After the death of Shivaji Maharaj Maratha empire was sailing through the turbulent waters. The brutal death of Sambhaji Maharaj stormed the empire. Every disappointment strengthened the commitment towards the Swarajya. Veteran leaders like Ramachandra Pant Amatya, Shinkaraji Narayan Sachiv channelized the raged troops and continued the struggle with greater vigour. Marathas gave voracious fight in the absence of kingship. After ten years they were ready to welcome Rajaram Maharaj. But this joy proved to be short lived. The sudden demise of Rajaram Maharaj was a major blow to the rising fortune of Marathas (2 March, 1700). Tarabai (Rajaram’s wife) was only 25 years old at that time. She did not tame or subdue by misfortunes, she showed courage to rise above them. This is where The Tarabai’s Reign started!
Tarabai was an iron lady with great political wisdom. She was a daughter of the late Maratha military general,HambirraoMohite. She had thorough understanding of strategic interest of the nation. After the fall of Raigad, she moved to Jinji in 1691. Although effective control of the power was in the hands of Ramachandra Pant, Shankaraji Narayan and Santaji – Dhanaji, Tarabai contributed substantially in the decision making in contrast to the quiescent nature of Rajaram Maharaj. Tarabai strongly believed that empire is an elemental idea of nationalism and emperor is an embodiment of nationalism. Emperor ignites, Emperor inspires! Thus to established concrete leadership in Swarajya, Tarabai crowned her four years old son Shivaji ll and took the charge of Maratha office on his behalf (10 March, 1700).
When the Maratha fortune was at its lowest ebb, Aurangzeb was ready to take advantage of this opportunity. Thus to get a strategic time to decide future modus operandi , just 10 days after the death of Rajaram Maharaj Tarabai sent a delegation to Aurangzeb for negotiations. She put forth the following conditions, 1. To confer upon Shivaji ll revenue rights in southern peninsula and to assign military authority to maintain an army of 7000 soldiers. 2. 5000 Maratha soldiers would serve Mughal Subhedars in Deccan and Maratha would handover Panhala, Satara, Parali, Chandanwandan such seven forts to Mughals. 3. Shivaji II should not be obliged to bow in front of Aurangzeb as a court ritual. Aurangzed asked Marathas to surrender all the forts then to go for negotiations. Marathas preferred ‘No deal’ over ‘Bad deal’.
Tarabai was completely aware of glaring disproportion between Maratha and Mughal Army. Marathas had two other greater partners, Sahyadri and Monsoon. Tararani adopted a balance approach to deal with dynamic and complex challenges. She ordered troops to fight against Mughal till the monsoon arrived. Heavy downpour in tough terrain was no less than a military attack. After the monsoon started, she asked to surrender the fort in exchange of huge toll. Already wearied Mughal forces were annoyed due to surprise raids and disconnected supply lines. Tarabai saved on army on the other hand improved the condition of national treasury. In the period of five years from 1699 to 1704 Aurangzeb could capture only four important forts, Satara (21 April, 1700), Panhala (28 May, 1701), Vishalgad (4 June, 1702) and Sinhagad (8 April, 1703). Even these forts were nominally secured and recaptured by Marathas in short period of time.
Since past 20 – 22 years Auragnzeb focused on Maharashtra and conducted strenuous campaign. This prolong engagement was possible because of nonexistence of continuous aggression on Mughal territory beyond Maharashtra. Tarabai perfectly hit this chord and redesigned security architecture. While Aurangzeb was busy capturing forts in Maharashtra, Tarabai expanded our regional presence from Govalkonda in South, Hyderabad in East and Gujrat – Malwa in North. Ever since October 1699, Maratha started venturing into Karnataka. This was the beginning of the end of Alamgir.
