Narayan Rao

Gardis

The Peshwas employed Gardi soldiers for police duty around the palace and the city of Pune. The Gardis were less than 5000 strong and were mostly composed of North Indians, Pathans, Ethiopians, Arabs, Rajputs and Purbiyas. Their monthly salary ranged somewhere between Rs. 8 and Rs. 15. According to French military leader and administrator Marquis de Bussy-Castelnau, the Gardis saw their role in purely commercial terms and had no personal attachment to their employer. The new Narayanrao inherited an empty treasury from his brother. Madhavrao had lost all the wealth he had accumulated over the years in paying off the empire's debts and had failed to bring funds in the last few years of life due to his illness. On top of that, with Ibrahim Khan Gardi and Marquis de Bussy gone, the Gardis no longer had an overarching leader to keep them disciplined. The unpaid and disorganised Gardis had now become a liability for the Marathas but neither Peshwa nor his advisors paid much attention to the pressing issue.^[7]

Prabhus

The Prabhus were an influential community in the Maratha empire. They claimed to be belonging to the Kshatriya ("warrior") caste which gave them the right to perform religious functions through the use of Vedic chants. A dispute over their caste status had occurred in the late 17th century but it was virtually resolved after the founder of the Maratha empire Shivaji and his confidential secretary Balaji Avji Chitnis, a Prabhus by caste, performed the sacred thread ceremony of their sons at the same time by using Vedic chants under the direction of the celebrated Brahmin scholar Gaga Bhatt. This created a precedent that allowed the Prabhus to hold on to their Kshatriya status without interference from orthodox Brahmins. But then Narayanrao decided to take up the cause of the orthodoxy and, likely under the impression from Nana Phadnavis, reduced their caste status from that of Kshatriya ("warrior") to that of Shudra ("servant"). Prominent leaders of the Prabhu community were called together and under severe torture, including starvation, forced to give up their caste status. They were compelled to sign an agreement of nine specific articles, according to which they would give up Kshatriya status and accept Shudra status. This action on the part of Narayanrao lost him the support of an influential community who later supported Raghunathrao.^[8]

Sakharam Bapu

Sakharam Bapu's policy which favoured compromise over radicalism was at odds with the rash and irritable behaviour of Narayanrao. The differences between the two quickly came to light during the appointment of the governorship of Vasai. The position had previously been held for a long time by a soldier and diplomat named Visajipant Lele. Sakharam Bapu held him in high regard because he had faithfully served him in several awkward situations that required mutual support. But Visajipant Lele was a corrupt official whose ill deeds were long known to Madhavrao. During the last days of his tenure, Madhavrao dismissed Visajipanth Lele after he misappropriated government property worth 20 lakhs. So when Narayanrao became Peshwa, Visajipanth Lele requested the new Peshwa to reappoint him as the Governor of Vasai. His request was supported by Sakharam Bapu but Narayanrao rejected Bapu's advice and appointed Trimbak Vinayak instead.^[9][10]

Narayanrao and Sakharam Bapu also disagreed on the issue of the Patwardhan Sardars. The Patwardhan Sardars had gained enormous power through their loyal service to the late Peshwa which irked Sakharam Bapu and Raghunathrao who took certain steps to lower their prestige, much to the displeasure of Narayanrao. Since the differences between Narayanrao and Sakharam Bapu were growing they decide to consult the opinions of Gopikabai, the widow of Balaji Rao and the eldest member of the family. And so Narayanrao, Sakharam Bapu and Vamanrao Patwardhan, the leading of the Patwardhan family, repaired to Gangapur in the middle of March 1773 to meet and ask for her advice. They spent a few days in frank discussion but could not arrive at any definite resolution.^[11]

Other Maratha officials

The courtiers at Pune had very negative opinions of the new Peshwa whom they described as impatient, irritable, facetious, gullible and immature person who refused to follow the guidance of Sakharam Bapu. Narayanrao had started imitating the manners and behaviour of his elder brother Madhavrao and had openly disrespected Sakharam Bapu and other elderly officials on several occasions.^[12] Nana Phadnavis kept himself aloof due to lack of confidence shown towards him. Unlike his senior colleague Sakharam Bapu, he only involved himself with the administration when absolutely necessary. This explains why Nana Phadnavis did not notice the talks of intrigues and plots taking place in the city.^[13] Moroba Phadnavis was another member of the executive government who shared the attitutde of indifference towards the Peshwa. The same was true for the Maratha general Haripant Phadke.^[14]

