History of Ahmednagar

Ahmednagar 1896

Ahmednagar, a city in Maharashtra, India, was established in the 1490s. Its history is closely linked to the history of Nizam Shahi sultanate, Shivaji Maharaj, the founder of the Maratha empire, and to the Peshwa, the ministers of the Maratha empire and later the Maratha confederacy

Establishment

At Bhingar the site of his great victory over Jahangir Khan, midway between Junnar and Daulatabad, Ahmad resolved to found his capital there and from it determined to send an army every year to lay waste to the country round Daulatabad till he reduced it. In 1494 he laid the foundation of a city close to the Bagh Nizam upon the left bank of the Sina river and called it after himself Ahmadnagar. In two years the city is said to have rivalled Baghdad and Cairo in splendour. After this the Ahmadnagar army took the field twice a year at the time of the early and the late harvests, to plunder the country near Daulatabad in order if possible to reduce the fort by famine. In 1495, Ahmad induced Khwaja Jahan of Paranda to march to the aid of Dastur Dinar who held the country between the Bhima and Telangana and was anxious to establish his independence. He afterwards himself marched to join him, but hearing that peace was made between Dastur Dinar and the Bahamani king he returned to Ahmadnagar. In 1498 as Yusuf Adil Shah of Bijapur had marched against Dastur Dinar, Ahmad Nizam again went to his aid and caused Yusuf to retire. In the same year Ahmad Nizam Shah, Yusuf Adil Shah and Fathullah Imad-ul-Mulk of the Berar Sultanate resolved that they should divide the Deccan among them and that Ahmad Nizam should have Daulatabad, Antora, Galna and the country beyond those forts as far as the borders of Gujarat. In 1523, Bibi Mariam, the sister of Ismail Adil Shah of Bijapur, was given in marriage to Burhan and the nuptials were celebrated with great splendour. Asad Khan of Belgaum, the Bijapur envoy, in his master's name had promised to give Solapur as the princess' dowry. Ismail Adil Shah afterwards denied that he had authorised the cession of Solapur, and Burhan was induced to drop the demand and to return to Ahmadnagar.

The Ahmadnagar dominions extended over the greater part of Berar and the whole of what was afterwards included in the Mughal Subha of Aurangabad, Galna, and some other districts in Nasik and Khandesh and the district of Kalyan in the Konkan from Bankot to Bassein. Though the chief power in the country was Muhammedan, large numbers of Hindus were employed in the service of the State. The garrisons of hill-forts seem generally to have been Hindus, Marathas, Kolis, and Dhangars. Besides the hill-forts some parts of the open country were left under loyal Maratha and Brahman officers with the title of estate-holder or jagirdar, and of district head or Deshmukh. Estates were generally granted on military tenure, the value of the grant being in proportion to the number of troops which the grant-holder maintained. Family feuds or personal hate, and, in the case of those whose lands lay near the borders of two kingdoms, an intelligent regard for the chances of war, often divided Maratha families and led members of one family to take service under rival Musalman States. Hindus of distinguished service were rewarded with the Hindu titles of raja, naik, and rav. Numbers of Hindus were employed in the Ahmadnagar armies.^[1]

