Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 15.djvu/309

Rh or near the skirts of mountains. The geological formations may be popularly described as consisting of trap, basalt, and indurated lava in magnificent layers. The black precipices, scarped for thousands of feet, and striped with marks of the layers, are superb. The summits, though generally flat with horizontal outlines, are often broken into towers and cones. The vapours from the Arabian Sea are propelled by the south-west monsoon against these moun tain tops, and produce an excessive rainfall. Hence arise a luxuri ant vegetation and the surprising spectacle (at certain seasons) of cascades tumbling down the perpendicular flanks of the mountains. The forests have suffered during ages from wasteful cutting ; but of late years a system of conservancy has been established, and many great forests remain. The mountains stand in the midst of a fertile and populous country ; on both sides of them are rich valleys, cultivated plains, numerous villages, and large towns. Thus insurgents or warriors had here a complete military base, with sources whence supplies could be drawn, and strongholds for organizing power or for secur ing refuge. This hill country has been regarded by strategists as one of the strongest, in a military sense, to be found in India. It extends over nearly 500 miles from north to south, and has at least twenty fortresses which in uncivilized warfare were virtually im pregnable if resolutely defended, and which, though of course un able to resist a scientific attack in these times, would yet prove difficult of approach. Several of these are surrounded with historic traditions. In former times there was no road worthy of the name across these mountains. No means of passage existed save steep rugged pathways for footmen and pack animals. Within the last generation the British Government has, in Oriental phrase, lifted up the veil of these mountains, piercing them with well-made roads and with railways. There are now seven of such roads, and two lines of railway open, a third being projected. Guns and troops as well as goods and produce can now be moved up and down these once impassable mountains. It is the range of the &quot;Western Ghats which enabled the Mahrattas to rise against their Mohammedan conquerors, to reassert their Hindu nationality against the whole power of the Mogul empire, and to establish in its place an empire of their own. It is often held that in India British conquest or annexation succeeded Mohammedan rule ; and to a considerable extent this was the case. But, on the other hand, the principal power, the widest sovereignty, which the British overthrew in India was that of the Mahrattas. During the earlier Moslem invasions in 1100 and in subsequent years, the Mahrattas do not seem to have made much resistance. They submitted to several Mohammedan kings under the changing circumstances of those times. They were despised by their con querors, and were called &quot;mountain rats&quot; in derision. It was against the Mohammedan king of Bijapur in the Deccan that Sivaji, the hero of Mahratta history, first rebelled in 1657. Sivaji and his fighting officers were Mahrattas of humble caste, but his ministers were Mahratta Brahmans. When the Mogul empire absorbed that kingdom he defied the emperor. He imparted a self-reliant enthusiasm to his countrymen, formed them into an army, and organized them as a political community ; his mountaineer infantry, though limited in numbers, proved desperately courageous ; his cavalry was daring and ubiquitous. Having once overcome the Hindus in almost all parts of India, often after heroic resistance, the Moslems had not for centuries met with any noteworthy up rising. Sivaji, however, planned their expulsion, and before the end of his restless life made much progress in the execution of that design. The new Mahratta state which he founded was maintained under various vicissitudes after his death. Still Mahratta resist ance, once aroused by him, was never extinguished, and the im perial resources were worn out by ceaseless though vain efforts to quell it. The great Mogul emperor s impoverished and en feebled successor was fain to recognize the Mahratta state by a formal instrument. The Mahratta king, a descendant of Sivaji, was a roi faineant, and the arrangement was negotiated by his Brahman minister, whose official designation was the peshwa. The office of peshwa then became hereditary in the minister s family, and grew in importance as the Mahratta kingdom rose, while the king sunk into the condition of a puppet. Thus the Mahratta power was consolidated throughout nearly the whole of Maharashtra under the Brahman peshwa as virtual sovereign, with his capital at Poona, while the titular Mahratta raja or king had his court at the neighbouring city of Sattara. Despite his political importance, however, the raja was still venerated as the descendant of Sivaji. Then several chiefs carved out principalities of their own from among the ruins of the Mogul empire. Thus Raghoji Bhonsla established himself in the tracts lying underneath the southern base of the Satpura range (namely, Nagpur and Berar), overran Orissa, and entered Bengal. Dammaji Gaekwar descended from the Western Ghats upon the alluvial plains of Gujerat around Baroda ; Takaji Holkar subdued the uplands of Malwa beyond the Vindhya