First attempt to escape

Narayanrao's relationship with his uncle Raghunathrao was cordial at the beginning. When Raghunathrao's daughter Durgabai was about to get married, Narayanrao made the arrangements for the marriage which took place on 7 February 1773.^[15] But later when Narayanrao was at Nashik, Raghunathrao tried to take advantage of the Peshwa's absence and plotted his escape. Raghunathrao began to enlist his own troops and wrote to Haidar Ali for support. Naro Appaji, the Maratha officer incharge for law and order in Pune, heightened the security around Raghunathrao by placing guards to watch all the exits of the palace and the city. Raghunathrao pitched his tents outside and declared that he was going on an expedition.^[16]

As soon as this news reached Narayanrao he returned to Pune and found Raghunathrao in his tents. He brought him back to the palace on 11 April 1773 and placed additional guards to prevent his escape. This further strained the relationship between Narayanrao and Raghunathrao.^[17] In July 1773, Raghunathrao become so exasperated with the restrictions imposed on him that he threatened to starve himself, his wife and his adopted son to death. Narayanrao failed to sooth things over by compromise. He had no advisors whom he could trust upon at this point.^[18]

Second attempt to escape

Two agents from Nagpur had been dispatched to Pune to request the Peshwa's confirmation for making Raghuji Bhonsle, the son of Mudhoji Bhonsle, the ruler of Nagpur in order to put the succession dispute between Mudhoji and his brother Sabaji to an end. But when the two agents arrived at Pune in the summer of 1773 and discovered the tensions between Narayanrao and Raghunathrao, they realised they had much to benefit from the chaos.^[19] At the same time Narayanrao continued supporting the claim of Sabaji and sent armed reinforcements under Khanderao Darekar to support him against his brother. This caught the ire of Mudhoji who vaguely told his agents to do whatever they deemed necessary for accomplishing their mission by supporting Raghunathrao's power.^[20]

But the agents needed to have a discussion with Raghunathrao before they could formulate a plan. Raghunathrao was in strict confinement at the time and so they approached Sakharam Hari Gupte, a strong partisan of Raghunathrao who had also been incensed by the Peshwa's decision to reduce the caste status of his community. They manage to obtain a secret meeting with Raghunathrao in which they hatch a plan which involved seizing Narayanrao and placing Raghunathrao on the throne. This would require for Raghunathrao to be free and organise an armed foce. In August 1773, during night time, Raghunathrao tried to escape using the help of Lakshman Kashi. But Raghunathrao was caught and taken into custody while Lakshman Kashi managed to escape and fled from Pune.^[21]

When news of Raghunathrao's attempted escape reached Narayanrao he made the terms of uncle's confinement harsher. Raghunathrao was no longer allowed to leave his room, all his essentials were delivered to him and his lavish lifestyle was curtailed. As part of his prayer, Raghunathrao would stand in the open and gaze at the sun, but he was now barred from performing it which made him furious. Although the relationship between Madhavrao and Raghunathrao, the former carefully avoided exasperating his uncle beyond a certain limit and skillfully employed his uncle's partisans so as to prevent any action against him. But Narayanrao lacked his elder brother's foresight and so his dissidents were able to find a common goal in supporting his uncle.^[22]

Third attempt to escape

Raghunathrao was also able to find the finding the sympathy of Appaji Ram, the ambassador of Haidar Ali at Pune, who managed to persuade his ruler to support Raghunathrao's cause. When Narayan found out about his uncle's plan to escape by enlisting the support Haidar Ali, he confined him in his palace and allowed neither his friends to visit him nor his servants to attend to him. His uncle, whether through exasperation or shrewdness, declared that he would starve himself to death so that his murder would be attributed to his nephew. For the next eighteen days, he consumed nothing except for two ounces of deer milk each day. When he was finally exhausted due to pangs of hunger, his nephew somewhat relented by promising him a district and five castles and a jagir of Rs. 12 lakh per annum, provided some of the great chieftains would become surety for his future conduct.^[23]

Barbhais Council

While Shastri was conducting his investigation, Sakharam Bapu ensured that pregnant Gangabai, the widow of Narayanrao, was secure and safe from harm's way. If Gangabai were to give birth to a male child, he would become the heir to the kingdom. But if she were to give birth to a female child, Sakharam Bapu contemplated the idea of making Ali Bahadur, the grandson of Baji Rao, the Peshwa of the Maratha empire. He convinced most of the Maratha chiefs from Raghunathrao's camp to switch sides without rousing his suspicion. He laid the foundations of a group of twelve Maratha officials and chiefs who were collectively known as the Barbhais Council ("Twelve Comrades"). These included Nana Phadnavis, Haripant Phadnavis, Babuji Naik, Maloji Ghorpade, Bhavanrao Pratinidhi, Raste, Patwardhans with the addition of Mahadji Shinde and Tukoji Holkar.^[33]