Nana Phadnavis was a Maratha Empire minister and statesman during the Peshwa administration in Pune, India.
According to James Grant Duff, he was dubbed "the Maratha Machiavelli" by Europeans.
Balaji Janardan Bhanu, nicknamed 'Nana,' was born in Satara in 1742 to a Chitpavan Brahmin family. During the reign of the First Peshwa Balaji Vishwanath Bhat, his grandfather Balaji Mahadaji Bhanu moved from a village called Velas near Shrivardhan.
Rose to prominence after the Third Battle of Panipat
Nana Phadnavis rose to prominence as a minister following the Third Battle of Panipat (1761), and aided the Marathas in regaining their prestige and power, which had suffered significant wilt in their decisive rout at Panipat.
There was a lot of unrest in the Maratha camp at the time, and Phadnavis was able to put things back in order with his keen political insight and intelligence.
After Madhavrao, the fourth Peshwa, died, his younger brother Narayanrao succeeded him.
However, Narayanrao's uncle Raghunathrao had his own ambitions and had Narayanrao murdered in a conspiracy. Raghunathrao was then briefly appointed Peshwa.
Phadnavis rejected this because Raghunathrao was regarded as vicious.
Narayanrao's wife was pregnant at the time of his death. Phadnavis formed a 12-member regency council after the boy named Sawai Madhavrao was born.
They proclaimed that the infant Madhavrao as Peshwa and began ruling the state on his behalf, with Phadnavis in charge.
Raghunathrao had signed a treaty with the English in Bombay (Treaty of Surat) that guaranteed his safety. However, this was undermined by another treaty Phadnavis signed with the East India Company's Calcutta Council. This was known as the Treaty of Purandhar in 1776.
British attempted to depose Phadnavis
The British attempted to depose Phadnavis and replace him with someone more sympathetic to their interests.
Phadnavis granted the French a port on the west coast in 1777. This prompted the British to advance towards Pune, where a battle took place at Wadgaon. The Marathas defeated the British, forcing them to sign the Treaty of Wadgaon, which required the English to hand over all territory acquired since 1773 to the Marathas.
Phadnavis was a true visionary, foreseeing that if the Marathas fell to the English, the entire subcontinent would become a subject of the British Empire.
Phadnavis passed away aged 58 on March 13 1800.
