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Fall of the Mughal Empire v4.c54: Chapter XLIV. Jaswant Rao Holkar in the North, 1798-1801

Fall of the Mughal Empire v4.c54

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Chapter XLIV. Jaswant Rao Holkar in the North, 1798-1801

§ 1. The rise of Jaswant Rao Holkar, early adventures (1798)

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For four days after the defeat and death of his beloved brother and leader Malhār II (Ch. 42 § 7), the forlorn Jaswant Holkar hid himself in Punā, and then on 19th September 1797 issued from that city to seek refuge at the Court of Raghuji Bhonslé of Nāgpur, who had promised his father Tukoji Holkar to befriend him. On the way he took a loan from a Gosāin (monk) and raised a force of two hundred retainers. He was well received at Nāgpur (c. 25 Nov.), but took to a roving life of plunder in the surrounding country for a living. In a few months Daulat Rao Sindhia learnt of his growing strength and lawless activity and wrote to Raghuji Bhonslé to arrest the young rebel. This was effected on 20th February 1798. But on his way to Nāgpur Jaswant had secured a very able and devoted adherent in Bhawāni Shankar (the son of Rāi Brijlal of Delhi, now settled in Bhopāl) who was out in search of employment. To this follower we owe a full account of Jaswant’s early career, based on intimate personal knowledge, which Bhawāni Shankar dictated and Mohan Singh wrote down in his own Persian.¹

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¹ This Persian book has been miscalled by the Marātha writers as *Bhawāni Shankar’s Diary*. It is not a diary, and is admittedly the composition of Mohan Singh from facts narrated by Bhawāni Shankar, and at the very end (after Bhawāni Shankar’s flight from Jaswant’s camp in April 1805) based on the author’s personal inquiries. Bhawāni Shankar could not hold a pen as the fingers of both his hands had been destroyed by wounds received in fighting for Holkar—by a bayonet thrust in a fight with two battalions of Dudrenec in December 1798, according to Mohan S. (f. 66b of ms.) or “by a gun shot in a former action with the English” according to Capt. J. Pester, (*War and Sport*, 468.) A much later work, the *Holkar Family Kaifiyat* (written after 1826) in Marathi, gives a different account, which I cannot prefer to the contemporary Bhawāni Shankar’s. Best account in *PRC*. vi. 25-26 (in Puna), 48, 86-90 (confined).

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Thenceforth Bhawānī Shankar acted as Jaswant Rao’s guardian, prime minister, diplomatic agent, and lieutenant in campaigns. When Daulat Rao Sindhia and Kāshi Rao Holkar sent a detachment to take delivery of the prisoner from the hands of the Nāgpur Rajah, Bhawānī Shankar contrived the young prince’s escape from his guards, in disguise, on 9th April 1798, just before the arrival of his enemies. After many hair-breadth escapes and romantic adventures, the fugitive prince made his way to the Bhil country of East Khandesh, in the wooded plateau of Akrāni,* whose lord was a Rajput baron named Rajah Bhāu Singh.

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In Central India the field was now clear for a brigand leader of boundless ambition and enterprise. The long autocratic rule of Ahalyā Bāi Holkar had ended with her death in August 1795, without her having trained a competent successor. Then had followed the lingering illness and death of Tukoji Holkar in Punā in August 1797 and the subservience of his eldest son the weakling Kāshi Rao Holkar to Daulat Rao Sindhia and Daulat Rao’s policy of reducing the House of Holkar to vassalage under himself. All these evils had combined to dissolve the administration of the Holkar dominions in Mālwa and Khāndesh. The still untamed local chieftains and wild jungle tribes and countless roving bands of armed robbers again raised their heads without fear. Every old servant of the House of Holkar considered it a loyal duty to refuse obedience and tribute to the imbecile Kāshi Rao Holkar or to his master the hated Sindhia.

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Thus the report that a brave and active son of Tukoji had openly risen against Kāshi Rao, drew to Jaswant’s side all the loyal as well as selfish servants of his father’s kingdom. All the country’s mercenary soldiers and ambitious adventurers were lured to his banners by the prospect of plunder under such a famous leader.

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∗ Bhāu Singh, the Rājput rānā of Maltwār, annexed the Akrāni pargana in the Satpurā range (in the eastern corner of the East Khāndesh district) and built the fort of Roshmal. His vassal was Jhunjhar Nāyak, the Bhil chieftain of Kherlā (spelt as Cherla in the Persian ms.). The Bombay Gaz. I. pt. ii, 633, adds that "Bhikāji the son of Bhāu S. murdered Jangar, the Bhil Nāyak of Chikli, below the hills, and in revenge Jangar's son Devji killed Bhikāji", after which the Peshwā occupied the country in 1816. Is Jangar a mistake for Junjar? There is a village named Cherla in the Bastar State, Chanda dist., C. P.

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The classic land of Mālwa had once been the fountainhead of Hindu culture. On her soil had been born the models of Sanskrit poetry and drama, science and the fine arts, dance and song, which still survive to enrich our national life. In the middle ages, romance and handicrafts had kept up the traditional fame of this province. But in the year 1798 the dark cloud of anarchy, rapine and popular suffering descended on the unhappy land. The peasant and the artisan lost the fruits of their labour and perished from brigandage or famine. The desolation of fields, the degradation of the women to servile concubinage, and the ruin of trade and industry, turned the most fruitful part of Aryāvarta into a wilderness, tenanted only by two-legged tigers and their servile jackals and unresisting human prey. This anarchy did not end with the crushing of the Pindharis by the British in the war of 1817, but continued to smoulder till the suppression of the Mutiny of 1858 and the dawning of the modern age. For Mālwa’s misery, the responsibility lies primarily on Jaswant Holkar’s unpatriotic ambition and in a lesser degree on Daulat Rao’s insane desire to extinguish the power of the House of Holkar, without having the capacity to replace it by an orderly and efficient government of his own.