The Maratha chiefs under Ahmadnagar were Jadhavrav, Raja Bhosle and many others of less note. Jadhavrav, Deshmukh of Sindkhed, is supposed, with much probability, to have been a descendant of the Rajas of Devgad. Lakhuji Jadhavrav in the end of the 16th century held an estate or jagir under the Nizam-shahi government for the support of 10,000 horse. The respectable family of the Bhosles, which produced the great Shivaji, first rose to notice under the Ahmadnagar government. They are said to have held several patilships, but their principal residence was at the village of Verul or Elura near Daulatabad. Bhosaji who is said to have been the first of the family to settle in the Deccan, and from whom the name Bhosle is sometimes derived. Maloji Bhosle married Dipabai, the sister of Jagpalrav Naik-Nimbalkar, the Deshmukh of Phaltan. At the age of twenty-five, in the year 1577, by the interest of Lakhuji Jadhavrav he was entertained in the service of Murtaza Nizam Shah with a small party of horse of which he was the proprietor. Maloji was an active shiledar or cavalier, and acquitted himself so well in various duties entrusted to him that he began to rise to distinction. He had by some means made an addition to his small body of horse and was always much noticed by his first patron Jadhavrav. The story told of his rise to power in the Ahmadnagar court is, that in 1599 at the time of the Holi festival in March–April, Maloji took his son Shahaji, a remarkably fine boy of five, to pay his respects to Lakhuji Jadhavrav, Maloji's patron. Lakhuji Jadhavrav, pleased with the boy, seated Shahaji near Jiji his daughter, a child of three or four. The children began to play, and Lakhuji jokingly said to the girl, 'How would you like him for a husband. The guests laughed but Maloji rose and solemnly accepted Lakhuji's offer of marriage. Lakhuji and his wife were furious, but Maloji was unshaken.'

He retired to his village, where, it is said, the goddess Bhavani appeared to him and discovered a large treasure. At all events he and his brother Vithoji became possessed of money in some secret manner. Their agent or their receiver was a banker of Chambhargonde or Shrigonde about thirty miles south of Ahmadnagar, named Shesho Naik Punde, in whose hands the cash was placed.^[2] According to Maratha legends, the discovery of this treasure was the means provided by the goddess for carrying out her promise, that one of the clan would become a king and found a family which would reign for twenty-seven generations. Maloji spent his money in buying horses, and in the popular works of digging ponds and wells and endowing temples. He still clung to his favourite scheme of being connected with the family of Jadhavrav.

Jagpalrav Naik-Nimbalkar of Phaltan, the brother of Dipabai, Maloji's wife, warmly interested himself to promote the proposed marriage of his nephew. Wealth and power at a falling court like that of Ahmadnagar could procure anything. As Jadhavrav's chief objection was Maloji's want of rank, this difficulty was removed by raising him to the command of 5,000 horse with the title of Maloji Raja Bhosle. The forts of Shivneri and Chakan in Poona with their dependent districts were likewise placed in his charge; and the sub-divisions of Poona and Supa were made over to him as estates. Jadhavrav had no longer any excuse for not performing what he was urged to by his sovereign (1604). The marriage of Shahaji to Jijibai was celebrated with great pomp, and was honoured by the presence of the Sultan.^[3]

Mughal rule

Death of Aurangzeb: 1706

In 1706, the grand Moghal army under Zulfikar Khan, on its way from Sinhgad ten miles south of Pune towards Ahmadnagar, was attacked by the Hindu Marathas. In spite of a gallant charge led by Khan Alam, a great part of the Moghal army was defeated. On pitching his camp in Ahmadnagar, on the same spot which it had occupied in such splendour 21 years before, Aurangzeb said: "I have ended my campaigning, my last earthly journey is over." He died at Ahmadnagar on 20 February 1707 in the eighty-ninth year of his age.

