Fall of the Mughal Empire v4.c48.s4.1

v4.c48.s4.1

And then came Malhar Rao Holkar the younger, on the scene, and “reversed the treaty with Gopāl Bhāu.” This young son of Tukoji was a fanatical believer in the light foray tactics (*ghanimi qāwā*) which had made Shivaji, Baji Rao I and Malhar Holkar I famous throughout India many generations earlier and against enemies very differently armed. Recently this hot-headed youth had run away from home, gone to war on his own account, assembled bands of predatory horsemen and led them in looting helpless villages of the Peshwa’s dominions in Khandesh. This success had raised his prestige in the ignorant circle of Ahalyā Bāi’s advisers, and his own self-conceit to the point of madness. He now insisted on being sent to Rajputana with power to override his father’s generals, and promised to crush Mahadji’s much-vaunted New Model army by making one sudden charge with his myriads of light cavalry, *à la* Malhar Holkar the First!