While Aurangzeb, weighed down with the wreck of all his hopes and anti- Hindu ambitions, sank in a gloomy grave, the Marathas carried the war far and wide into the Mogul territories of Khandesh, Gondvan, Berar and even Gujarat. The release of Shahu, the formal recognition by the Mogul Emperor of the claims of the Marathas to Swaraj in Maharashtra proper and to Chowth and Sardeshmukhi over the six Subhas of the Deccan, as well as in the tributary states of Mysore and Travancore, strengthened the hands of the Marathas as never before, and gave them breathing time to put their house in order and dress their wounds of fierce party passions and the centripetal tendencies and interests and to constitute the Marathas into an organised whole, with all its inherent and perhaps inevitable weakness, gave so splendid an account of itself that the ‘Maharashtra mandal’ or the Maratha Confederacy actually became the Hindu-pad-padashahi and ruled, not in name but in fact, all over Hindustan.
To these weakness and these drawbacks that we have just referred to as being inherent in the Maratha Confederacy because they were the inevitable results of the faults or foibles of the national character and institutions which the Marathas shared in common with all other Hindus, we will return later on. It is enough to state here to avoid all misunderstanding, that no one can be more conscious of them than we are. In tracing and illustrating the great national and moral principles that propelled the Marathas as a nation, inspired and sustained them in their Herculean efforts to win the War of Hindu Liberation, we do not forget or mean to minimize the fact that, at times and in individual cases, selfish and even vile aims, personal pique, unbridled avarice, got better of their national duty and inclinations. Had it not been so, they would have been a nation of angels and not of men. But here we are concerned, not with what is true in details here and there, but mainly with what is true of the great Hindu movement in general, as a whole; with the outstanding superiority of the great task they had undertaken, the national grandeur of their efforts and their sacrifices and the measure of success they attained—all of which, even when due allowance is made for individual stray aberrations, cannot fail to elicit grateful homage and appreciation from every patriotic Hindu. This, too, we have attempted to do as far as possible in this summary sketch by quoting unimpeachable evidence, by citing at times the very words and illustrating them by the deeds of the chief leaders and actors themselves who led the national movement.
Balaji Vishvanath, having thus put his house in order, found himself in a position so strong as to play an effective part even in the imperial politics at Delhi. The Marathas no longer stood in danger of any great Moslem offensive against them, and the Moslem Emperor himself craved their protection against his own rebellious generals and ministers. so completely had the Maratha war of independence broken the power of the Moslem Empire. In 1718 the Marathas, 50,000 strong, marched forth to Delhi under balaji Vishvanath and Dabhade to assert the claims of the Sayyad brothers against their Moslem rivals at the court as the Sayyads had acknowledged the Maratha claims to levy Chowth and Sardeshmukhi throughout the Deccan. The Muhammandans at Delhi very naturally resented to see the hated Hindus enter the capital at the head of 50,000 Marathas. So they conspired to waylay and kill the Chief of the Marathas, if ever he succeeded in exacting the Imperial Sanads, confirming the Maratha claims to Swaraj and Chowth. When this was known in the Maratha camp Bhanu came forth and offered to risk his life to shield that of his chief and die for him if need be. So it was arranged that Balaji Peshwa should, after getting the Sanads, leave the Durbar and proceed by an unusual route under cover to the Maratha camp; while Bhanu personated him and, occupying Balaji’s palanquin, marched y/ith due ceremony by the usual route. The Muhammadan fanatical mob, watching the palanquin of the Peshwa as usual,, suddenly fell on it and with overwhelming numbers cut the few Marathas to pieces, including Bhanu, whom they took for the real Balaji while Balajij with the state documents under his arm reached the Maratha camp in safety. Such sacrifices of one’s life in he interests of one’s nation raise the story of that nation to epic grandeur and greatness. Still in a summary sketch like this, we can but cite a case here and there, feeling sure that even one such case illustrates the national and moral greatness of the movement far more effectively than volumes of detailed and dry criticism can do.