On hearing of the death of his father Aurangzeb's second surviving son Azam hastily returned to Ahmadnagar and performed the funeral rites. He then moved northwards, taking Shahu, the son of Sambhaji, with him. Since his father Sambhaji's execution on 11 March 1689, when he was a boy of seven years, Shahu had been brought up by Aurangzeb with care and kindness. In the hope that his influence might make the Marathas less hostile, Aurangzeb before his death intending to set Shahu free, had presented him with Shivaji's sword Bhavani and also the sword of the Bijapur general Afzal Khan and given him the district of Nevasa as a marriage gift. Accordingly Shahu, on being released by Aurangzeb's son Prince Azam, marched south from the Narmada. At the Godavari he halted to dispel any suspicion that he was an impostor. While he was away from Ahmadnagar he had an accidental skirmish with the villagers of Parad who fired on Shahu's troops. As several of his men were killed Shahu assaulted the place and made a severe example of the offenders. During the attack a woman, bearing a boy in her arms, rushed towards Shahu, and threw down the child, calling out that she devoted him to the Raja's service. Shahu took charge of the child, and in commemoration of his first success, called him Fattehsing. He afterwards added his own surname of Bhosle and always treated the child like his own son. This Fattehsing was the founder of the Akalkot family. Shahu did not leave Ahmadnagar until circumstances forced him and would even have preferred to rule from that town itself if it were possible. He had to give up this thought as Ahmadnagar which had figured for centuries as a Muslim possession and more recently as the seat of Aurangzeb's government was not suited to the requirements of a Maratha king. He therefore moved from Ahmadnagar southwards towards Pune and halted at Khed where in the battle fought on 12 October 1707 with Tarabai's forces, Shahu emerged victorious. From there he marched to Satara where he was crowned king on 12 January 1708. He appointed Balaji Vishwanath to the post of Sena Karte (organiser of forces) and later due to his acumen in winning over friends and destroying the enemies of the kingdom he appointed him to the Peshwaship of the Maratha State.

Husain Ali now came to the conclusion that his only chance of success lay in securing the goodwill and co-operation of the Marathas, particularly of Shahu. A compromise was therefore arrived at between Shahu and the Sayyad brothers representing the Moghal emperor, through the mediation of Shankaraji Malhar. Under the terms of the agreement the Marathas obtained the grants of the chauth and sardeshmukhi of the Deccan including Ahmadnagar. These terms were formally ratified by the emperor Muhammad Shah who succeeded Farrukhsiyar who was deposed by the Sayyad brothers. Shortly after, Balaji Vishwanath died and was succeeded by his son Bajirao as Peshwa. When these events were taking place in the Maratha State Delhi witnessed the fall of the Sayyad brothers. In the Deccan, Nizam-ul-Mulk also revolted declaring his independence but formally recognising allegiance to the Moghal emperor at Delhi. Thus the eclipse of Moghal power in the Deccan was complete. The district of Ahmadnagar was one of the parts of the Deccan which became subject to the Nizam. It was very difficult for the Nizam to accept the Maratha claims for chauth and sardeshmukhi for the six subhas of the Deccan and the following years saw the Marathas and the Nizam confronting each other for supremacy in the Deccan. In most of the wars fought between the Marathas and the Nizam, the district of Ahmadnagar was traversed by the opposing armies and suffered like all the other districts of Maharashtra from the ravages of war. The district remained with the Nizam, Nizam-ul-Mulk, Asaf Jah till his death in 1748. On 11 February 1760 the whole of the present district of Ahmadnagar was gained by the Marathas. In 1761 after the great Marathas' disaster at Panipat, Nizam Ali who still suffered from the ignominy of the defeat at Udgir marched directly upon Pune at the head of the powerful army of 60,000 men. He carried fire and desolation throughout his march and destroyed Toka and Pravara-Sangam, the two great centres of Hindu religious sanctity.

Koli rising: 1760

In 1760 the peace of Ahmadnagar was broken by a Koli rising. One of the Koli chiefs, Hiraji Bomle, whose family had held estates and rank from the time of the Bahamani kings, died. Though Hiraji's son Javji held a post in the Peshwa's service, the Peshwa's manager at Junnar refused to give Javji his father's estates and rank. Javji, who is described as of slight figure, middle-sized and fair, bold, restless and of irregular habits, gave up the Peshwa's service, withdrew to the hills, and organized a series of gang robberies. Javji surrendered all his forts to Tukojirao Holkar, and through Holkar's influence was pardoned and placed in military and police charge of a district or subha of sixty villages in Rajur with powers of life and death over Koli robbers and outlaws. Jayji continued in a position of honour till in 1789 he died from a wound inflicted by one of his own followers.^[7] He was succeeded by his son Hiraji Naik. During the latter years of his life Javji had taken part in quelling a serious rising among the Kolis which was headed by two Koli leaders, Kokata and Shilkunda.

