MADOO RAO — NARRAIN RAO. 135 



history of that prince. Finally, towards the close of his 

 reign, the peishwa again undertook to establish the Mah- 

 ratta supremacy in the very centre of Mogul power. A 

 great army under Sindia overran Rohilcund, and Shah 

 Allum, who inherited the mighty name of Great Mogul, 

 having exchanged the protection of the English for that of 

 the Mahrattas, enabled this people to seize all that was left 

 of the power which had so long been held supreme over 

 India. 



Madoo Rao made very considerable improvements in the 

 different branches of government, especially in the collec- 

 tion of the revenue and the administration of justice. He 

 could not extirpate the corruption which is deeply rooted in 

 Hindoo politics ; but he studiously afforded protection to 

 agriculture, which, allowing for the inferior fertility of the 

 country, was then more flourishing in Maharashtra than in 

 any other part of Hindostan. The revenue drawn from the 

 people is estimated by Mr. Grant Duff at ten millions ster- 

 ling, of which, however, little more than seven entered the 

 treasury. The army consisted of 50,000 good cavalry, 

 which, with the contingents of Sindia, Holkar, and other 

 feudatory chiefs, might raise it to 100,000. They wore 

 followed to the field by crowds of irregular infantry, who 

 were little better than camp-followers, and by bands of 

 Pindaree horse, fit only for plunder, but very eminently 

 skilled in that vocation. 



Madoo Rao died in 1772 without issue, and was suc- 

 ceeded by his next brother Narrain Rao, a youth not more 

 than seventeen. He was placed in a difficult situation : the 

 office of peishwa, after having crushed beneath it that of 

 rajah, was itself beginning to lose its unity and force. His 

 uncle, Ragoba, was not likely to view without jealousy the 

 elevation of so young a rival ; while a body of experienced 

 ministers, trained under successive peishwas to a thorough 

 acquaintance with the affairs of state, were beginning to 

 aim at the supreme direction. In these circumstances, a 

 temporary and apparent calm was followed by a dreadful 

 commotion. On the morning of the 30th August, 1773, 

 Narrain Rao, having observed some unusual agitation 

 among the troops, desired one of the ministers to be on the 

 alert ; but the warning was neglected. The unfortunate 

 prince had gone in the afternoon to repose in a private 



