Murder of Gangadhar Shastri and the Fall of the Maratha Empire : Narratives of Two Historians

Abstract

Gangadhar Shastri was an envoy of the Baroda State who had been sent to Poona to settle certain pecuniary claims that the Court of Poona made on the Baroda State and the counter claims that the Baroda State made on the state of Poona. The  negotiations witnessed various  highs and lows. The Peshwa Baji Rao II got involved in the planned murder of Gangadhar Shastri, who was went to Pune under British safety assurance. The heinous crime was committed by the assassins hired by Trimbakji Dengle, the henchman of Peshwa.

Since Gangadhar Shastri possessed a British guarantee of safe conduct, it was natural for the Britishers to demand the surrender of Trimbakji Dengle but the Peshwa refused to do so even at the cost of his throne. The result of the stubbornness of the Peshwa  was the Third Anglo-Maratha war, which led to the annexation of Poona to the dominions of the East India Company. That was  the end of the Peshwa rule and destruction of the Maratha power. This paper investigates through the narratives of two historians, R.D. Choksey and James Grant Duff, who hold different views on the subject regarding how the murder of an envoy triggered such an acute crisis in the Maratha system that led to the collapse of the edifice of the mighty Maratha Empire.