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Jaswant at first declared that he was merely looting Kāshi Rao Holkar’s villages in order to force that Holkar chief to grant him an estate legitimately due for his maintenance as a younger son of the late chieftain, (as the British Resident reported in July 1798). But his plans expanded with the growth of his strength. His appeal succeeded because he appeared as the saviour of the power and dignity of Holkar from the base surrender made by Kāshi Rao Holkar to their hereditary rival. His personal ambition was somewhat sublimated by his real affection for Khandé Rao II (the infant son of Malhār Rao II), and he began to press the Peshwā, as the common master of the Marātha chiefs, to declare this infant as the lawful head of the House of Holkar with Jaswant himself as his regent and the working head of the State.

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Jaswant throve on plunder. Robber tribes of the jungle, Grāsiās and Pindharis joined him; and above all bands of Afghan mercenary soldiers thrown out of employment elsewhere. The most notable of the Pathan condottieri was Mir Khan (finally exalted by the British as Amir Khan, Nawab of Tonk), the ablest, the most ruthless, and the most unprincipled captain of mercenaries who have ever lacerated the heart of India. The character of Jaswant Rao Holkar cannot be estimated correctly if we forget the fact that he made this Amir Khan his closest instrument and sworn brother.

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In Khāndesh Jaswant’s first supporters were the Bhil chieftains, Jhunjhar Nāyak of Kherlā and Govardhan Nāyak of Mekhlā, and their Rajput overlord Bhāu Singh of Akrāni. They brought to his standards 600 mercenary Arabs and Sindhis as well as some thousands of Bhill bowmen. Thus strengthened, he plundered Kāshi Rao Holkar’s villages in that region, so successfully that within three months of his breaking prison at Nagpur, his activities came to be noticed by the British Resident at Fathgarh.*

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Soon afterwards he was hired by Anand Rao Pawār the Rajah of Dhār, in his war with the usurping minister of his deceased father. The rebel was ejected, but the Pawār defaulted in the payment of his promised subsidy. Being now planted in Mālwa, north of the Narmadā, Jaswant plundered Dipālpur and many other rich parganas of Sindhia. Success bred success. As Bhawāni Shankar narrates, “The report of Jaswant Rao’s liberality having spread far and near, flocks of people from all sides began to come and taste his bounty. Nawab Mir Khan, from the district of Bhopāl, sent to Bhawāni Shankar a letter begging to be taken into Jaswant Rao’s service.” Rs. 5,000 was sent to him to equip his force, and he joined Holkar’s camp at Shujāwalpur. Jaswant’s army was now raised to 2,000 horse and 5,000 foot. In need of money, he marched back to the Narmadā, looting the places on the way.

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∗ Letter to Governor General, 3 Aug. 1798. P.R.C. viii. No. 74. Thakur, ii. 11 (Bhil), 13 (Dipalpur), 16 (Mir Kh. Feb. 1799).

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After the Dhār adventure, in order to avoid Kāshi Rao Holkar’s regular forces (under Chevalier Dudrenec) lying in the immediate south at Indore, Jaswant made a rapid detour far to the east, raiding Nimāwar, Hāndiā city (where he recrossed the Narmadā), and Bhikangāon, (25 miles e. of Khargon).

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Then he prepared to meet two battalions of Dudrenec’s corps, who had advanced to the south of the Narmadā to hunt him down. He moved from Bhikangāon to Kasrāod, and sent his camp and baggage for safety to the difficult hilly country behind that village. The two battalions, one Telinga and one Najib, with only four guns, were heavily outnumbered, but fought bravely and were defeated and dispersed, leaving their guns and baggage behind, (end of December. 1798).

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§ 2. Jaswant Holkar crowns himself, January, 1799.

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Strong in men and money, undefeated in battle, Jaswant now turned to win his patrimony. After this victory he wrote to the Holkar Government’s officers in Maheshwar (Ahalyā Bai’s capital) to come and wait on him, if they desired their own good. Dudrenec, after learning of the defeat of his battalions, left Maheshwar and fell back on Indore. All the other officers came and offered their submission to Jaswant.

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Jaswant next marched to Maheshwar and there ascended the family throne (beginning of January 1799). All the usual gifts, appointments and rejoicings of a royal coronation now took place. During the halt at this capital, his forces were raised to nearly 8,000 horse and 15,000 foot.

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Dudrenec completed his war preparations at Indore, and then, at the beginning of March 1799, advanced with six battalions and a large body of cavalry to Chauli, six miles north-east of Maheshwar. In the battle that followed Jaswant’s cavalry was mown down by the grape shot of the Frenchman’s well served artillery, and his infantry (wild Gosāin monks) were driven out of their trenches with slaughter by Plumet, the lieutenant and son-in-law of Dudrenec. Jaswant personally fought well, but had to leave a field deserted by his men, and fell back on Maheshwar. This was his first defeat and a signal disaster. It was immediately followed by the flight of most of his troops and allies to Dharampuri, a village on the Narmada 15 miles west of Maheshwar. To this place Jaswant himself, with Mir Khan, Bhawāni Shankar and other faithful followers, retired after taking away as much of Ahalyā Bāi’s jewels and treasures from her capital as he could transport.

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Dudrenec, after his victory, moved on to Maheshwar, and seized as much of the State treasure and costly articles as he could lay hands on, and levied contributions on Jaswant’s supporters in the city. Next Jaswant, who had removed from Dharampuri to Durjanpur, sent a detachment which successfully plundered the small portion of Dudrenec’s camp and baggage left behind in Indore. He rapidly increased his army by new enlistment, and set up his own outposts at Jām-ghāt and Samrur-ghāt, the two passes in the road from Maheshwar to Indore, and thus cut off Dudrenec’s supplies. After a month, the Frenchman yielded, and made peace by abandoning Kāshi Rao and acknowledging Jaswant Rao as the lawful head of the Holkar State (April 1799). Freed from all enemies at home, Jaswant Rao now set himself to taking possession of the Holkar territories in Rajputana and Mālwa and raiding Sindhia’s dominions. With the internal history of his State we are not concerned, and therefore we shall turn to his share in the Widows’ war against Daulat Rao Sindhia, which had now moved from the Deccan to Mālwa.

