Nana Phadnavis (also Nana Fadanvis also abbreviated Nana Phadnis, February 12, 1742[citation needed] - March 13, 1800) (originally Balaji Janardan Bhanu) was an influential minister and statesman of the Maratha Empire during the Peshwa administration in Pune, India. James Grant Duff states that he was called "the Marattha Machiavelli" by the Europeans.
Balaji Janardan Bhanu was born in a Chitpavan Brahmin family in Satara in 1742 and was nicknamed 'Nana'. His grandfather Balaji Mahadaji Bhanu had migrated from a village called Velas near Shrivardhan during the days of the First Peshwa Balaji Vishwanath Bhat. The Bhats and the Bhanus had family relations and very good friendship. The two families had respectively inherited the 'Mahajan' or village-head positions of the towns of Velas and Shrivardhan. Balaji Mahadji had once saved the Peshwa from a murderous plot by the Mughals. The Peshwa therefore recommended Chattrapati Shahu to award the title of Phadnavis (one of the Ashtapradhan) on Bhanu. Later, when the Peshwa became the de facto head of state, Phadnavis became the main minister who held key portfolios of Administration and Finance for the Maratha Empire during Peshwa regime.
Nana was the grandson of Balaji Mahadji Bhanu and had inherited his grandfather's name keeping up with the tradition. The Peshwa treated him like family and extended the same facilities of education and diplomatic training as his sons, Vishwasrao, Madhavrao and Narayanrao. He continued to be the Phadnavis or the finance minister for the Peshwa.
In 1761, Nana escaped to Pune from the Third Battle of Panipat and rose to great heights becoming a leading personage directing the affairs of the Maratha Confederacy, although he was never a soldier himself. This was a period of political instability as one Peshwa was rapidly succeeded by another, and there were many controversial transfers of power. Nana Phadnavis played pivotal role in holding the Maratha Confederacy together in the midst internal dissension and the growing power of the British East India Company.
Nana's administrative, diplomatic and financial skills brought the prosperity in Maratha Empire and his management of external affairs kept the Maratha Empire away from the thrust of the British East India Company. He displayed his best warfare skills in various battles won by Maratha forces against Nizam of Hyderabad, Hyder Ali and Tipu Sultan of Mysore and the English Army.
Rear entrance to Nana Phadanvis' house (Nana phadanvis wada) which is still preserved today in the same condition as when Nana built it in 1780. Location: Menawali, Wai T.
After the assassination of Peshwa Narayanrao in 1773, Nana Phadnavis managed the affairs of the state with the help of a twelve member regency council known as the Barbhai council. The council was Nana's mastermind plan to safeguard the only successor child Madhavrao II, the posthumous son of Narayanrao, from Peshwa's internal family conflicts. The Barbhai Council was an alliance of influential Sardars (Generals) led by Nana. Other members of the council were Haripant Phadke, Moroba Phadnis, Sakarambapu Bokil, Trimbakraomama Pethe, Mahadji Shinde, Tukojirao Holkar, Phaltankar, Bhagwanrao Pratinidhi, Maloji Ghorpade, Raste and Babuji Naik. During this time the Maratha Empire was at the peak of its size and ran from Attock (Presently in Pakistan) to Mysore in Karnataka. The small states in these region were under protection treaty and recognised Peshwa as the supremo.
Nana died at Pune on the 13th of March 1800, just before Peshwa Baji Rao II placed himself in the hands of the British, provoking the Second Anglo-Maratha War that began the breakup of the Maratha confederacy. In an extant letter to the Peshwa, the Marquess Wellesley describes[2] him thus: "The able minister of your state, whose upright principles and honourable views and whose zeal for the welfare and prosperity both of the dominions of his own immediate superiors and of other powers were so justly celebrated."