APPENDIX.......A. NOTES relative to the History and Constitution of the Marhatta Empire, and to the principal Chieftains composing the Marhatta Confederacy. THE Marhatta Empire was founded by Sevajee towards the middle of the seventeenth century. Sevajee was the great grandson* of Bhaugha Bhooslah, an illegitimate son (by an obscure woman of a tribe called Bhooslah), of Rana Bheem, a rana of the Rajpoot State of Oudipoor, who was descended from * RANA BHEEM, BHAUGHA BHOOSLAH, MAULOO JEE SHAHJEE. SEVAJEE, Founder of the Marhatta Empire, born years. * A 2 For an Account of the dynasties of the kings of Ahmednuggur & Beejapoore, see Scott'sTranslation of Ferishta's Hist. of the Dekan. from the Rajahs of Chittore, the most ancient of the Hindoo Princes. Baugha Bhooslah assumed the name of his mother's tribe, which has since that period continued to be the family name of his descendants, the rajahs of Sattarah, and of Berar. Bhaugha Bhooslah, being neglected and despised by his family on account of his low origin on the female side, retired in disgust from Oudipoor to the province of Candeish, in the Dekan, where he entered into the service of a zemindar, named Rajah Ali Mohun, and became guardian to the rajah's son until he had attained the age of manhood. Bhaugha Bhooslah subsequently quitted Candeish, and purchased a tract of land near the city of Poonah, of which he became the zemindar. In this situation he died, leaving issue Maulo Jee, who entered into the service of a Marhatta chief named Jaddoo Roy, under whom he acquired great rank and influence. Soon after this period Mauloo Jee's son, Shah Jee, was married to Jee Jhee, the only daughter of Jaddoo Roy, without the consent of the latter. From this marriage was born, in 1628, Sevajee, the founder of the Marhatta empire. A dispute ensued in consequence of this marriage between Jaddoo Roy, and his son-in-law; and Shah Jee, being compelled by Jaddoo Roy to quit Ahmednuggur, (forming at that time the territory of Nizam Shah) entered into the service of Ibrahim Adil Shah, king of Beejapoor, who gave him a jagheer in the Carnatic, with the command of 10,000 horse. In consequence of, some dispute with his first wife, (the daughter of Jaddoo Roy) Shah Jee separated from her, and married Toka Bace, by whom he had one son, Ekojec, afterwards king of Tanjore. Shah Jee was killed in 1667 by a fall from his horse, in hunting at Bednore, where a splendid mausoleum was erected to his memory by his friend Rundowla Khan, minister to the king of of Beejapoor, whose intercession on a former occasion saved Shah Jee from being buried alive, which punishment he had been condemned to suffer by the king of Beejapoor. Shah Jee was succeeded by his son Sevajee, who, disdaining the condition of a subject, revolted, and, availing himself of the convulsions which at that time disturbed the kingdom of Beejapoor, became independent. He died on the 5th of April, 1680, leaving the inheritance of his domains to his son Sambajee. At the period of Sevajee's death, his territory extended from near Surat along the sea coast, to the vicinity of the Portuguese districts of Goa, and as far inland as the range of hills which terminate the Table Land, and form the eastern boundary of the Kokan. Sambajee, the second rajah of Sattarah, being at Parnala when his father died, a faction endeavoured to secure the succession to Rajah Ram, a son of Sevajee by another wife. But Sambajee, supported by the greatest part of the troops, who had been the companions of his contests with the forces of the emperor of Hindostan, established his sovereignty, and reigned until the end of June, 1689, when he was barbarously murdered by order of the emperor Aurungzebe. power To Sambajee succeeded his son Sahojee, whose minister (the peishwah) Ballajee Bishwanaut, gained such an ascendancy over the mind of his master, as to persuade Sahojee to delegate to him the exercise of all authority and in the state. All orders, and every detail of government, issued immediately from the peishwah, who received from the rajah the title of mookh* perdhaun, or chief civil minister. This form of government has subsisted to the present period; The word Pundit is a designation exclusively confined to Bramins, and was an adjunct to the family name of Peishwahs. The word Peishwah is Persian. and is synonymous with Mook'h. The latter term alone is engraved on the Peishwah's seal. SEVAJEE, first rajah of Sattarah. SAMBAJEE, second rajah. SAHOJEE, third rajah. period; and on the death of a peishwah, his successor is invested by the rajah of Sattarah with the ensigns of office. During the latter part of Sahojee's reign, Sahojee shut himself in Sattarah, and his person and government were almost forgotten. Sahojee married a person named Tara Baee; but, having no children by her, he adopted his brother Pursojee's great grandson, Moodajee Booslah; whose disposition however was considered to be so tyrannical, that Sahojee was compelled to dismiss him; and he therefore sent for Janojee, the elder brother of Moodajee, who was on his way to Sattarah, when Sahojee died in 1740, after a reign of fifty years. During this period the Marhattas, after having overrun and plundered almost every part of Hindostan, excepting Bengal, extended their territories from the Western Sea to Orissa, and from Agra to the Carnatic, forming a tract of near one thousand miles long, by seven hundred wide, and including some of the richest and most fertile provinces of the peninsula of India. The capital of the empire was established at Sattarah, a fortress situated about fifty miles south-east of Poonah, and near the 18th degree of North latitude. The descendants of Sevajee have since been distinguished by the title of the rajahs of Sattarah. |