https://indianpedia.org/index.php?action=history&feed=atom&title=Balaji_Pant_NatuBalaji Pant Natu - Revision history2026-07-31T09:31:05ZRevision history for this page on the wikiMediaWiki 1.45.4https://indianpedia.org/index.php?title=Balaji_Pant_Natu&diff=451453&oldid=prevNydiaSilverman2 at 05:47, 17 January 20262026-01-17T05:47:05Z<p></p>
<p><b>New page</b></p><div>{{short description|Indian Nationalist}}<br />
'''Balaji Pant Natu''' was a spy working for the [[United Kingdom|British]] against the [[Peshwa]] [[Bajirao II]] during the era of [[Maratha Confederacy]] in the [[Third Anglo-Maratha War]].{{sfn|Naravane|2006|p=80}} He came from the powerful Natu family of Pune.{{sfn|O'Hanlon|2002|p=27-28}} When the British forces entered [[Shanivar Wada]] on November 18, 1817, Natu unfurled the Union Jack over the building.{{sfn|Naravane|2006|p=82}} Before he became an agent for the British governor of Bombay, [[Montstuart Elphinstone]], he served the Raste family.{{sfn|O'Hanlon|2002|p=28}}<br />
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Along with the installation of [[Bhonsle|Pratapsinh Bhonsale]] as the symbolic ''Chatrapati'' by the British, Balaji Pant Natu was selected to be his assistant. However, there was always hostility between Chitpavan Natu and the [[Maratha]] raja due to tensions based on caste lines.{{sfn|O'Hanlon|2002|p=27-29}} The hostility became worse and turned into an open quarrel when Natu was asked by his employer, the British Resident James Grant (later known as [[James Grant Duff]]),{{sfn|O'Hanlon|2002|p=31}} to rein in Pratapsinh on his personal spending.{{sfn|O'Hanlon|2002|p=29}} By 1819 Grant had been monitoring Natu for abuse of power.{{sfn|O'Hanlon|2002|p=29}} However Natu complained to Grant that the raja claimed that Grant had told him about Natu being involved in bribery.{{sfn|O'Hanlon|2002|p=29}} Due to this, Natu no longer wanted to work under the raja and instead offered his services to Grant himself.{{sfn|O'Hanlon|2002|p=29}} Grant offered Natu a new position but Natu did not accept it because he thought it amounted to simply being a ''karkun'' or clerk.{{sfn|O'Hanlon|2002|p=29}} According to Grant's reports the departure of Natu was a very joyful event for the chatrapati and his mother.{{sfn|O'Hanlon|2002|p=29}}<br />
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==See also==<br />
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*[[Bapu Gokhale]]<br />
*[[Maratha Empire]]<br />
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==Notes==<br />
{{reflist}}<br />
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==References==<br />
* {{citation|pages=78–105|title=Battles of the honourable East India Company: making of the Raj|isbn=978-81-313-0034-3|publisher=APH Publishing|year=2006|first=M.S|last=Naravane|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bxsa3jtHoCEC&q=9788131300343}}<br />
* {{citation| title=Caste, Conflict and Ideology: Mahatma Jotirao Phule and Low Caste Protest in Nineteenth-Century Western India|last=O'Hanlon|first=Rosalind|isbn=978-0-521-52308-0|series=Cambridge South Asian Studies|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5kMrsTj1NeYC|year=2002|publisher=Cambridge University Press}}<br />
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Natu, Balaji Pant}}<br />
[[Category:Military history of the British East India Company]]<br />
[[Category:Wars involving the Maratha Empire]]<br />
[[Category:People from the Maratha Empire]]<br />
[[Category:British spies]]<br />
[[Category:Year of death unknown]]<br />
[[Category:Year of birth unknown]]</div>NydiaSilverman2