Fall of the Mughal Empire v4.c52.s7.1

v4.c52.s7.1

When Ahalyā Bāi, the widowed daughter-in-law of the founder of the house of Holkar, died (on 13th August 1795), she left no descendant in the male line behind her. During her long reign of nearly thirty years, her troops were led by Tukoji Holkar, a distant cousin, as her servant. After her death the Punā Government recognised Tukoji as the head of the Holkar State, because he was the only able and grown-up member of the family and best known to the troops and the officials. But Tukoji was at that time a dying man. His health had broken down from drink, self-indulgence and slothfulness, and he was then living in Punā under medical treatment. As death came nearer, Tukoji was filled with despair about the future of his dominions. He had four sons by three different wives. The eldest Kāshi Rao was a half-witted cripple, entirely dependent on others. The second son Malhar II, was an unmitigated ruffian; his insane pride, reckless violence, contempt for good counsel, habitual drunkenness, and incurable addiction to the predatory way of life brought him from the rank of a prince down to the level of the vulgar Pindhari looters who filled the Holkar army. His father confessed that every measure of love or harshness that he had taken had failed to reform this youth. For his brigandage he had been kept confined in a fort. His fatuous conduct in the Lākheri campaign was the shame and sorrow of his father's ministers.