The Peshwa War of Deceivers Ram Sivasankaran

The Peshwa War of Deceivers : Ram Sivasankara

Brief overview about the history of Peshwas:

Peshwas were the loyal ministers of Marathas state who were appointed to assist the king in different administrative as well as political affairs. Among seven Peshwas, Balaji Rao I was the ablest Peshwas and rest were very weak.
Balaji Vishwanath - (AD 1713 to 1721) - He was appointed as a Peshwa (Prime Minister) by Sahuji in 1713 to assist a young Shahu for consolidation of the empire. He raise the Marathas empire into zenith points after winning  over all most all the sardar to the side of Shahu. He made the post very important as well as hereditary.
Bajirao Peshwa I (AD 1721 to 1740) – He was the eldest son of Balaji Vishwanath; succeeded him as Peshwas at the young age of 20. He was known for his guerrilla tactics after Shivaji.
Balaji Baji Rao (AD 1740-1761) – He was popularly known as Nana Saheb who succeeded his father at the age of 20. He died in 1761 after hearing that his son (Viswas Rao) and cousin (Sadasiv) died at the battle field of Panipat.
Peshwa Madhav Rao I – He was the eldest surviving member of the Peshwas family who became defacto ruler of the state but after his death, the Peshwaship lost its essence.
Administration of Peshwas

The Peshwas named their secretariat as Huzur Daftar which was situated in Poona. Under Peshwaship, the feudal lords ruled independently over their Jagirs.
They divided the village into small units for administration which were headed by the Patils. Kulkarnias assists them in keeping the documents of village. Potars were meant to inspect the currency.
Balute System- Under this system, farmers had to make payment in kind but most of the times they have to pay agricultural produce every year after harvesting.
The bigger units of administration were Taraf, Pargana, Sarkar and Suba where Mamlatkar was the highest personnel who was assisted by Kamvisdar.
To check corruption, Deshmukh, Despande and Darakhdars were appointed.
Conclusion

Hence, politically the ground for establishment of independent Maratha state was prepared by the advance of Mughal armies in the in the South. The fall of Khandesh, the gradual disappearance of the Ahmednagar and the creation of the Mughal Viceroyalty in the Deccan region affected every aspect of Maratha life, which induced an awakening among the Marathas as a nation under the leadership of Shivaji and others. But unfortunately, the legacies of Marathas confederacy get decayed in front of the British imperialism.

My Review about the book :
Book is based on the Peshwa back into the 18th century.

The story revolves around Bajirao Peshwa, Nizam of Hyderabad (Nizam-ul-mulk), Amarsingh of Khalsa territory, Chatrapathi Shahu, Kashibai – Bajirao’s wife and Rajkumari Mastani of Bhuendalkhand.
Ancient history fiction is one of the interesting genres for me and definitely you'll also found it interesting because of narration and the formation of characters in this book. Peshwa Bajirao is one of the fiercest worries of the history and the story behind him how he became the ruler of "Maratha Dynasty" His diplomatic relations and his strategies for wars and treaties all are interesting facts to know. Prologue is the soul of this book you can't go though the story without reading prologue of this book.
Apart from Peshwa Bajirao more well known and interesting characters are Kashibai and Rajkumari Mastani.

Author's writing style should be appreciated. Language is very fluent and easy to understand. All the elements like suspense thriller and emotions are well narrated.

To the point and crispy dialogues and a well researched historical fiction.