Brave as a tiger and handsome as a god, this is the story of Peshwa Baji Rao, the great Maratha general and statesman, who in the mid-eighteenth century changed the map of India. A man like him is difficult to explain in terms of heritage, training or upbringing. His military campaigns were classic examples of his genius. In the mayhem of the religious intolerance continued by the tottering Mughals after Aurangzeb, Baji Rao stood out as the champion of Hinduism. He conquered Gujarat and most of central India and even shook the foundations of the Mughal Empire by attacking imperial Delhi. Though he had sworn to plant his flag on the Indus, death robbed him of this honor. His sons, however, fulfilled their father’s pledge. After driving the Afghans out of the Punjab, they raised the swallow-tailed flag not just on the walls of Attock, but even beyond. Baji Rao had a galaxy of contemporaries, both friends and adversaries, who have left their mark on history. This is, therefore, necessarily also the story of the other great personages like Nizam ul Mulk, the distinguished founder of Hyderabad state; Sawai Jai Singh of Jaipur, general, statesman, astronomer and town planner; Kanhoji Angre, the daredevil naval commander who made life a misery for the English and the Portuguese; Raja Chattarsal, the heroic kind who carved out an independent kingdom in Bundelkhand, and this is also the story of Mastani, Chattarsal’s daughter and Baji Rao’s great love. This book is about war; of battles on land and battles at sea; of the thundering peal of cannons and the hailstorms of musket shots; of brilliant-bladed talwars and razor-sharp lances; of heroism and glory and cowardice and intrigue; of palaces and fortresses; and even of love.
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