left the property, recognising the crisis, and came to Chaul within Revdanda. The Portuguese captain accorded respect and welcome, and has provided much support. Sabaji Prabhu came and met us, due to which we were happy. At this time, both of you should come and meet us along with your sons. The plans will get firmed up. Earlier we had thought about moving to the plateau, thinking we were refugees. But after Sabaji Prabhu came, many of our thoughts were found to be beneficial upon our orders. Holding on to them for the time being, we have dispatched letters at the service of Rajashree Swami at Satara, Rajashree Jiwaji Baba, Govindrao Chitnis, Yashwantrao Potnis, others there, Rajashree Bajirao Pandit Pradhan, and Appa Daji. We need to convince the British and the Shyamal (dark-skinned) to join us at this time. It is not beneficial to hold enmity against the British at this time. The plan to align them to our cause cannot come to fruition without Mahadaji Aaba and you. At the time of late father, you remained loyal and participated in many of the activities. Considering that, we deeply respect you. Apart from Sabaji Prabhu, Krishnaji Prabhu and you, there is nobody who could look after the administration. This is the truth. We are confident that you will trust this, and immediately come to join us. Therefore, we have dispatched the Mahagiri (ship) through the Palava creek. So, leave no family members behind there, and bring everyone here with you.”

This dispute between the Angre brothers went on escalating with time. Manaji called Bajirao urgently for his help. In one-and-a-half day, Bajirao travelled from Pune to Pali. From 4 February to 3 April 1735, full two months, Bajirao stayed in Konkan near Colaba. Bajirao was fully aware of the nature and ability of the two principals, Sambhaji and Manaji. Siddis, British and Portuguese had been waiting for an opportunity to destroy the Angres. Shahu and Bajirao intended to remove the obstacles in the path of the Maratha kingdom on the western coast too, like the north. Discussing deeply over these things at court, they had planned to distribute two separate regions to the two brothers Sambhaji and Manaji and resolve the dispute between them. The moment Bajirao arrived in Konkan, he captured the two forts, Khanderi and Kothala. After that, he conferred upon Manaji the new epithet of ‘Vajaratmab’, and established him at Colaba. He decided that Sambhaji should be granted the epithet ‘Sarkhel’ and should stay at Suvarnadurg. This helped resolve the dispute between the two temporarily. Some people accuse Bajirao of dividing the total Angre realms in two parts this way, and giving rise to a permanent discord in their household. This should be kept in mind with respect to the affairs that unfolded hereafter.

To be continued…