From Manohar Malgonkar’s unpublished manuscript
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Haidar Ali turned eastwards and after annexing Bellary and collecting a tribute of three lakhs of rupees from the Nawab of Kurnool, decided to attack Gutti.
Haidar sent a message to Murarrao from Kurnool, calling upon him to surrender the guns he had captured from him earlier at Motitalav, pay him a lakh of rupees in tribute in token of accepting his vassalage, and also to send his contingent to serve under his overall command.
Murarrao’s answer was less than polite: “I have seen you when you were a mere Naik, with but five men under you. I, Murarrao Hindurao, happen to be the Senapati of the Maratha kingdom. You may have risen since then; but I can always take you on. As to the tribute you ask, I am in the habit of levying it, not paying it.”
(From Manohar Malgonkar’s unpublished manuscript, Scaling The Heights: Mired in their Own Blood: Stories of Loyalty and Treachery from Medieval Deccan.)