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Lakhwā Dādā who had become the leader of the Widows' party in North India, solicited Jaswant's alliance as early as April 1799, and incited him to attack Daulat Rao's capital Ujjain, which was then poorly guarded. The Holkar prince invested the city, pressing its rich inhabitants to pay him tribute (May), but Lakhwā soon afterwards persuaded him to retire from Sindhia's possessions in Mālwa and to give up his demands on the citizens of Ujjain. In June, Bālā Rao Inglé was engaged with his corps by Jaswant on a pay of 1¼ lakhs of rupees a month. Jaswant next turned to levy contribution from Kotā and committed great ravages in the territory of that Hādā State (July) on the Rajah's refusal to pay blackmail. At the end of August he vacated that country on getting two lakhs. (*PRC.* viii. Nos. 144-166.)

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William Gardner, a Scotsman of noble blood, who had left the King's service in India and gone to Haidarabad, now entered Jaswant's service and was sent to Indore to raise a brigade. But when only one battalion and a half had been raised he was ordered to go to Maheshwar and aid its collector in resisting the troops of Daulat Rao who were infesting Khāndesh. In a battle that followed, on 16th December 1799, the raw sepoys of Gardner were overwhelmed by superior numbers and efficiency and dispersed with the loss of four guns, Gardner himself being taken prisoner. (*PRC.* viii. 200. Mohan S. 76a.)

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Lakhwā Dādā, now again reconciled to Daulat Rao, was operating in Mewār, where Dudrenec had been employed by Jaswant Rao Holkar for some time past in trying to recover possession of the old Holkar *jāgir* of Parānā, Tonk and Rāmpurā, of which the last two, held by Kirpāl Singh Sikh, a follower of Kāshi Rao, refused him obedience. But Lakhwā captured Rāmpurā (13th March 1800) and handed it over to Dudrenec. The brigade under Dudrenec co-operated with Lakhwā in the battle of Mālpurā (16th April), but the Chevalier immediately afterwards left his side in anger at not being given half the Jaipur guns captured in that battle, though the Holkar troops had been ridden down by the Rajputs and only saved by Sindhia's brigade under Pohlmann on that day.

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Only 19 days after this victory, Lakhwā Dādā was compelled to flee from Daulat Rao's army and rise in rebellion again, owing to news of his ungrateful master's treacherous blows at his Shenvi officers, including himself and Jagu Bāpu, (5 May 1800). The Widows' War broke out afresh, and next month these ladies proceeded to Ujjain to set up a rival Government in the North. For their defence Lakhwā Dādā was recalled to Mālwa from Rajputana (early November 1800).

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We shall now turn to the civil war which was thus transferred to Mālwa and which redoubled the sufferings of that unhappy province from Jaswant's predatory activity.

§ 3. The Widows' War enters Malwa, 1800. Jaswant Holkar joins them

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The first family war against Daulat Rao Sindhia had been closed in August 1799, by his assuring the widows of Mahādji of the means of their defence and maintenance, and promising never to employ their brutal persecutor Sharzā Rao Ghātgé in his service again. But on 4th January 1800 he released Sharzā from prison and brought him to his Court. The first use that this favourite made of his liberty was to send hired assassins into the house of the widows* at night (on the 14th of that month). One of these ladies, Yamunā Bāi was stabbed, but the alarm raised saved her from death, and a captured culprit confessed to the plot. The diwān Bālobā Tātyā who had pledged his word on behalf of his master to induce the widows to make peace, now felt publicly disgraced by his master's breach of faith and offered to resign, but he was entreated to remain in office. However, all pretence ended when on 25th April, Daulat Rao treacherously arrested Bālobā and his associates and gave unfettered power to Sharzā Rao. The result was the flight of Lakhwā Dādā from the Sindhian camp in Hindustan in anticipation of the order for his arrest, and the departure of the now friendless Bāis from Jāmgāon to North India to seek protection with him (May 1800). The civil war broke out once more.

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∗ Of the three widows of Mahādji, one Bhāgirathi Bāi had died on 15 Aug. 1799, Lakshmi Bāi survived till (at least) 1806, and Yamunā Bāi died on 1 Feb. 1814.

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Early in June the two Widows reached Burhānpur and begged Jaswant Holkar to help them in gaining possession of their family capital Ujjain, which was then under his control. At the same time Daulat Rao Sindhia wrote to him to prevent them from entering Mālwa. They were thus halted near Burhānpur for several weeks. But as General Perron decided to restore Holkar's jāgir of Tonk-Rāmpurā to its original owner the Rajah of Jaipur, Jaswant Holkar was antagonised by this loss of his father's property. He therefore invited the Widows to Maheshwar.* Here they arrived at the beginning of August and were welcomed by him with a loan of one lakh of Rupees in cash and another lakh in clothing and materials. A pact was made between them: Jaswant was to help them with his army in gaining possession of Mahādji's northern dominions, and they were to pay him four lakhs of Rupees for his army expenses. Escorted by Jaswant they reached Ujjain (about 1 October). Here their difficulties began. Their need was money, and they could raise no loan or donation, though they were personally popular out of regard for Mahādji's memory. Jaswant soon lost patience and threatened to leave their party unless the promised four lakhs and twenty guns from the Ujjain arsenal were delivered to him. Just then he received through Ambāji Inglé a seductive offer of five lakhs if he turned against the Widows.

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Jaswant Holkar had called up one of his trained battalions under Captain Plumet and made it take post near the Widows' residence. Here on the 1st of November Plumet attacked their camp by surprise at night and robbed all their property, the two ladies escaping with their bare lives. Public execration fell on Jaswant for this act of treachery and lack of chivalry. (Rājādhyaksha, letter No. 299, Mohan S.)

