Having lost all his treasure and his artillery, his sole hope was in the troops under the command of his brother-in-law, Makdúm Alí, then engaged in warfare in the Arcot district, while the main object of the treacherous Khande Ráo, who owed everything to Haidar's patronage, was to annihilate this force with the aid of the Maráthás. Fortune however favoured Haidar. For just at this time the Peshwá's army was signally defeated in the memorable battle fought against Ahmad Sháh Abdáli at Pánípat in 1761, and the Maráthá force in Mysore, commanded by Visají Pandit, was recalled hastily to Poona, the only conditions exacted being the cession of the Báramaháls[1] and the payment of three lacs of rupees. The money was paid, but the territory mentioned was never surrendered, while Haidar, relieved from the pressure which had been put upon him, proceeded to encounter Khande Ráo at Nanjangúd, twenty-seven miles south of Seringapatam. He was, however, defeated. Haidar then adopted the singular course of throwing himself as a suppliant at the feet of Nanjráj, the late Minister, who, completely deceived by his professions of fidelity, was weak enough to put him in command of a respectable body of troops, and to give him the title of
- ↑ The districts referred to are in the northern part of the Salem district of Madras, the hills which enclose the greater part of them protruding from the plateau of Mysore, the passes into which they practically commanded. The territory nominally comprised twelve districts, whence the name of 'Báramahál,' but the precise extent of the territory so called seems to have varied at different times. The excellent Salem District Manual derives the word Mahal from the Persian for a palace, but it is more probably Mahál, i.e. a district.
