Indian Antiquary Vol 46

Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple, Devadatta Ramkrishna Bhandarkar
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 90

78
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY
APRIL, 917
where the pressure of Mughal ravages required his presence. Immediately after his return, Ekoji attacked Santaji, only to be repulsed. This aggression brought forth a long letter of rebuke from Sivaji, which reconciled Venkaji to the payment of tribute in return for the restoration of the jaghir districts,
The account of Wilks? is slightly different. He agrees with Duff in regard to the alliance between Chokkanâtha and Ekoji and its breach by the embassy of Raghunatha Narayan, but differs in the representation of affairs at the interview between the two brothers. Sivaji, he says, was so inimical that Ekoji spied danger and imprisonment, and 80 escaped during night to Tanjore and recommenced hostilities. Sivaji soon left for the north, and his general Santaji, who was left behind, eventually succeeded in inflicting such a crushing defeat on Ekoji that, early in 1878, he concluded peace.
Chokkanttha and Ekoji. Both the authorities thus agree in attributing the pacific attitude of Ekoji in 1678 to purely Maratha affairs. But Nelson8 gives a different version, which clearly attributes it to the activities of Chokkanatha Nelson does not mention the Tanjore-Madura alliance, which had preceded the interview between Sivaji and Ekoji. He is unaware of the part played by Madura then. His account of the relations between the Maratha brothers is also different. He says that the obstinacy of Ekoji so much exasperated his brother during their interview that he actually seized him and put him in prison; that the latter escaped by swimming across the Coleroon, and reached his kingdom; that the floods of the Coleroon prevented Sivaji from the pursuit of his brother, and that he therefore left the command of his troops and the charge of the newly conquered province in the hands of his brother Santaji, and proceeded home, leaving a chain of military posts all along the line of the road through Mysore. The floods subsiding, he continues, santaji crossed the river and meeting the forces of Ekoji on the route to Tanjore, gained, with his superior strategy, a viotory which laid the Southern Maratha capital open to his advance. It seems that at this stage, Chokkanatha Naik approached Santaji with the offer of tribute, money and men, in onse he was placed in possession of Tanjore. It was a very clever move, and if attended with success, would have restored the political condition of the South to what it was before the ill-fated defection of Alagiri Naidu and the ominous restoration of the unfortunate Sengamala Dâs. But in his eagerness for diplomacy he forgot the character of Ekoji. The shrewd Maratha saw that affairs were taking a serious turn, and so prudently submitted, early in 1678, to his brother's general. He never forgot the capacity or inclination of Chokkanatha to do mischief. To ambition he now added the feeling of revenge, and from this time unwerd always carried on raids. into the kingdom of Madura, or rather the city of Trichinopoly. The men of Mysore, Tanjore and Ginji were jealous of one another, and carried on a contest among themselves; but they combined in the humiliation and subjugation of Chokkanatha.
(To be continued.)
T See his Mysore, I, 50-54. & Madur, Man. 195 f. • Madur. Man., p. 199; Wilks, I. p. 53. The Bondela Jour, does not mention this.