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∗ Their flight from Burhānpur was hastened by the news that Daulat Rao had sent some of his battalions from Punā to overtake and capture the Bāis.

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The city of Ujjain now felt the heavy hand of the spoliator. Jaswant greatly oppressed the citizens to get money; the floors of richmen's houses were dug up in search of buried hoards, guns and military stores were removed from the State arsenal to Holkar's camp.

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In the meantime, at the call of the Widows, Lakhwā Dādā had detached Jagu Bāpu from Rajputana (about 3 October) with 2,000 horse to hasten to their side. He himself left Udaipur (on 29th October) and joined Jagu Bāpu's camp at Jāorā, where he found the Bāis arrived. The force under him was only 4,000 infantry and 1,000 cavalry.

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Jaswant Holkar now openly declared himself on the side of Daulat Rao, though he did not for that reason cease to raid and desolate the Sindhian dominions. On 16th November, five battalions of sepoys detached by Daulat Rao, arrived at Ujjain. Jaswant had left the city a day earlier, to oppose Lakhwā Dādā who had advanced from Jāorā to Pilodā.

§ 4. Lakhwā Dādā's fights for the Sindhian Widows

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Lakhwā found himself clearly outnumbered by the forces of Daulat Rao, especially the trained battalions, and he wisely took to the Deccani tactics of making rapid movements and surprise attacks, skirmishing and avoiding close engagements and sieges. Of this art he was a passed master. Leaving the neighbourhood of Ujjain he marched away to the Rāghogarh district to join his ally Durjan Sal Khechi. On the way thither near Shahjahanpur he fell in with Mir Khan's brother, who was escorting Mir Khan's camp and baggage. By a sudden night attack (on 27th November) Lakhwā routed these forces (4,000 horse and foot) killing and wounding 200 of them and taking 300 Ruhelas prisoners. The fugitives fled to Purānā, abandoning to the victors all their camp, eleven pieces of artillery, some elephants, many camels and 300 horses. Three days later, Durjan Sal Khechi defeated Bālā Rao Inglé and obliged him to flee to the fort of Araun. (PRC. ix. No. 26. Mohan S. differs.) Jaswant Holkar had given up the side of the Widows, but there could be no real alliance between him and Sindhia. The Peshwā, under pressure from Daulat Rao invested Kāshi Rao with the robes of the head of the Holkar State, and thus shut out Jaswant’s darling, the orphan son of Malhar II (c. 10 December 1800.) Embittered by this disappointment, Jaswant suspended hostilities with Lakhwā Dādā, who then very wisely secured Jaswant’s neutrality by restoring the district of Shahjahanpur to Mir Khan and marching towards Rājgarh (in the Khechi country), where he arrived about 19th December. Here joining his ally Durjan Sal Khechi (the founder of the Khilchipur barony), he moved on to Bundelkhand, planning to leave the Widows under the protection of the Rajah of Datiā (Satrajit Bundela) and with his help roam about levying contributions from the jāgirs of Daulat Rao’s partisans. On the way, they overtook the forces of Bālā Rao Inglé on 28th December 1800, and after a bloody fight forced him to flee to the neighbouring fortress of Pichor, which Lakhwā invested.*

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All this time Ambāji Inglé was playing an ambiguous and inactive part. He made no haste to join Jaswant Holkar for a joint attack on Lakhwā, while he was still in Mālwa, but sought only to further his personal interests, trying to wrest Jāwad in Mewār (c. 20 Nov.); then he lay inactive at Sitāmau for sometime (Dec. 1-14), and finally joined Jaswant Holkar near Sārangpur (c. 20 Dec.), but could do nothing for his master. The two allies suspected each other of treachery, and their wrangling over the delay in paying Jaswant his promised subsidy* grew daily bitterer. Ambājī’s own army was 11,000 strong; and though Jaswant had sent to him 9,000 men, these were withdrawn at the end of January 1801, so that Ambājī gave up the idea of fighting Lakhwā but went instead to Kotā, which city he left on 2nd February to join his brother at the siege of Narwar. In the meantime, the Rajah of Datiā had joined Lakhwā’s force with 3,000 infantry, 2,000 horse and 6 guns, on 29th January and welcomed the Widows.

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∗ Bālā Rao escaped from Pichor by his usual device of treachery. “He deceived Lakhwā by means of a fictitious treaty, in which he agreed to surrender the important fort of Narwar, which belongs to his brother Ambāji, and gave hostages.” P.R.C. ix. 242.

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Jaswant Holkar had, no doubt, retired from the civil war in the Sindhian family, but Daulat Rao now concentrated overwhelming force against Lakhwā and the Bāis. He himself reached Burhānpur (on his way back from Punā) on 15th February and compelled Ambājī, by the threat of dismissal, to move against Lakhwā from the west. General Perron sent a detachment which took post at Dholpur to defeat any attempt of Lakhwā to break through to the north and enter the Agra district, which he had long ruled. The portion of De Boigne’s army which had accompanied Daulat Rao to the Deccan, under high European officers, was now pushed up across the Narmadā to close the southern road to the rebels. On 3rd April, General Perron himself started from Aligarh to reinforce Ambājī and strike directly at Lakhwā and his allies.

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§ 5. Battle of Seondha. Death of Lakhwā Dada

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The champion of Mahādji’s Widows felt his cause hopeless, as he was without money, and heavily outnumbered. His unpaid soldiery began to desert him. The net was closed round him on the north, west and south, and the hunters were coming up very close. But he would not surrender; he fought skirmishes with Ambājī’s men in March, and at last fell back to Seondha, forty miles due east of Gwalior, in the only direction still open to him. In the fort of this place he lodged the Widows for safety, while he himself encamped under the walls of the town with 10,000 cavalry, 5,000 infantry, and 32 guns, determined to fight General Perron who arrived within 20 miles of him on 22nd April, 1801.

