Review of Golwalkar: The Myth Behind the Man, The Man Behind the Machine by Dhirendra K. Jha. Simon and Schuster. pp. 385
JUST a year before the showdown between the Marathas and the Durranis seemed inevitable at the Third Battle of Panipat, a pack of Brahmins belonging to the Karhade stock was sent off from their ancestral village by Peshwa Balaji Baji Rao, the Prime Minister of the Chhatrapati, the king of the Maratha dynasty.
It was brought to the Peshwa’s notice that on the eve of Dussehra, the Karhades of Golwali performed the heinous act of human sacrifice to satiate the presiding goddess of their local temple. The Peshwas, who had belonged to the Chitpavan stock of Brahmins, had harboured a grudge against the Karahades for a long time.
The human sacrifice episode presented a unique opportunity for the Peshwa to strike. The Peshwa revoked the hereditary rights over 72 villages enjoyed by the Karhades. Saddened by their loss, the outgoing Brahmins cursed the Peshwas— that their might would soon be destroyed. Coincidentally, the curse unfolded. The Peshwa was defeated at the hands of Ahmad Shah Abdali in the Third Battle of Panipat.
