Merhattais, Marattas, or Mahattas; a people of India, and by far the most Mahattas considerable of all the Hindoo powers. The Marhattas boast a very high antiquity; they profess the religion of Brahma; speak a dialect of the Sanscrit language, in which they have introduced all the technical terms of Mogul administration; use a character of their own in writing, though not very different from some of the other tribes around them; and are divided into four castes or classes of people, with the various subdivisions of professional distinction found over the rest of Hindoostan; but with this remarkable difference, that among the Marhattas every individual may, as in fact he occasionally does, follow the life of a soldier.
As a nation inhabiting immemorially the country properly denominated Marhat or Merhat, and comprehending the greater part of the Paithwa's present dominions in the Deccan, they were completely subjugated, and afterwards for many centuries deprived, first by the Patans, then by the Mogul conquerors of Delhi. At length, towards the end of Alamgir's reign, they united, rebelled, and under the famous Seva-jeer or Seva-jeer, a leader of their own tribe, laid the foundations of their present vast empire, which has risen gradually on the ruins of the Mohamedan power, as related under the article Hindostan.
Seva-jeer was succeeded by his son Rajah Sahou, who considerably extended the Marhatta dominions. When Rajah Sahou grew old and infirm, and the fatigues of government began to press heavy upon him, he appointed Biffonat Balajee, a Brahman born at Gokum, and leader of about 25,000 horse, to the office of Paithwa or vicegerent.
Rajah Sahou died without issue, but left nephews by his brother. The courage and wisdom of Balajee had gained him, during the latter years of the old rajah, the affection and esteem of all the nation. But, under an appearance of modesty and self-denial, his prevailing passion was ambition; and the sentiments of gratitude and loyalty were absorbed in the desire to command. He made use of the influence he had acquired under his benefactor to firmly establish his own power, that he not only retained the high office of Paithwa during his life, but transmitted it to his posterity. The Marhattas, gradually forgetting a prince they knew nothing of, became accustomed to obey his vicegerent only; yet a certain respect for the royal race, or the dread of the consequence of violating the strong prejudice which the nation still retains in favour of the family of its founder, have served perhaps to preserve it; and the descendants of Rajah Sahou's nephews yet exist, but are kept in captivity in the palace at Sattarah. The eldest is styled Ram Rajah, or sovereign; his name is on the seal and coin of the Marhatta state; but his person is unknown, except to those who immediately surround him. He resides in his splendid prison, encompassed with the appendages of eastern grandeur, but deprived of all power, and kept totally ignorant of business. The seat of government was transferred from the ancient royal residence of Sattarah to Poonah; and the usurper, as well as his successors, seem still to have acted under the supposed authority of the deposed prince, by their assuming no other title or character than that Marhattas of Paithwa or prime minister. From this change, the empire of the Ram Rajah has been distinguished only by the appellation of the Pai/ba/ship, or otherwise the Government of Poonah, from the name of its present capital.
Biflonat Balajee was succeeded as Paithwa by his eldest son Balajee Row (called also Nana Saheb, or Nanah Row), who left three sons, the eldest of whom, Balajee Pundit, sometimes called Nanah Pundit, succeeded him. The two others were Rogobah or Ragornat Row, and Shamheer Row.
Balajee Pundit left two sons; Mahadava Row, who was Paithwa twelve years; and Narrain Row, who succeeded him.
During the latter part of the life of Mahadava Row, his uncle Rogobah was confined to the palace at Poonah, for reasons with which we are not acquainted. Mahadava Row died without issue; and upon the accession of Narrain his brother, a youth of about 19 years of age, Rogobah in vain applied to be released from his confinement. He is therefore suspected of having entered into a conspiracy with two officers in his nephew's service, Somair Jing and Yuluph Gardie, in order to procure that by force which he could not obtain by treaty. The correspondence between the conspirators was carried on with so much secrecy, that the court had not the least intimation or suspicion of their design, till every avenue leading to the palace had been secured, and the whole building surrounded by the troops under the command of those two officers. It is said, that on the first alarm, Narrain Row, supposing his uncle, ran to his apartment, threw himself at his feet, and implored his protection: "You are my uncle (said he), spare the blood of your own family, and take possession of a government which I am willing to resign to you."
Somair and Yuluph entered the room whilst the young Paithwa was in this suppliant posture. Rogobah, with apparent surprise and anger, ordered them to withdraw; but as they either knew him not to be sincere, or thought they had proceeded too far to retreat, they stabbed Narrain with their poniards whilst he clung to his uncle's knees.
The office of Paithwa being now vacant, the chiefs of the nation then at Poonah were assembled, and Rogobah being the only survivor of the family of Biflonat Balajee, to whose memory the Marhattas in those parts are enthusiastically attached, he was named to fill it. Being naturally of a warlike temper, he resolved to undertake some foreign expedition; for besides gratifying his passion for the field, he probably hoped, by the splendour of his exploits, to draw off the attention of the public from inquiring into the late catastrophe.
A pretence for war was not difficult to be found. He renewed the claim of his nation to the chout, and marched his army towards Hydrabad, the capital of the Nizam. The vigour of his measures procured him an accommodation of his demand; and he was proceeding to enforce a similar one upon the Carnatic, when he received intelligence which obliged him to return hastily to Poonah.