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∗ Bhawāni Shankar says that Ambājī actually paid Jaswant five lakhs (f. 87a). The British Resident records the report that Jaswant was angrily demanding from Daulat Rao ten lakhs as compensation for the losses caused to Holkar’s dominions by the depredations of the Widows’ partisans (P.R.C. ix. 239).

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At Seondha* was fought the last battle of the ablest and noblest of Mahādji’s generals now surviving. It was a hopeless contest, but Lakhwā stood his ground manfully against odds which would have disheartened any other man. On 3rd May 1801, Perron attacked and after a sharp and murderous conflict, carried a redoubt of the rebels, capturing five guns there. He immediately followed up this victory by storming a second redoubt. The Datiā Rajah was mortally wounded; Lakhwā himself was wounded in the hand by grape shot and the wound festered till his death nine months later. The Grāsia allies deserted the lost cause, and the Bāis, with the invalid Lakhwā Dādā and their surviving sardārs, fled away by the Chandāveli pass to Datiā (arriving there on 9th May). That capital could not long harbour them. Their unpaid soldiery went away in search of bread.

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But the war was not pushed to a bloody end by the victors. Perron had to leave for Northern India immediately after his victory, in order to settle scores with the Sikhs and George Thomas. Ambāji arrived near Datiā (c. 20 May), but had to give up all designs against that town; he set on foot negotiations for reconciling the Bāis to Daulat Rao, and himself started (c. 2 June) for Narwar, en route to Mewār. The details of these negotiations can be read in *P.R.C.* ix. 255 and 40.† The Widows’ War now ended by being engulfed in a colossal contest between Daulat Rao Sindhia and Jaswant Rao Holkar, whose final result was the loss of Maratha independence.

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∗ Seondha.—*P.R.C.* ix. 249-254. Fraser’s *Skinner*, i. 185-187. Gulgulé D., letter of 22nd May 1801. † On 19 Feb. 1802, Resident Collins reported “Ambāji Inglé has consented, on the part of D. R. Sindhia, to give the Bāis possession of Āntri, a hill fort in the vicinity of Gwalior and parganas yielding an annual revenue of two lakhs.” [C.’s letters of 5 Oct. 1801 and 19 Feb. 1802 not printed in *PRC.* ix.]

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This is a fit place for concluding the mournful story of Lakhwā Dādā’s last days. At the end of September 1801, he was reported as levying soldiers on the strength of some money supplied by Jaswant Bhāu Kerkar and other supporters of the Bāis, and trying to secure allies. (Resident Collins to G.G., 5 Oct.) But he could effect nothing with his small means, and festering wound. The dying warrior was offered an asylum by the Mahārānā of Udaipur. After passing some time at Jāwad, he took shelter in Sālumbar, and here a four days’ fever put an end to his earthly sorrows and sufferings, on 7th Feb. 1802. (Rajādhyaksha’s Jivva Dada, p. 264 and letter No. 329.)*

§ 6. Daulat Rao Sindhia ruins Malwa by his wrong policy and dilatoriness

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When on 3rd May 1801, Lakhwā Dādā and Mahādji’s widows were driven out of Seondhā, the civil war in Daulat Rao’s family ended, but within two months of that date another war burst upon him which was destined to shatter his power and destroy Maratha hegemony. Jaswant Rao Holkar after withdrawing from Ujjain on 15th November 1800 had taken to plundering Sindhia’s possessions north of that city, especially Bhansodā and the Mandesor district, in reprisal for the exactions of Daulat Rao’s troops from the Holkar villages in Malwa and Khandesh. Daulat Rao had opened negotiations with him for a compromise, but as Jaswant demanded the handing over to him of Khandé Rao (the heir of Malhar Holkar II) and the freeing of every village ever held by the Holkar family from Sindhia’s control, peace between them proved unattainable. Jaswant then swiftly turned to show what he was capable of doing.

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∗ James Skinner, from personal service under Lakhwā speaks highly of him as "the best Maratha general of his time", and again, "Lakhwa Dada was, by Daulat Rao's orders, proclaimed commander-in-chief, a measure which pleased all the troops, both Marathas and Europeans, for they all knew him to be an able, generous, and excellent soldier." [Fraser, i. 124 and 131.]

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What was the head of the Sindhian State doing all this time? His dream of controlling the Puna Government as Regent of a puppet Peshwa had now vanished, and so also had all his hopes of ever realising any portion of the five krores promised to Mahādji in 1793 and the 47 lakhs promised to himself by Baji Rao in 1796 and 1798. And yet he would not leave Puna to save his northern dominions from which the most alarming reports of plunder and piteous appeals for armed protection were reaching him. The evil of the master's imbecility could not be corrected because of his capricious change of ministers and refusal to trust even the ablest minister with full power. The natural effect of Daulat Rao's rule was the unspeakable suffering of his subjects and the ruin of the political edifice which Mahādji had raised.

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Leaving Puna finally on 5th December 1800, after repeated delays due to his hesitating policy and the chronic mutiny of his long unpaid soldiery, Daulat Rao Sindhia reached his ancestral village of Jāmgāon (64 miles north-east of Puna) on the 23rd of that month. After a four weeks' halt here, he resumed his march on 19th January 1801 and reached Burhānpur on the Tāpti on 15th February. He then dawdled away full four months in its environments, in tiger shooting, attending dance and singing, and even kite flying. The 140 miles between the Tāpti and the Narmadā were crossed in 18 days, and he arrived at Hāndiā on the south bank of the latter river on 3rd July. And then followed another halt of four months and a half, partly owing to the necessity of calling in all his detachments from far and near in fear of Jaswant Holkar's military strength, and partly because the heavy rains had made the river unfordable and the roads impassable. These fatuous delays ruined his military position in Malwa. [PRC. vi. 386, 389. Gulgulé D.]

