A History of the Mahrattas

Sumbhajee attacks the Portuguese—endeavours to conciliate the English.— Portuguese besiege Ponda and are compelled to retreat with heavy loss.—Kuloosha the prime minister of Subhajee.--Decay in the institutions of Sivajee—State of the army—lands overassessed.—Approach of Aurungzebe — Survey of the state of the Deccan from the first year after Sumbhajee's accession up to the fall of Beejapoor [...] XVii of the Pritee Needhee.—A sedition obliges Suntajee Ghorepuray to flee from his own troops.—Satara becomes the seat of the Mahratta government.—Changes and promotions.—Kanhojee Angria on the death of Seedojee Goojur succeeds to the command of the fleet.—Suntajee Ghorepuray basely murdered by Nagojee Manay.—Raja Ram takes the field with a very large army—plunders the country and imposes the [...] The bulbuls have eaten the grain in the ear— Oh ! how is the rent to be found?* The Mavlis and Hetkaris were local residents of the wallies of the Sahyadri Range and of the tract called Masai and Het respectively. [...] Geographically Maharashtra includes the Konkan—the strip between the Sahyadri and the sea the Ghatmatha being the country on the top of the ranges and the Desk which includes the valleys lower down the river. [...] These characteristic features of the country secure for it the advantages of a good and bracing climate which distinguishes it from the dry and moist extremes of heat and cold of the temperature of the plains in North India and the lowlands.