Between 1700 and 1703, Aurangzeb captured the fort of Sinhagad, near Pune.
During the siege, his son prince Muhuil-Mulk died; so Aurangzeb changed
Pune's name to Muhiabad, in the prince's honor. Shahu continued to fight
against the Mughals and captured Rajgad, the former capital of the Maratha
territory. In 1712, Shahu died of smallpox and his minister or Peshwa,
Balaji Vishwanath took over the throne.
Negotiations between the Mughal
court of Delhi and Balaji Vishwanath enabled him to send a large Maratha
delegation to Delhi to assist the Mughals. The year 1718 marked the
beginning of the Maratha influence in Delhi, to which they remained
closely acquainted, till 1803. Balaji Vishwanath's health had suffered
considerably, and he died in 1721. Bajirao, his elder son was then awarded
the title of peshwa. It was Bajirao's dream to extend the Maratha empire
to North India.
In 1734, Bajirao captured the
Malwa territory in the north, and in 1739, his brother Chimnaji drove out
the Portuguese from almost all their possessions in the northern Western
Ghats. Bajirao died in 1740 and left three sons behind him; Balaji Bajirao,
who succeeded him as peshwa, Raghunathrao, who later betrayed the Marathas
and joined hands with the British, and Janardan, who died in his early
youth.
Balaji Bajirao was ambitious and a multifaceted person. In 1741, when his
uncle Chimnaji died, he returned from the northern districts and spent
nearly a year improving the civil administration of Pune. The period
between 1741 and 1745 was of comparative calm in the Deccan. Balaji
Bajirao encouraged agriculture, protected the villagers and brought about
a marked improvement in the state of the territory.
The scene changed in
1751, when the Mughals, supported by the French, advanced towards Pune,
totally destroying every village in their way. The Marathas fought with
great determination, and nothing but the French artillery saved them from
total defeat. In 1754, Raghunathrao, Balaji Bajirao's brother started on
an expedition to conquer Gujarat, the state north of Bombay. In 1756,
Balaji Bajirao marched south to attack Karnatak. In the meantime, news
spread that the war had broken out between the English and the French, in
Europe. |