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For the protection of his agents in Malwa from Holkar's myriads of predatory horse, stiffened by European-led infantry and Mir Khan's doughty Pathan mercenaries, Daulat Rao adopted the incredibly foolish policy of sending up reinforcements from the south in driblets at such intervals that co-operation or junction among them was impossible. On 2nd May 1801 from Burhānpur he had detached George Hessing with five battalions, and this force had reached Ujjain in safety about the 28th of that month. "A few days later Sindhia detached Lieut. MacIntyre with the fourth battalion from Hessing's brigade and a second from Filoze's, to follow and support the advanced column. Three days later he detached two of Sutherland's battalions from the First Brigade, under Capt. Gautier, to further strengthen Hessing, and finally crowned his imbecility by closing up the rear, after another interval, with two more of Sutherland's battalions and a park of artillery under Captain Brownrigg. There was thus an *echelle* of small isolated detachments with twenty, thirty, and forty miles between each, marching against an enemy whose entire strength was concentrated on the objective point." (H. Compton, 254.)

§ 7. Battles of Newri and Satwās

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It is necessary to give the full topography of the scene of the war in order to enable the reader to follow the operations clearly. Daulat Rao Sindhia's main camp and family rested near Hāndiā, on the south bank of the Narmadā. On the north bank of the river, facing Hāndiā lay the town of Nimāwar, which served as the other bridge-head to his army. A broken plain stretched for 18 miles west of Nimāwar to the town of Satwās, and the route was intersected only by small *nālās* draining southwards into the great river. Fourteen miles north-west of Satwās stood Bijwāra, at the eastern end of a pass after crossing which and debouching on the plain at the village of Dhan-talāv at its western mouth, the road reached the town of Unchaud, another thirteen miles from Bijwāra. Sixteen miles north-west of this Unchaud lay the city of Newri, and sixteen miles further off in the same direction lay Dewās. Ujjain was 22 miles north-west of Dewās and Indore 32 miles south of Ujjain. It will be seen that Daulat Rao had to avoid the country due south of his capital Ujjain, because it was very hilly, broken, and covered by Holkar’s possessions. He had to make a long detour from Burhānpur *north-eastwards* to Hāndiā and then from the Narmadā *north-westwards* to reach Ujjain. His capital lay blocked by enemy territory on the south and the west, while in the region north of it Holkar’s roving light horse had driven Sindhia’s unprotected officers and posts entirely into the defensive.

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Jaswant Rao Holkar was too good a general to miss the opportunity presented by Daulat Rao’s imbecile strategy. He at once prepared to attack his enemy’s scattered detachments in detail. By-passing Ujjain at the furthest end of the Sindhian line as too isolated a post to cut his rear or to defend itself unless strongly reinforced in the meantime, Jaswant Rao swooped down upon MacIntyre at Newri on 25th June 1801. This detachment, only two battalions of infantry and five hundred horse, was hopelessly outnumbered by Holkar’s vast hordes, but it fought desperately, inflicting severe loss (magnified to over one thousand by the Sindhian news-writers) in Holkar’s ranks. When their ammunition was exhausted the sepoys laid down their arms. MacIntyre and his other two European officers were taken prisoners, and so also were Dāji Bābu Rām, Mulchand and Rāz Muhammad’s son. Holkar’s spoils amounted to 200 horses, 400 firelocks, and seven small guns.

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Jaswant Rao followed up his victory by at once occupying the Unchaud pass and sending his troops ahead to attack Satwās. The tide of invasion flooded the level country of Satwās and beyond, preceded by groups of Pindhari light horsemen, eddying round Sindhia’s villages or combining to attack his military posts. But the defence held. Brownrigg was a commander who combined an Irishman’s desperate valour with the cool calculation and organising power of a veteran of many battles. When the Pindhari vanguard of Holkar’s army first appeared before Satwās, Brownrigg sheltering his men behind the walls of that fortified village kept them back by his gun fire. When the Pindharis fell back to their base in the pass, Brownrigg evacuated Satwās before they could return with guns and infantry, and retreating took post near the north bank of the Narmadā, some fourteen miles south-east of Satwās, within easy reach of his own base, the bridge-head at Nimāwar, opposite the camp of Daulat Rao at Hāndiā. Here all the Sindhian detachments on the north bank were assembled, and a grand park of artillery had been already built up. On 2nd July, he received further reinforcements of two battalions of infantry sent up by Daulat Rao under Devji Gauli and Sadāshiv Rao.

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It was a naturally strong position, with the broad river protecting its rear, while its front and wings were intersected by many small nālās (ravines) which hindered the cavalry charges so dear to the Holkar horse. Meantime Jaswant Rao had occupied Satwās, and on 4th July 1801 he launched his grand attack on Brownrigg. He detached Plumet and Kushābā Bakhshi with four battalions of trained infantry and a large cavalry force and eight guns to assault this Sindhian post. As Holkar's horsemen galloped up to the front, they were mowed down by the accurate grape-shot fired from Brownrigg's guns skilfully dispersed along his line. The sepoys under Plumet fought with great spirit, and forced their way to Sindhia's baggage camp, but a heavy discharge of grape (or chain-shot, according to Basawan Lal) from Brownrigg's artillery kept concealed here and hitherto held in reserve, cut them down in hundreds and after a two hours' sharp contest they fell back, Plumet himself being wounded and eight of his guns abandoned in the field. But Jaswant Holkar was a general who knew not defeat. He rallied his men in person and led them on to a renewed attack by which he recovered six of his guns, but could not change the issue of a lost battle. He retreated to Satwās, with enormous losses. Brownrigg's casualties were only 107 men including Lt. Rowbotham.*

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∗ A news-writer in Sindhia's camp reports that on Holkar's side 2 or 3 sardārs and four to five hundred men were slain, and in Daulat Rao's army Devji Gauli (not true) and about one hundred horse (palak). Thakur, ii. 43 (Bāpu H. killed).

