Nagpur Affairs- An Old and Rare Book (Set of 2 Volumes)

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Preface The selection of letters in this Volume was begun with the modest aim of writing a paper on Divakar Purushottam, the Nagpur statesman. As the work proceeded it was found impossible to stop without going through all the references, however insignificant, about this personality. This naturally led to the Bengal Expedition and therefore to the correspondence about the genesis and fitting out of that expedition. It was then found that it was necessary to give all the references concerning the short life of Khandoji Senabahadar, the man-in-charge of the expedition, for correctly judging his charac As many references to this personage were to be found in the news-letters of Shriram Sadashiv, who had been sent with him from ter. Poona to Nagpur, it was decided to include these also. Then it was thought that the few letters of earlier personages in Bhosle history which were found in the bundle should also be included into it. This is how the Volume has attained its present form and length. The unity underlying these letters is derived from the fact that they all refer to the Nagpur Bhosles.

Introduction The letters published in this volume are for the most part copies of original letters addressed to Balaji Janardan Bhanu, alias, Nana Phadnis, virtually the Regent of the Maratha State for more than two decades, by members of the Bhosle ruling family of Nagpur and persons connected with their Court in one capacity or another. As no useful purpose would be served by printing the whole of such correspondence, letters of little historical importance not necessary for connecting the narrative of certain events or for a clear under- standing of the activities of certain important persons, are omitted from this selection. Still a good many letters of ephemeral interest have found their way here for introducing new characters or de- lineating their lives. The main idea was to collect material for the life of an important but little-studied personage in Maratha history, the Diwan Divakar Pandit of the Nagpur Court. He is famous as one of the three wise men who made the Maratha history what it was during the post-Panipat period and helped to stabilise the se- parate existence of the Nagpur State in the latter half of the eight- eenth century. Comparatively little was known of him from direct evidence, till the calendars of Persian Correspondence (Imperial Records Department) and the Selections from the Peshwa Daftar (Bombay Government) were published, some two decades back. Still an historian of Nagpur (the late Mr. Y. M. Kale) writing after their publication had to confess that not a single letter of Divakar Pandit was to be found in his native province and no authentic information about this man was available after diligent local investigation.

Book's Contents and Sample Pages