पानीपत १७६१ (मराठा साम्राज्य एवं पानीपत महायुद्ध इतिहास)

THE JUDGMENT 115
effectual in the end. Individuals, however great and towering, do not make
a nation. It is the level of the whole populace that ultimately tells.
SADASHIVRAO'S PERSONAL FACTORS
In the treatment of the Panipat campaign, Sadashivrao has been
shown as proud, capricious, self-willed, harsh and offensive in his dealings with
others. In this, both Kashiraj and the Marathi chronicles have combined in
the condemnation of Bhau, because both write after the event keeping their
eye on the final disaster. But this seems incorrect. The personal letters of Bhau
in the Purandare Daftar¹ bear testimony to the quite different mould of his
mind. He seems to be a straightforward, shy and guileless man in his cor-
respondence with his equals in the first half of his life before he became the
Diwan of the Peshwa in 1752. He is found referring every matter to Dhondo-
pant Purandare² who seems to be his guru in the beginning. Dhondopant
advised him on the points referred to for some time, but later on became weary
and stopped giving advice. A man who can write in the way he has written
to Dhondopant cannot be taken as proud or self-willed. He fears social ob-
loquy³ and is found currying favour with the Peshwa his cousin and his wife
Gopikabai, as well as Sakharam Bapu, Baburao Phadnis and Mahadoba
Purandare. These secretaries would not initiate Bhau into the state affairs for
fear of being ousted from their positions, as well as from their unwillingness to
interfere in the family squabbles of the Peshwa. Sakharam Bapu, the wisest
among them, clearly writes to Dhondopant that 'Bhau is neither proud nor
easily led by anybody.⁴ Whatever wrong he does, he does through ignorance.'
Of course Bhau naturally felt that he belonged to the Peshwa family and was
thus to some extent a master and not a servant like the other ministers, though
the Peshwa seems to have treated Bhau at first as only one of the secretaries.
Only after Bhau had shown his capacity for administration and had played
a trick with the advice of Ramchandra Bawa, the Peshwa was brought to un-
derstand the real situation and consented to appoint him as the sole Diwan
lest Bhau would go to Kolhapur and become a rival Peshwa there. As a
Diwan, Bhau is found to be an expert in financial matters and strict in admin-
istration. He antagonised most of the sardars and mamlatdars by his strict-
ness, since they were loose and undisciplined in their dealings. Nevertheless
the various Kamavisdars trembled before Bhau and would not get his con-
fidence. This had a disastrous consequence in the Panipat campaign. One and
all had to obey his orders, but none did it willingly. All would have liked to
run away from him at the first opportunity. A general must inspire not only
awe and respect, but should also be loved by his followers a thing which was
not possible, it seems, in the case of Bhau. Bajirao with all his weaknesses was
loved by his followers, Sadashivrao was not. This was the result not of his
1 Purandare 1. 168-169, 180, 181, 182.
2 Ibid. 1. 171-3, 1. 8, 180-1.
3 Ibid. 1. 10, 1. 6-8, 197, 211.
4 Ibid. 1. 182, 184--
Ibid. 3. 196.