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§ 8. *Jaswant Holkar captures Ujjain, 18th July 1801*

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The defeat was decisive so far as the eastern half of the line was concerned. If there had been a military genius in command of Daulat Rao’s operations and the heavy rains had not made the soft soil of Malwa impassable for guns and laden carts, the victors would have pushed on westwards and effected a junction with Hessing’s corps advancing from Ujjain towards it. To avoid being caught between two such forces, Jaswant slipped out of Satwās and hastened back to Indore. His genius enabled him to retrieve his fame and nullify Sindhia’s triumph by a lightning blow which he alone knew how to deal. He crushed George Hessing at Ujjain only 13 days after his own repulse by Brownrigg.

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Hessing had reached Ujjain with his battalions about the 28th of May, under orders to remain on the defensive till reinforced by his master. He took post in the unfinished fort of Bhairon-garh, three miles north of Ujjain City. But on hearing of the disaster to MacIntyre, he marched out towards Shujāwalpur to join Chintāman Atmārām Wākdé,* who was vainly trying with his 5,000 Maratha horse to uphold Sindhia’s authority in that district. On the other side, Jaswant Holkar after his repulse at Satwās fell back on Indore, and called upon Mir Khan to unite with him near Ujjain for an attack. Mir Khan promptly set out westwards, driving Hessing and Wākdé before him. Leaving his camp and baggage at Tarānā (20 miles north-east of Ujjain) he arrived east of that capital, in the afternoon of 17th July. Jaswant had already arrived a few miles south of that city on the same day at noon. The two allies soon effected a junction and launched their attack on Hessing two hours before sunset. The Sindhian detachment had taken post between Gogā Shāh’s hillock and Ankpātā, with their back to the city-walls. That evening there was time for an artillery duel only.

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∗ Atmārām Shivarām Nāmdé (also Wākdé) was appointed diwān by Mahadji. He had three sons, Chintāman, Krishna Rao (whose adopted son was Balwant) and Shivarām. *Tārikh Jāgirdārān Gwalior*, i. p. 504.

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After nightfall Jaswant himself, from his base two miles behind, rode up to his vanguard (under the command of Kushābā Bakhshi) which was facing Hessing's post. During the night Mir Khan's corps and Holkar's two brigades called the Plumet Campoo (commanded by M. Fleury) and the Maharaj Campoo (commanded by Harnāth chelā) were pushed up to the front, and they entrenched themselves, blockading the enemy's position. Jaswant held a council of war with his commanders and matured the plan of attack. Next morning the fighting was renewed. Holkar's infantry was repulsed and had to flee for shelter to Mir Khan. The Pathan horse charged, but were driven back by discharges of grape. Then the rain burst "like Noah's flood". The blinding showers stopped the firing of muskets and cannon; the superiority of fire arms and discipline was wiped out; the ground turned into a quagmire. Seizing this opportunity, Jaswant Rao gave his pre-concerted signal by firing a rocket. The Pathans, the Deccani horse, and the Pindharis swarmed in thousands upon Hessing's corps, whose useless flint-locks were no match for their enemy's long spears. But Hessing's sepoys fought with desperate courage to the end, as Jaswant himself admits in his report. Out of a force of six infantry battalions and 3,000 to 3,500 Maratha horse on Sindhia's side, two thousand men were reported as killed or wounded. The Deccan horse managed to escape, but the battalions were cut up. "Of the twelve European officers, eight were killed and three wounded and taken prisoner, Hessing alone escaping. Chinto Atmārām was reported as killed. Thirty pieces of cannon and all the camp and stores of Hessing fell into the victor's hands. But the strong will of Jaswant Rao kept his soldiery from sacking the rich capital of Sindhia. Sir John Malcolm rightly praised "the order Jaswant Rao had established and the vigour of his character, (as proved by) the fact that Ujjain was not plundered after this success, but he reserved it from his troops to exact a heavy contribution himself from its wealthy inhabitants" (Central India, 2nd ed. i. 215).

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Mohan S. 93 a. PRC. ix. 28. Thakur, ii. 38. Gulgulé. Basāwan, p. 159 of my ms.)

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After this victory Jaswant Holkar remained encamped at Udāsā’s Tank, three miles north-east of the city. On 21st Sept. he made his entry into the Sindhian capital to enforce his demand of 15 lakhs as war indemnity from the city. The news-report speaks of his being the veritable god of Death to the Brahmans and as placing them under chastisement, while the women were spared any kind of molestation; but his government got less than an eighth part of what was levied from the citizens, all the rest being consumed by his officers; a great dearness of food stuff in the city killed off its poorer population. (Thakur, ii. 46.)

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The most reliable account of this battle of Ujjain is given in the despatches of Resident Collins’s agent in Ujjain, Jaswant Holkar’s letter to Bhārāmal Dādā, and the report of Lāji Ballāl’s envoy in Daulat Rao’s camp,—all of which are absolutely contemporary and based on personal knowledge. This account is supported and enriched by many details in the Holkar family tradition recorded in the *Kaifiyat*. The battle raged for two successive days; the decisive rain-burst just before the final charge of Holkar’s army is given in Bhawāni Shankar’s narrative and in Basāwan Lāl’s *Life of Amir Khan*. These sources prove the falsity of Herbert Compton’s story of the battle (*Adventurers*, pp. 255 and 363). He is wrong (i) in ascribing the conception of the attack on Ujjain to Mir Khan—whose bold initiative alone made “Holkar pluck up heart”,—as the timing of the movements of the two branches of Holkar’s army and even the assertion of Mir Khan’s eulogist, prove that the plan originated in Jaswant’s brain; (ii) Compton is not justified in asserting that “Hessing behaved in a most cowardly manner, flying at an early period of the action” and being “a half-caste son, by a native woman (really a French mestiche), of gallant old John Hessing, failed to demonstrate the doctrine of heredity.”

