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CHAPTER XVI.

BIRTHPLACE AND CRADLE OF MAHRATTA POWER.

[Speech delivered before the Royal Geographical Society, in London, February 1882.]

Imperial achievements of the Mahratta nation Sivaji the founder of their power - His birth, education, and early habits-Amasses plunder in mountain fastnesses Openly defies the Muhammadan Power after assassinating its Envoy - Revenges his father's wrongs - Performs exploit against Muhammadan Viceroy - His escape from Delhi - Retakes the Lion's Den fortress - His reign and death-Situation of his tombNational spirit aroused by him- Political control subsequently established and maintained by the British.

*

THE subject of my speech this evening is the geography of the birthplace and cradle of Mahratta power. This geography is in the first place illustrated by a map, which has been prepared by the Society's draughtsman, Mr. Sharbau; it is further illustrated by a series of pictorial illustrations, prepared by my brother, Lieutenant George Temple, R.N., and enlarged from sketches made by me upon the spot. Though the subject of my speech will be partly political, still it will not infringe upon the rules of this Society, and it will after all be in a great degree geographical, because its object will be to show you how, owing to the peculiar geographical features of the country, a despised and abject race rose to dominion over what has subsequently become the British Empire in the East.

At the time of which I speak, just over two hundred years

* These have been engraved, much reduced, for this report of the speech, by Mr. Whymper.

ago, about the year 1650-that is, a hundred years before the battle of Plassy, and two hundred years before the war of the Indian Mutiny-the Mahrattas had been subjected for full five hundred years to the Muhammadans. They were an aboriginal race, of very humble, I may say unprepossessing, aspect; rather short, clumsy, mean-looking little men: they were thoroughly despised by their Muhammadan conquerors, who called them the mountain rats. But the hour came for them to rise, and with the hour came the man, and the leader. Owing to the extraordinary advantages offered them by the country in which they dwelt, they, in a short time, rose victoriously against their foreign rulers the Muhammadans. They first dethroned the Great Mogul in his imperial palace at Delhi; they fought the Afgan and Persian invaders of India; they worried the Portuguese at Goa; they threatened even the early British Governors of Bombay: they were visited by European embassies in some of the hill forts depicted in our illustrations; they obtained a dominion from Cape Comorin, near Ceylon, right up to the Himalayas. They truly boasted that their cavalry watered their horses in the river Kaveri, not far from Ceylon, and as far as the Indus opposite Peshawur. They fought the English in many stand-up fights. They even threatened us to such a degree that we had to build a ditch round Calcutta to defend ourselves from them. You have often heard Calcutta called the City of the Ditch: against whom was that ditch constructed? It was against the Mahrattas. Such, then, was the splendid imperial position obtained in the course of one century by this abject, despised race. And what was the cause of this astonishing success? It was, first, the martial quality fostered by the mountains, and in the second place the immense military and political advantages offered by the mountain fastnesses and strongholds. Such is the main topic upon which I shall offer you historical, pictorial, and topographical details.

I must first ask you carefully to consider the map prefixed to this address. You will observe the western coast with the

CHAP. XVI.

POLITICAL GEOGRAPHY.

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great city of Bombay. That coast district is called the Konkan. Then you will perceive a long line of dark mountains running from north to south: those are the Western Ghats. To the east of these Western Ghats you will see the country called the Deccan, the capital of which is the city of Poona. Now I must remind you of the contour and configuration of this remarkable country. Taking it from west to east, you will first observe the coast-line, then there is a great wall of mountain, 2000 feet high on the average, rising in its peaks up to 5000 feet. From this average altitude of 2000 feet there gradually slopes eastwards the plateau of the Deccan, so that the Konkan being on the level of the sea, there is a wall of mountains, and above that there is the great table-land of the Deccan, 2000 feet above the sea, gradually becoming lower as you proceed eastwards. Then notice exactly the line of the Western Ghats. I have explained to you their altitude, 2000 feet on the average, rising up to peaks of 5000 feet.

I must ask you to remember these details, because upon such remembrance will depend the interest with which I hope you will follow the stirring scenes I am about to describe. Then the geology is very remarkable. Time does not permit me to explain the various processes of geological denudation which have caused these hills to present the form of a great wall-literally a wall. The wall may be broken; it may be in sections; but, after all, a wall it is, and a wall it will remain, I suppose, to the end of the world. The geological formation is of the plutonic kind, commonly called trap: in many parts it consists of layers of indurated lava. The importance, politically, of these mountains is in this wise: first, they nourish a resolute, enduring, daring, I may say audacious spirit among their inhabitants; secondly, they offer strongholds and fastnesses to which these inhabitants can resort whenever they are pressed by an enemy; and thirdly, and perhaps most important, they lie between fertile countries. The country to the west, the Konkan, is one of the most fertile parts of India and one of the most densely inhabited. The.

country to the east, the Deccan, is also fertile and populous. Consequently, the men of the hills can make rapid raids for marauding or plundering purposes, just as the eagle swoops from its eyry upon the quarry. After these sudden descents they can rapidly carry off plunder, treasure, and the like, to the hills, and once they are there it is very difficult to approach them. They are, therefore, able readily to establish a predatory power which cannot be extirpated or exterminated. You will perceive what immense political advantages these mountains offer, and how it is that they become truly the cradle of greatness, power, and empire.

This being the physical, topographical and political character of the hills, I have to remind you that the leader of the Mahrattas and the founder of their empire was Sivaji. I particularly beg you to remember the name in order that you may follow the stories I have to tell. Recollect that Sivaji flourished a little over two hundred years ago, one hundred years before Clive won the battle of Plassy, two hundred years before the Indian Mutiny. I am anxious to impress these facts well upon your minds, in order that you may follow my narrative.

After this preface, I will ask you to go straight to the pictorial diagrams. The first illustration to which I shall invite your attention (No. 22) is the hill fort of Junnar, where Sivaji was born. I should explain that the hill itself is called Sewnar, but nowadays takes the name of Junnar, from the town which lies at its base. You will see the town in the illustration, on a plain, and you will note rising above it precipitous mountains. You will also see Junnar clearly marked upon the map just behind the main crest of the range. It is the first instance which I have to mention of those peaks of 4000 or 5000 feet which I have already alluded to. You will see what a rugged precipitous place this is, and what a fitting spot it was for a hero to be born in. I must ask you to remember Sivaji's father, Shahji, because I shall have to mention that person hereafter. I must ask you also to remember that Sivaji's mother was a Mahratta lady of