The Peshwa by Ram Sivasankaran

"The Peshwa" by Ram Sivasankaran. This book is published by Westland in 2015 and has 338 pages. This is author's debut novel.

Peshwe Balaji Vishwanath Bhat marches to Delhi to rescue Rajmata Yesubai. Young Bajirao accompanies him. Nizam-Ul-Mulq plans to assassinate Peshwe. Peshwe's actions set events in motion. Bajirao and Nizam are destined to meet again.

What is the action? What happens to Nizam? Why is he against Peshwe? What was Peshwe's action? Why does Bajirao break his promise?

Due to the recent release of a Hindi movie on Bajirao, general public has become aware of this lesser known historical character who ruled the Maratha kingdom as Peshwe and who won every single battle he fought in his career. Author has chosen the period between; before Bajirao became Peshwa and his first war after he became Peshwa. In this book his father Balaji Vishwanath is a prominent character.

This book uses historical characters to tell a story that is semi fiction. Historical events are tweaked to create a story of author's liking.

Narration is good. Story is interesting. Bajirao is not shown larger than life. His relationship with his father, his wife and Chatrapati Shahu is shown very well.

The book however has a few flaws. It shows that Chimajiappa died when he was @10. Bajirao was called Rau, but the book addresses him Rao. Shinde are called Scindia. Actually Scindia was a later transformation. There are a few more. The elaboration of such details gives away that the author is not very knowledgeable about the Chitpavan Brahmin and Maratha customs of the time.

The book was released after the release of movie. It's it author's attempt to capitalize on the publicity of movie 'Bajirao Mastani'? Author has also introduced Mastani in epilogue thereby making provision for a sequel.

I should mention good cover of this book. It shows an intent Bajirao riding a stallion. However it's not clear why the book is called 'The Peshwa: The lion and the stallion'?

A good book. Recommend reading.