range on the north bank of the Nerbudda ; and Madhaji Sindhia obtained possession of large tracts immediately south of Agra and Delhi, marched into Hindustan, and became virtually the master of the Mogul emperor himself. Princes of Sivaji s own family founded a dominion at Tanjore, in the rich delta of the Kaveri south of Madras. But these principalities, though really independent respecting heads of principalities would visit Poona by way of acknowledging the superior position of the peshwa. On the other hand the peshwa was careful to obtain the sanction of his nominal sovereign at Sattara to every important act of state. Thus a confederation was formed of which the Brahman peshwa or head was at Poona, governing the adjacent territories, while the members, belonging to the lower castes of Mahrattas, were scattered throughout the con tinent of India. Such was the Mahratta empire which supplanted the Mogul empire. The Mahratta power grew and prospered till it embraced all India with certain exceptions. Its culminating point was reached about 1750, or about a century after Sivaji first rebelled against his Mohammedan sovereign. Its armies drew soldiers from all parts of India. The infantry was not of good quality ; but its cavalry was really an enormous force, numbering fully a hundred thousand in all. The horsemen were splendidly audacious in riding for long distances into the heart of a hostile country, without support, striking some terrifia blows, and then returning rapidly beyond reach of pursuit. They could truly boast of having watered their horses in every Indian river from the Kaveri to the Indus. If attacked, however, in a competent manner they would not stand ; and afterwards, in con flict with the British, whole masses of them behaved in a dastardly manner. As their ambition grew, the chiefs began to organize their troops after the system learnt from the English and French, In this way several Frenchmen De Boigne, Perron, and others rose in the Mahratta service to a position dangerous to the British. But the hew system was unsuited to the Mahratta genius ; it hampered the meteoric movements of the cavalry, which was obliged to manoeuvre in combination with the new artillery and the disciplined battalions. Mahratta elders hence uttered predictions of military disaster which were in the end more than fulfilled. While the Mahrattas collected vast quantities of treasure and valuables, the ordinary revenue of the confederation hardly exceeded ten millions sterling annually. Large amounts, however, were drawn by feudal tenure-holders, which never appeared in the public accounts. The area and population under the dominion or tlje control of the confederation could hardly have been less than 700,000 square miles and 90 millions of souls. The rapid and amazing success of the Mahratta confederation rendered it the largest Hindu sovereignty that ever existed in India. But it lacked the elements of true greatness. It was founded by plundering expeditions, and its subsequent existence was tainted by the baseness of this predatory origin. With the exception of the peshwas, its chiefs were little more than freebooting warriors, for the most part rude, violent, and unlettered. Their custom was to offer their neighbours or victims the alternative of paying &quot;chouth,&quot; that is, one-fourth of the revenue, or being plundered and ravaged. Thus the Mahratta chouth came to have an ominous significance in Indian history. Desultory efforts were made to establish a civil government, but in the main there was no administration formed on statesmanlike principles. The peshwas, on the other hand, as Brahmans, were men of the highest education then possible in India. But they were absorbed by the direction of military and political combinations, and by intrigues for the preservation of their own power ; and, even allowing for all this, they failed to evince the civil capacity which might have been anticipated. While several displayed commanding abilities, and some possessed many virtues, one only attempted to conduct an administration in an enlightened manner, and he died prematurely. There were at the same time powers existing in India to keep the Mahrattas in check, and it has just been mentioned that some parts of India were excepted from their depredations. The English power was rising at Calcutta, Madras, and Bombay. The nascent Sikh power prevented Mahratta incursions from being permanently successful in the Punjab. As the Mogul empire broke up, some separate Mohammedan powers rose upon its ruins. The nizam of the Deccan established himself at Hyderabad, comparatively near the headquarters of the peshwa. Hyder AH was proclaimed sultan of Mysore in the south. Ahmed Shah Abdali burst upon India from Afghanistan. The Mahrattas bravely encountered him at Panipat near Delhi in 1761, and were decisively defeated. The defeat, however, did not essentially shake the Mahratta empire. It was collision with the English that broke that wonderful fabric to pieces. The first collision with the English occurred in 1780 ; it arose from a disputed succession to the peshwaship. The English Government at Bombay supported one of the claimants, and the affair became critical for the English as well as for the Mahrattas. It was at this conjuncture that Warren Hastings displayed his political genius and rendered signal service to his country.