A History of the Mahrattas v1.c20.33

v1.c20.33

Before the year 1724, Bajee Rao had at different times defeated the Soobehdar of Burhanpoor; and an officer named Daood Khan sent against him by Azim Oollah Khan from Malwa. In one of these battles, two of Bajee Rao’s officers, who afterwards attained high rank, were first brought into notice: the one, Mulharjee Holkar, was a Sillidar who commanded a party of horse of his own; he was a Mahratta Dhungur, a class of Shooders already mentioned, and a native of the village of Hohl on the Neera, of which his father was Chougula ¹; he had served under Kantajee Kuddum Bhanday, one of the Raja’s officers, and had collected a small body of horse. The other officer was Ranoojee Sindia, descended from a younger branch of the family of Kunneirkheir, a village fifteen miles east of Satara. The Sindias, according to the legends of the country, have been distinguished Sillidars since the time of the Bahminee dynasty; there are two Mahratta families, or rather tribes of this name: the one is distinguished by their hereditary Patell village of Kunneirkheir; and the other by the appellation of Ruwee ² Rao. Both families claim a Rajpoot descent; those of Kunneirkheir had a munsub under Aurungzebe; Mahrattas. I take this opportunity of expressing my sense of his liberality and kindness.