PREFACE.
The sole idea of this monograph is to give a concise and interesting account of the Founder of Ichalkaranji State and of the history and character of the subsequent rulers. Ichalkaranji, which was a small village in the eighteenth century, has now grown into a good-sized town, and is the capital of a State whose rise and growth forms one of the most romantic and thrilling tales that the annals of Maharashtra can produce. One of America's most famous men found his birth in an humble cabin, and later was installed in the President's White House as Lord and Master; but here is a tale even more romantic, for it is the tale of a boy whose tenacity of purpose and whose personal bravery, encouraged by a wondrous mother-love, took him from the rudest of huts in an obscure Konkan village, first to the position of trusted companion of one of the greatest generals Maharashtra had ever produced, then to the high office of Minister of a flourishing Empire, and 6nally to place his name in the world's history books as the Founder of an important State.
This summarised account is based largely on the history of Ichalkaranji State written in Marathi by the late Wasudeo Shastri Khare of Miraj, who has been recognised as one of the most careful students of Mahratta history; but additional
