Battle of Rakshasbhuvan

01Pune burnt

With the Maratha state shaken by Panipat and quarrels between Madhavrao and his uncle Raghunathrao, Nizam Ali saw his chance. In 1763 his army sacked Pune, and the Peshwa’s family had to flee. Madhavrao, not yet twenty, did not chase him straight on. He struck at the Nizam’s own country and waited for him to turn for home.

02At the river

In August 1763, with the Godavari in monsoon flood, the Nizam began to take his army across at Rakshasbhuvan. Half was over when the Marathas fell on the part still on the near bank. Vitthal Sundar, the Nizam’s diwan, was killed, and the army was cut to pieces in front of the Nizam’s eyes. The treaty that followed gave back much of what the Marathas had lost.

Dynasty · 1713–1818 CEThe Peshwas of PuneThe Peshwas were the hereditary chief ministers of the Chhatrapatis, and from 1713 to 1818 they ran the Maratha state from Pune. Under Bajirao I and his son Nanasaheb the Marathas became the strongest power in India, until Panipat in 1761 and the British wars that ended the line in 1818.Read →