In 1801, Yashwantrao Holkar descended upon Ahmadnagar now a possession of Shinde, with the greatest fury. He plundered the city and the fort and proceeding further dug up and burnt Shinde's palaces at Shrigonda and Jambgaon. The glorious edifices erected by Mahadji Shinde and his chiefs were razed to the ground. Bajirao now tried to conciliate Holkar but was prevented from this action by Shinde whose forces were fast approaching in pursuit of Holkar. In the meanwhile Peshwa's forces under Purandare were defeated by Holkar at Baramati. Bajirao sent frantic messages to Shinde for sending succour. Shinde sent his general Bakhshi Sadashiv Bhaskar with whatever forces he could command. He reached Paithan at the end of August and Ahmadnagar on 8 September 1802. He arrived at the capital on 22 October. Yeshwantrao, on receipt of this news, sent a warning to the Peshwa stating that he had no desire to harm the Peshwa and urged for immediate negotiation between him, the Peshwa and Shinde. But his appeal fell on deaf ears. The fateful day arrived. On 25 October the armies of Shinde and Holkar locked themselves in a grim battle at Hadapsar which lasted for the whole day resulting in the complete rout of the former. Bajirao fled from Pune to Bassein and there remained practically under British protection. On 31 December 1802 he concluded the celebrated treaty of Bassein with the British under the terms of which in return for cessions of territory the British government bound itself to defend the Peshwa from all attacks. In the meanwhile, Holkar declared for Amritrao, the brother of Bajirao, for Peshwaship and tried his best to organise a Maratha confederacy for an eventual war with the British.

Treaty of Pune: 1817

In June 1817, the English imposed another treaty on Bajirao with stricter terms, thus depriving him of all power and authority. Under the terms of the treaty known as the treaty of Pune the Peshwa ceded the fort of Ahmadnagar to the English.^[8] This treaty also declared Trimbakji to be the murderer of Shastri, finally extinguished the Peshwa's overlord-ship over the Indian Chiefs, ceded to the English all the Peshwa's territory outside Maharashtra, compelled him to withdraw all his wakils from foreign courts and prevented him from any longer keeping correspondence or communication with them. Thus the Great Maratha confederacy came to be finally and publicly dissolved. The whole of the dominions of the Peshwa and those of the Holkar in the Deccan were taken possession of by the British government. Shinde had held half of Shevgaon and the Shrigonda pargana. The greater part of the Korti pargana including the present sub-divisions of Karjat and part of Shrigonda was under Rao Rambha Nimbalkar till 1821 when it was given to the English. Ahmadnagar with the country between the Chandor hills and the Bhima was placed under Captain Pottinger.

During the 1857 risings Ahmadnagar was the scene of considerable disturbance. The rebels were about 7,000 Bhils of south Nasik and north Ahmadnagar. Detachments of troops were stationed to guard the frontier against raids from the Nizam's dominions, and to save the large towns from the chance of Bhil-attacks. The work of scattering the Bhil gatherings and hunting the rebels was left almost entirely to the police who were strengthened by the raising of a special Koli corps and by detachments of infantry and cavalry. The first gathering of Bhils was under the leadership of one Bhagoji Naik.

Modern history: 1818 and forward

Although Ahmadnagar district was created as early as in 1818, modern history of Ahmadnagar may be said to have commenced from 1869, the year in which parts of Nashik and Solapur (which till then had comprised Nagar) were separated and the present Nagar district was formed.

Ahmednagar District was created after the defeat of the Maratha Confederacy in the Third Anglo-Maratha War in 1818, when most of the Peshwa's domains were annexed to British India.

The district remained part of the Central division of Bombay Presidency until India's independence in 1947, when it became part of Bombay State, and at its split in 1960 of the new state of Maharashtra.

References

External links

• Travel to Ahmednagar
• Pictures of Ahmednagar
• Some more vintage pictures of Ahmednagar city
• Ahmednagar Directory