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Pune historian Raj Memane’s book to throw light on battle of Devgiri
Memane’s book is the result of one-and-a-half years of research into nearly 12,000 Modi script documents.
Very little is known about the 500 Maratha warriors who fought and won against more than 10,000 soldiers of the Nizam of Hyderabad at Devgiri fort, Sambhajinagar district, in 1763. However, that is about to change with city-based researcher, Raj Memane, planning to publish his book on Saturday, December 17, revealing historical facts not only about the battle of Devgiri but also Thorle Madhavrao Peshwa and the Maratha empire. Memane’s book is the result of one-and-a-half years of research into nearly 12,000 Modi script documents.
“During my research, I had published a stamp of Sadashivrao Bhau Peshwa about two years ago when I came across some documents about the Devgiri fort. This fort, built in the 12th century by the Yadavas, was ruled by the Mughals for more than 450 years but for 17 years from 1760 to 1775 and from 1795 to 1797, it was under the Maratha kingdom,” Memane said.
It was during this period in July 1763 that war broke out at the Devgiri fort between Hyderabad’s Nizam Navab Ali Khan’s army of over 10,000 soldiers and the Maratha army of just 500 soldiers. Despite being gravely short on manpower and resources, the Maratha army won the battle. “This is a great historical achievement but is unfortunately unknown to us. Hence, I researched it through 12,000 Modi script documents at the Pune Archives that house historical documents going back to the Peshwa era. I was the first one to open this set of documents,” Memane said.
In the battle of Devgiri, the subhedar (head) of the Maratha army was Uddhav Vireshwar Chitale and the killedar (fort in-charge) was Bhagwant Mohite. While the sardar (head) of the Nizam’s 10,000-strong army was Rajaram Baburao. The Nizam’s army surrounded the Devgiri fort from all sides and tried every tactic to capture the fort but was defeated every single time. The battle continued for 15 days at the end of which the skeleton Maratha army won. “One of the main highlights of this battle was that the Marathas used agneebans (fire rockets) and I have described the method used to prepare these fire rockets in my book,” Memane said.
Apart from the battle of Devgiri, Memane’s book throws light on the social, economic and technological aspects of the Maratha kingdom at that time. The 17 years of Maratha rule coincided with the golden period of Thorle Madhavrao Peshwa’s reign in which new temples were built at Devgiri fort and canons and fire rockets were manufactured; 90% of the infrastructure still remains at Devgiri fort.
Mandar Lawate, a prominent, city-based historian said, “I have seen Memane’s research work closely for the last several years. He would spend hours at the Peshwa daftar at the Pune Archives searching for documents about Maratha history and he is now coming up with a detailed book about the Devgiri fort. The information that will come to light through this book has remained unexplored till now and the book will be the first to reveal to the world the battle that was fought between just 500 Maratha soldiers and a huge army belonging to the Nizam of Hyderabad. The book will also reveal the socio-economic conditions at that time when the fort was under Maratha rule.”
Memane said, “We are going to publish this book in the Marathi language on Saturday, December 17, at the Sarasbaug Ganpati temple. In the next couple of months, the Hindi and English versions will be published. In fact, some big film producers have contacted me for this historic battle to be replicated on the big screen and hopefully, that too will happen by next year.”
