MARATHA MARAUDERS OF BENGAL..... BARGIS/BORGIS...... Part II
Jadunath Sarkar, renowned historian never held any brief on behalf of Muslim rulers of Bengal, writes in his description of the Maratha invasions of Bengal 1741-1751...
His description of the invasions make it clear that the "Bhagwava Dhvaj" Maratha Hindu Army of the Maratha ruler of Nagpur, Raghoji I Bhonsle cared the least for the honour and property of the Hindu gentry of Bengal. According to him the marauding Maratha Bargirs committed wanton destruction and outrage.
According to one eyewitness Gangaram, whose testimony has been reproduced by Sarkar, the Marathas snatched away gold and silver rejecting everything else. Of some people they cut off hands, some their ears and nose, others they killed outright. They dragged away beautiful women, mostly of upper caste status, and freed them only after having mass raped them.
Another eye-witness, Baneshwar Vidhyalankar, the court pandit of the Maharaja of Barddhaman wrote - ' Shahu Rajah's troops are niggard of pity, slayers of pregnant women and infants, of Brahmins and the poor, fierce in spirit, expert in robbing the property of every one and committing every kind of sinful act. ...'! Baneshwar Vidyalankar (c 1700-1788) Sanskrit scholar, descendant of Shobhakar, a famous scholar of Guptapalli or Guptipara in the district of Hughli, west bengal. Shobhakar was believed to be the great grandson of Daksha, one of the five brahmans whom Emperor Adishur had brought from Kanyakuvja.
Contemporary period Bengali records seem to indicate that initially the Hindu Bengali gentry regarded the Marathas as the great deliverers from the yoke of Muslims, but eventually the horrendous atrocities perpetuated by the Marathas proved a nightmare over a full 10 years.
By 1765 the British had established themselves as masters of Bengal and the Marathas had established themselves as rulers of Odisha province which was annexed to the Kingdom of Berar. The Marathas of Odisha could not remain content with only their infulence in their province, they crossed the Subarnarekha river near jalasore, which was the demarcated boundary as per the 1751 treaty with Alivardi Khan, into Midnapore. South Bengal once again became fertile and lucrative grounds for plunder and rape for the later half of the 18th century.
The Marathas continued to remain a menace for Bengal until Odisha came under British control in 1803.

Comments

  1. Ameen Ahmed Tumkur14 June 2018 at 03:29

    Thank you for documenting these facts. The Maratha Empire committed similar atrocities against non-Maratha Hindus across India and spared no kingdom or region Here is what they did in Karnataka:
    http://historyofmysuru.blogspot.com/2018/01/the-kannadiga-victims-of-maratha-empire.html?m=1

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