Tipu Sultan #8 - PODCAST Interview With Prathamesh Godbole on 1700s India
Carnatic Wars, Marathas, Statecraft, and more
Happy Wednesday!
We’ve been reading Tipu Sultan - The Saga of Mysore’s Interregnum every Wednesday, and we’ve spent several weeks on the Carnatic wars. So many questions have come up!
And I found some answers with Prathamesh Godbole! He is currently translating official documents of the Maratha empire from Marathi to English, and thus has great insight into statecraft, war, and life in the 18th century. He’s documented his translations and insights on itihasik.com, which is a great starting point for Maratha primary sources. You can follow Prathamesh on Twitter.
He generously shared his time and insights with me, and I quizzed him about all the stuff we’ve been wondering - Why was there such a scramble for Trichy’s rock fort? How was it normal for Hyder Ali’s relatives to all be serving in different armies, which were often at war with each other, and even switch sides a few times? Were “small European armies” superior to “large disorganized Indian armies”? Are Indians uniquely disunited, which lets outsiders take us over? Why didn’t we all unite and throw out the British or the Nizam?
All that and more in this really insightful conversation. Do listen!
This podcast is a great companion to my previous posts on this topic, which are all linked together here:
Most relevant:
Do let me know how you like it! It’s my first time recording a podcast, and there are a ton of rookie mistakes I realized I made much after the fact… and it’s all recorded for posterity now. It can only get better from here!
Loved this podcast! It is a ton of time to get guests on podcasts, but I loved you as a host. This is much better than all of the Indian podcast space put together.
I now get what you mean when you say you try to "bring your inner Indian aunty" out when trying to make sense of historical events.