Maratha attacked Malwa:
NemajiShinde led the force of 50,000 cavalry to Malwa (Central India). Maratha attacked the forces of RustamkhanVijapuri (Officer in charge of Vidarbha region). 2000 foot soldiers were killed and Rustumkhan was arrested. After plundering his territory Nemajicrossed Narmada and enteredBundelkhand.Nemaji captured important power corridor between Ujjain and Sirronj (approximately 300km) Shaistakhan’s son Abunasarkhan did not show much of a courage to withstand Maratha forces. His commanders were ready to fight but due to lack of political support they could not bring much of a difference. Alamgir deployed Firojjang to attain normalcy in Malwa. Firojjang did no war but aggrandised his minimal efforts and became a recipient of royal accolades. When Aurangzeb came across the reality he revoked the awards conferred. Malwa was truly the powerhouse of mammoth Mughal forces in Mahrashtra as all the supply chains and ammunition lines passed through Malwa. NemajiShinde cracked down on the very backbone of the Mughal campaign.
Southern Campaign of Marathas:
Dhanaji Jadhav, HanmanraoNimbalkar, HinduraoGhorpade marched towards Karnataka in May, 1704. One of the three Maratha regiment penetrated till Trichinapalli and generated the revenue of around 30 lacs. The other segment concentrated on establishing stronghold in the region. They quickly built bureaucratic system in Karnataka and started levying taxes. Such financial mechanisms provided strong support to Maratha campaigns all over. Eminent Mughal officers like Daudkhan Panni took the shelter in Vellore. Rattled Mughal Sardars averted the war but at the cost of huge sum. Once the strategic establishment then turned into revenue generating hub.
The Battle of Ratanpur:
Aurangzeb changed the administrator of Gujrat (Subhedar). Gujrat was devoid of strong political leadership by the time new Subhedar assumed the charge. Dhanaji hit the iron when it was hot. He embarked upon the maiden expedition towards Gujrat with 80,000 soldiers. Najar Ali Khan, Alimardakhan, Iltifakhancamped near Narmada. But they could find no traces of Maratha forces. This momentary sigh of relief infused lethargy in Mughal troops. They spent one and the half month in the same camp. By that time Marathas swiftly crossed Naramada and attacked Surat. Without any second thought Mughal officers marched towards Surat with available strength of no more than 2,000 soldiers. They set up the camp in Ratanpur. Both the sides fought with utmost valour. Marathas abandoned the battle field to let Mughal celebrate illusionary win. At night Maratha caught them by surprise. Dhanaji outnumbered and over smarted Mughal. He took the flag to faraway lands.
Military generals were the flag bearers of the expansionist policy but Tarabai was a brain child of newly defined security framework. Transformation from defensive warfare to offensive warfare was a sign of upward climb. Tarabai played key role in shaping aspirations and building capabilities of Maratha forces.
Tarabai’s reign was challenging in many ways. She had to lead from multiple fronts. She had to keep the spirit of nationalism high in the absence of conventional king like figure. Thus to keep the political structure intact she made sure that all the capable Maratha officers were taken on board. Thus we saw, Shankaraji Narayan and ParshuramTyambak attaining prominence along with Ramchandra Pant Amatya. Dhanaji Jadhav, HinduravGhorpade were eminent military generals with substantial presence in Tarabai’s court. Swarajya sustained the continuous onslaught of Mughal aggression because of united resurrection. This stubborn attitude was a double edged sword. It had led to widening fault lines in internal politics. Ramchandra Pant bore different opinions on policy decision as against Tarabai. Dhanaji Jadhav and HinduravGhorpade were not in good books with each other. Thus Martha politics was an interplay of contradictory characters. But Tarabai directed it deftly and achieved best of multiplicity.
Tarabai was of strong opinion that her son Shivaji II was the only legitimate successor of Maratha seat. It gave rise to an unfortunate conflict between Shahu and Shivaji II. Ultimately Shahu was upheld as the legitimate successor to the throne. These internal drifts never altered Maratha aspirations. Struggle of past 25 years made them capable to develop broader identity. Marathas were not mere plunderers but a neatly weaved concrete organisational structure. In this process of national awakening Tarabai contributed significantly. She would always be remembered as one of the architect of Maratha ‘Samrajya’. A contemporary Maratha poet very rightly says
The Queen of Rama ranges in frown on the battlefield, Take care - o - Mughals, the final end is near!
All the dates mentioned in the article are according to Julian calendar.
References:
MarathyancheSwatantryasamar – Prof.G.S.Puranik
New History of The Marathas – G.T.Sardesai
Aditi Kajrekar
23-07-2019.
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