Page:A Comprehensive History of India Vol 1.djvu/428

 3iil- IIISTOl;- ol- INIdA. ' [Book III.

AT) 17:4. long before the emperor unci his vizier were mutually desirous to j»ait. It is

needless to dwell on the plots and counterplots to which this feeling gave rise. Suffice it to say, that in October, 1723, the vizier sent in his resignation, and set out for the Deccan. Ostensibly there was no (quarrel ; for the emperor, in accepting the resignation, lavished on Nizam-ul-Moolk the highest honours which a subject could receive. It wa.s not long, however, before the enmity rankling at his heart was fully ncianifested. Mobariz Klian, the local governor of Hyderabad, proceeding on instructions from Delhi, collected a poweiful army for the avowed purpose of extending his own authority over the whole Deccan. Nizam-ul-Moolk, whose skill as a diplomati.st was at least equal to his prowess as a soldier, had recourse to negotiation, and having protracted it till his preparations were complete, defeated Mobariz in battle, slew him, and affect- ing ignorance of the instigation which had been given from Delhi, .sent liLs head to the emperor as a trophy. Mahratta When Nizam-ul-Moolk marched off to the Deccan, he was in po.ssession of

connived at the govemments of both Malwah and Gujerat. He was formally removed from iii^-Mooik! them, and took his revenge by encouraging incursions of the Mahratta.s, who, notwithstanding partial repulses, had, during the rajahship of Saho, continued to make rapid progress. The main instruments of this success were the rajah's two ministers — first, Balajee Wiswanat, who, originally the accountant of a dis- trict of the Concan, became the founder of the Brahmin djmasty of Pei.shwas ; and next, his son Bajee Rao, who, after Sevajee, ranks as the ablest leader whom the Mahratta nation has produced. Balajee, before his death in 1720, had obtained from Mahomed Shah a ratification of the treaty made with Hosen Ali dm-ing the reign of Farokshir ; and Bajee Rao, following in his father's steps, had not only consolidated the rights of chout and sirdesmuki previously ac- quired, but introduced them into provinces where they had never before been levied. Progress of This extcnsiou of Mahratta power had, as already observed, been partly

Mahratta

power. owing to Nizani-ul-Moolk, who, in revenge for his removal from Malwah and Gujerat, had encouraged the Mahrattas to invade them. His policy in the Dec- can, which he now regarded as his own independent kingdom, was dictated by opposite motives, his great object here being to confine the Mahratta power and influence within as narrow limits as possible. With this Anew, shortly after liis victory over Mobariz in 1724f, he dexterously availed himself of the disputed succession by which the Mahratta counsels had long been distracted. Saho, under the able ministry of Bajee Rao, had established a complete ascendency over his rival Samba, and confined him to a comparatively insignificant district lying near the western coast to the south of Sattarah. Still, however, Samba was equally with Saho himself recognized as rajah ; and there was at least plau- sibility in the answer of Nizam-ul-Moolk, when, without denying his obligation to pay chout and sirdesmuki for the Deccan, he asked which of the two rajahs