Ramchandra Pant Amatya

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Ramchandra Neelkanth Bahulkar, (1650 to 1716), also known as Ramchandra Pant Amatya Bavadekar, was the youngest member of the council of ministers of Chhatrapati Shivaji since 1674. He also worked as a senior minister of Chhatrapati Sambhaji, Rajaram, Shivaji II and Sambhaji II. He is known to be one of the greatest diplomats, administrators and warriors of the Maratha Empire.

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[edit] Early Life

Ramchandra Pant was born in a Deshastha Brahmin family in or around 1650. He was the son of Neelkanth Sondeo Bahulkar, more popularly known as ‘Nilo Sondeo’ who had risen from a local ‘Kulkarni’ to the post of Minister in the court of Shivaji.

[edit] Early Career

  • Before 1674, Ramchandra Pant was doing clerical job in Shivaji's administration.
  • In 1674, Ramchandra Pant was promoted to the post of ‘Amatya’ by Shivaji.
  • In 1680, after Shivaji’s death Sambhaji took over and continued Ramchandra Pant on the ‘Amatya’ post.

[edit] Contribution to Independence War

In 1689, at the time of Sambhaji’s assassination by Aurangzeb, Ramchandra Pant was on Vishalgad. In consultation with Sambhaji’s queen Yesubai; who was on fort Raigad alongwith Rajaram and her son Shahu, he decided to send Rajaram to Gingee to divide the battlefield in to two. Subsequently, Rajaram was brought to fort Panhala and was secretly sent to fort Gingee in Karnataka (now in Tamilnadu). Before leaving for Gingee, Rajaram conferred Ramchandra Pant with the title of ‘Hukumat Panah’ and thus made him as powerful as the Chhatrapati himself. Thereafter, with the help of Santaji Ghorpande, Dhanaji Jadhav, Parshuram Pant Pratinidhi and Shankaraji Narayan Sacheev, Ramchandra Pant set up a great war against Mughal empire.

[edit] New Strategies

  • To encourage the local Maratha warriors to fight on their own against Mughals, Ramchandra Pant adopted a new policy to officially reward ‘Vatans’ i.e. pieces of land to them. ‘Turn out the Mughals and own the land’ was the announcement.
  • Independent Maratha Warriors were encouraged to cross the Maharashtra boundry and invade Mughal areas for robbing their treasures.
  • Maratha forts were handed over to Mughals for large sums and once they are well equipped by Mughals, they were captured again.

These strategies proved to be extremely effective.

[edit] Later Career

  • In 1698, after Rajaram’s return from Gingee, Ramchandra Pant voluntarily and happily stepped down the post of ‘Hukumat Panah’.
  • In 1700, however, after Rajaram’s death Tarabai once again delegated enormous powers to him and both of them continued to struggle against the Mughal power.
  • In 1707, at the time of Aurangzeb’s death, Marathas had become extremely powerful and Mughal Empire was on the verge of total devastation.
  • After Shahu’s release, most of the Maratha warriors and Generals left Tarabai and joined Shahu as a result of which Tarabai had to leave Satara for fort Panhala. Ramchandra Pant, however, strongly supported Tarabai and worked as Senior Miniser for her son Shivaji II.
  • In 1712, Sambhaji II overthrew Tarabai, put her and her son Shivaji II in prison and took over the charge. It is generally believed that Ramchandra Pant was behind this conspiracy and it could be well supported with his immediate appointment by Sambhaji II as Hukumat Panah. Ramchandra Pant was not happy with Tarabai’s way of behaving with her own people.

[edit] Later Life

  • On request by Sambhaji II, Ramchandra Pant wrote ‘Adnyapatra’, a standard code of civil and military administration for the Maratha Kingdom. It is supposed to be an equivalent to Kautilya’s ‘Arthashastra’.
  • In 1716, Ramchandra Pant was died on ‘Gagan Bavada’, a fort dedicated to him, at the age of 66.

[edit] References

  • ‘Marathi Riyasat’ (Marathi) by G.S.Sardesai
  • ‘Storia D Mogor’ by N.Manuci
  • ‘Tarikhe Dilkusha’ by Bhimsingh