Although the Marhatta chiefs had acknowledged Rogobah as Paithwa, yet they and the people in general were much dissatisfied with his conduct. The murderers of Narrain Row had not only escaped punishment, but, as was reported, had been rewarded. The crime was unexampled, and the perpetrators were beheld with uncommon horror and detestation. The Paithwa had hitherto so fully possessed the love of the people, that, till then, guards were considered as unnecessary about the person of a man whose character rendered him inviolable. Every one therefore had free access to his palace, and he relied with confidence for his safety upon the affections of those who approached him.
These reflections operated powerfully upon the minds of the Marhattas; but perhaps no violent consequences would have ensued, had it not been discovered, soon after the departure of Rogobah from Poonah, that the widow of Narrain Row, Ganga Baee, was pregnant. This determined their wavering resolutions. Frequent consultations were held among the principal men then in the capital; and it was finally resolved to abjure the allegiance they had sworn to Rogobah, and declare the child, yet unborn, to be the legal successor of the late paithwa.
A council of regency was immediately appointed to govern the country until the child should become of age; and it was agreed to reserve their deliberations, in case it should prove a female or die, till the event should render them necessary. They who principally conducted these measures, and whose names will on that account be remembered, were Sackharam Baboo and Balajee Pundit, called also Nanah Pher Nevees from his having been long the principal secretary of the Marhatta state. Nine other Marhatta leaders approved of these measures, and swore to maintain them.
As the first step towards the execution of their plan, the widow of Narrain Row was conveyed to Poorendher, a fort of great strength, situated on a high mountain, about 25 miles from Poonah. As soon as Rogobah received intimation of this revolution, he marched back towards the capital. But discontent had already infected his troops; some of the chiefs retired to their estates, and others joined the standard of the regents. He however risked a battle with an army of the revolters commanded by Trimbec Row, in which the latter was slain; but though he obtained a victory, the strength of the confederates daily increased, while his own troops were diminished by continual defections. He therefore found it necessary to retire to Ugein, and to solicit the affluence of the Marhatta chiefs Scindia and Holkar; but meeting with a refusal, he went to Surat, and applied for succours to the English.
Rogobah's success in this application was the cause of two wars with the Marhatta state; which, after much waste of blood and treasure, we were obliged to conclude by relinquishing his claim, and acknowledging as legal paithwa the son of Narrain Row, who was born about seven months after the death of his father. See INDIA and HINDOSTAN.
The Marhatta dominions, as already observed, are governed by a number of separate chiefs, all of whom acknowledge the Ram Rajah as their sovereign; and all except Moodajee Boonfalal, own the paithwa as his vicegerent. The country immediately subject to the paithwa, including all the hereditary territories that were left by the Rajah Sahou to the Ram Rajah, Mookajee Boonsaiah, rajah of Berar, possessed, besides Berar, the greatest part of Orissa. This prince being descended from the line of the Ram Rajah, eyes the power of the peshwa, by whom a branch of his family is kept in ignominious confinement, with ill will; has often refused to support his measures; and, on some occasions, has even seemed inclined to act against him.
Next to Mookajee, in point of importance, must be ranked Madajee Scindia, a bold and aspiring chief, who possesses the greatest part of the extensive feudatory or government of Malwa, together with part of the province of Candith. The remainder is under the dominion of Holkar. Both he and Scindia pretend to be descended from the ancient kings of Malva. Scindia resides chiefly at Ugein, near the city of Mandu, once the capital of these kings; and Holkar at Indore, a town little more than 30 miles west of it. The dominions of these, and of some chiefs of less consequence, extend as far as the river Jumna.
The measures pursued by the Marhattas for some years left little room to doubt that they aspired at the sovereignty of all Hindostan, or at least at the expulsion of the Mohammedan princes: And in this last design they appear to have succeeded*, and to have gained a great accession of territory, through the arms of Scindia, both by the capture of the cities of Agra and Delhi, with their territorial dependencies, and the consequent captivity of the unfortunate monarch who ruled there as the last imperial representative of the great Mogul race of Timur. "The whole of the dominion thus newly established is of vast extent, stretching near 1200 miles along the frontiers of Tippoo and the Nizam in a north-east direction, from Goa on the Malabar coast to Balafere in Orissa adjoining to Bengal; and from thence north-westly 1200 miles more, touching the confines of the British and allied states, on the borders of the Ganges and Jumna, to the territory of the Seiks at Paniput," rendered famous in 1761 for the last memorable defeat sustained by the Marhattas in their ambitious contest for empire with the united declining power of the Mohammedans. From this place in a southerly course, with great encroachment on the old eastern boundary of the Rajapoot country of Ajmere, it runs about 260 miles to the little Hindoo principality of Kotta, and thence south-westly 540 miles further to the extreme point of the foubah of Gujerat at Duarka, including the whole of that fertile province; from whence, along the seacoast of Cambay and Malabar to Goa, the distance may be reckoned 800 miles. Thus the overgrown empire of the Marhattas may be said to extend east 19 degrees of longitude, near the parallel of 22 degrees north latitude, from the mouths of the Indus to those of the Ganges; and about 13 degrees of latitude north, from the Kishnagh to Paniput; comprehending at least an area of 400,000 square geographical miles, being considerably more than a third part of Hindostan, including the Decan, and equal perhaps in dimensions to all the British and allied states in India, with those of Golconda and Mylore, taken together.
Such was the state of affairs in India so far as the Marhattas were concerned a few years ago. By consulting the history of India, the reader will observe, that the power and dominion of these enterprising chiefs have been since greatly abridged by the successful progress of the British arms. See INDIA.