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 400

IIIS'IOU^' OF S)IA.

[Book ill.

A U. 1711)

V;i<lir.Shah ilijparture.

Rival factions at DeUii.

Death of Hajee Rao.

After possessing Dellii during fifty-eight days Nadir Shah departed, lejiving it a scene of wretchedness and desolation. The terror of the capital ha/1 spread s into the provinces, the government was paralyzed, and the people remained sunk in a kind of stupor. The Mahrattas might now have comjdeted their conquests, but even they were overawed by the suddenness and extent of the general calamity. Bajee Kao, adverting to it, expressed himself thus : — " Our domestic quarrels are now insignificant; there is but one enemy in Hindoostan." " Hindoos and Mussulmans — the whole power of the Deccan must assemble." Tliese feelings of alarm soon began to subside, and tlie elements of disunion were again at work. At the court of Delhi old animosities resumed all their former bitterness. A powerful faction, composed of Turki, or as they were called Tooranee nobles, and headed by the Vizier Kamr-u-din Khan and Nizam- ul-Moolk, endeavoured to absorb the leading offices of the state, and even hold the emperor himself in subjection to their wi.shes, while their enemies were numerous and powerful enough to wage a constant struggle for ascendency. Feeble and discordant counsels were the necessary result, and no bond of union existed among the numerous dependencies still belonging nominally to the Mogul empire. In point of fact, the Mahrattas were now the most powerful nation on the Indian continent, and had the best prospect of becoming its ultimate masters. Even they, however, were not free from difficulties. Saho, the nominal head of the government, had been deprived of all real power, and reduced to a mere cipher. Several of the chiefs who willingly acknowledged his authority, were not disposed to yield the same submission to the usurpations of the Peishwa, and stood ready to avail themselves of the first favourable opportunity of either re-establishing the rajah or asserting their own indepen- dence. Bajee Rao, well aware of the precarious position in which he stood, was obliged to regulate his policy accordingly, and often abandoned the coiu^e which his judgment approved for that which his own immediate interest seemed to require. Before the Mogul government recovered from the shock given to it by Nadir Shah, he might easily have established the complete ascendency of his nation by mustering his forces and marching at once upon the capital Instead of this, he suddenly withdrew into the Deccan. The only apparent inducement was, that he might be able more effectually to watch the proceedings of his countrymen, Ragojee Bosla and the Guicowar of Gujerat, who were plotting his overthrow. Of his feelings while thus employed he liimself gave the following account : — " I am involved in difficulty, in debt, and in disappointments, and like a man ready to swallow poison. Near the rajah are my enemies, and should I go at this time to Sattarali they will put their feet on my breast. I should be thankful if I could meet death." This solemn event was nearer than he imagined, for he died shortly after, on the 28th of April, 1740, as he was returning to Hindoostan.

Bajee Rao left tliree sons, the eldest of whom, Balajee Rao, succeeded linn