Battle of Wadgaon

01Scorched ground

The Bombay army climbed the Bhor ghat at the end of 1778 with Raghunathrao in its train. Nana Phadnavis’s council had the villages ahead emptied and Talegaon itself set on fire, so that the British found neither food nor fodder. Mahadji Scindia’s horse hung on the flanks. With supplies running out, the Company’s officers ordered a retreat, and the retreat under fire turned into a siege at Wadgaon.

02The convention

Surrounded, the Bombay commanders signed a convention in January 1779. They handed over Raghunathrao and agreed to return the territories the Company had taken since 1773. Warren Hastings in Calcutta refused to honour it, and the war went on until the treaty of Salbai in 1782, which Mahadji Scindia mediated.

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 →