Bharatiya Pragna - Dr. Th Chowdary

Before his death, Baji Rao made a will
by which he bequeathed all the rights of succession
and powers of the Peshwa to his adopted
son Nana Sahib. But immediately on the news
of Baji Rao’s death, the English Government announced
that Nana Sahib had no right whatsoever
to the pension of eight lakhs. What must
have Nana Sahib thought on hearing this decision
of the English ?
The conflict of passions in his heart is
portrayed to some extent in the despatch written
under his direction. It says : “It is simply unjust
that the high family of thePeshwa should be
treated by the Company so lightly as this. When
our throne and kingdom were handed over to
the Company by Shrimant Bajirao, it was done
so on the condition that the Company should
pay eight lakhs of Rupees every year, as its price.
If this pension is not to last for ever, how can the
surrender of the kingdom, which was given as a
consideration for this pension, last for ever in
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your hands ? That one party alone should be
bound by the contract, while the other itentionally
fails to do its part is absurd, unjust, and inconsistent.”
Then follows a clear and well reasoned
passage refuting the theory that he, being an
adopted son, cannot get his father’s rights, citing
authorities from Hindu Shastras, from rules
of politics and customary law.
After that, the despatch of Nana Sahib
continues :- “The Company puts forward another
excuse to cease to pay the pension, namely
that Bajirao II has saved a considerable sum
which is quite sufficient to defray the expenses
of his family. But the Company forgets that the
pension was given as a condition of the treaty,
and there is no single clause in the treaty directing
the mode in which the pension should be
spent.
The pension is the price of the kingdom
given, and Bajirao would have been justified
had he saved even the whole of the pension
November & December 2008 Bharatiya Pragna