against the enemy, who, having unfortunately had time to elude the British army, could not be pursued until the 21st.
The Peshwá first retired to the neighbourhood of Sátára, and carried off the representative of Sivají's family, the Rájá of that place, a prince he justly feared at this crisis in his affairs as a dangerous rival to his throne[1]. His resources were slender in the isolated districts bordering upon Mysore, but in Khándesh his adherents were arming, and there he hoped to gain support from the other Maráthá chiefs; hearing, moreover, that Pritzler (Deccan Reserve Division) was advancing from the south, he marched rapidly to Pandharpur, and, doubling round to the north, he succeeded in evading Smith's pursuit, and made for Wattur, on the direct road to Násik, having passed between Poona and Sirúr. At Wattur he was joined by his confederate Trimbakjí. Smith at once turned after him and reached Sirúr on the 22nd December; from that place he gained rapidly upon the fugitive, and not only headed him, but hemmed him close to the hilly country where his cavalry could move with difficulty. Bájí Ráo was now
- ↑ The Peshwás, though acknowledged suzerains of the Maráthás, were not of the family of Sivají, the founder of their Empire. They were descended from Bálají Vishwanáth, the minister or Peshwá of Sahu grandson of Sivají (who lived early in the eighteenth century), and practically ruler under that feeble prince. The office becoming hereditary, the Peshwás governed at Poona and formed the Maráthá confederacy: while the descendants of Sivají degenerated into insignificant princes at Sátára and Kohápur. Bájí Ráo was the seventh Peshwá. See Hunter's Indian Empire, ed. 1882, p. 261 &c.