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The true facts are that the position of Sindhia’s detachment at Ujjain was hopelessly weak, and only a Lakhwā Dādā could have saved it. Hessing had brought back from the Shujāwalpur side to Ujjain a brigade worn out (*hirāsān*) by constant retreat before a pursuing enemy, with less than one day’s time in which to fortify his post. There was no fort in the true sense in Ujjain, but only a city wall, of no defence against artillery. Even Bhairongarh was incomplete and in ruin at this time.

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§ 9. *Sharzā Rao defeats Jaswant at Indore, October 1801.*

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Ujjain was lost to Daulat Rao on 18th July 1801. The immediate effect of the reverse was to make him send urgent calls to his generals in Khāndesh and Mahārāshtra to hasten to his side. But the rains now set in with unusual violence and made campaigning impossible for the next month and a half.

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Major Brownrigg had followed up his victory by occupying the Unchaud pass and encamping at its western mouth at the village of Dhan Talāv (*c.* 12 Aug.) Sharzā Rao Ghātgé joined Daulat Rao’s camp at Hāndiā (20 Aug.) and supplied him with a counsellor possessed of quick decision and driving power. But Sindhia’s chief gain at this time was the seduction of Chevalier Dudrenec and his son-in-law Plumet from Holkar’s service (August); though the brigades of these two officers continued in Holkar’s pay, the men lost such experienced European leadership in their next battles with Sindhia.

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With the end of the rainy season, fighting was renewed, Sharzā Rao joined Brownrigg on 1st October, and the vast Sindhian army with their powerful artillery* moved confidently towards Ujjain. Jaswant Holkar immediately evacuated that city and hastened to the defence of his own capital Indore, where he encamped at Khazrāni, a mile north-east of the city. An agent of Sindhia immediately occupied Ujjain, but Sharzā Rao with the army, by-passing Ujjain, pushed on towards Indore.

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∗ Bhawāni Shanker estimates this force as 6 battalions of Filose, 6 battalions of Brownrigg (*i.e.* Sutherland’s corps) and 25,000 horse. (95b).

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On 5th October 1801 the rival hosts made contact in the plain enclosed by the Siprā and the Kān rivers north of Indore, and the fighting continued for ten days. Holkar's scouts under Fath Singh Māné first exchanged fire with the enemy's vanguard on the 5th. But Brownrigg advanced methodically towards Indore, forming his men into a huge column, protected by artillery in front and flanks and sheltering his baggage in the centre. Nothing could stand before science and discipline, and Jaswant Rao Holkar was forced to betake himself to the old light foray tactics (*ghanimi*) which proved futile now. As the Kotā news-writer in Sindhia's camp reported, "Holkar is not fighting face to face, but practising *ghanimi*. He cannot make a stand before our guns, and our troops are chasing him back". Jaswant displayed great personal bravery and always pushed on to the thick of the fight, but he had to yield ground every day.

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On the 11th of October he staked everything on an attack in full force. The reckless fury of this charge broke the battalions of Filose, who formed Sindhia's van, no supports came up from behind, and the remnant of these battalions fled for shelter to the cavalry of Sharzā Rao, who abused Filose in the filthy language of which he was a master and charged him with cowardice and treason. Unable to bear this public disgrace, the poor Eurasian youth cut his own throat.* But the day was not really lost. Brownrigg had kept his battalions steady with "strengh in reserve", and poured a deadly fire of grape upon Holkar's troops, who had as usual dispersed for plunder, thinking victory already achieved. Terrible execution was done upon their dense masses, and they broke and fled. Jaswant himself was charged by fifty of Sindhia’s cavalry, but he manfully stood his ground with only five companions and saved himself.

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∗ Compton, p. 352. Malcolm in his *Central India*, i. 220-226 gives a somewhat different account of the battle. I have relied on the despatches of Resident Collins (*PRC*. ix) and the news-letters of Gulgulé's agent.

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At last their methodical advance brought Brownrigg and Sharzā Rao within two miles of Indore, and here the decisive battle was fought on the 14th. On that day, too, Jaswant displayed the greatest personal courage and persistence, but he was hopelessly outclassed in artillery, and his trained brigades had lost their beloved and experienced European leaders, through the desertion of Dudrenec and Plumet and the imprisonment of their successors, Fleury and Malé, by the suspicious Jaswant. Holkar’s campoo troops were now under a timid and incompetent leader, Harnāth chelā or slave. [Mohan S. 95 b. Thakur, ii. 47.]

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The fighting raged throughout the day. First, the orderly tactics and steady fire of Brownrigg’s battalions totally broke up the Holkar campoo under Harnāth and they took to flight. At the sight of this the myriads of Pindari horsemen forming the rear of Jaswant’s army vanished quickly. In the meantime, in the other sector of the field, the division under Mir Khan was pressed very hard, and Jaswant advanced there to see things for himself and bring relief. Many of his horsemen followed him, thus leaving that sector of the entrenchment very thinly held. Seizing this opportunity Brownrigg launched his infantry for the final blow. They stormed the enemy’s trenches at the point of the bayonet. After a last desperate counter-attack by Jaswant himself, which for a time wrested back three of his abandoned guns, the struggle ended at sunset. Holkar’s defeat was complete; all his guns, numbering more than one hundred, his camp and stores were captured by the victors. Jaswant fled away to Kushālgarh and Jāmghāt; and here most of his cavalry who had escaped death in battle by a timely flight, soon rallied round him, and with them he took to a life of predatory warfare, roaming all over the country, untramelled by artillery or disciplined infantry, in the manner for which his great ancestor Malhar Holkar I was famous.

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Sharzā Rao defeated Gujā Kumbar and Krishnāji Mahādik, who were holding Indore for Jaswant, and took possession of that city, a few days after the victory in the field. He now began to exact retribution from Holkar’s capital for the oppression lately done by Jaswant at Ujjain. “Though the residents of the city offered to pay him 15 lakhs, he would not agree, but looted the place and began to dig up the floors and burn down the houses. For two days the city was sacked by the soldiers, but on the third order was restored by the highest authorities.” After some weeks the victors withdrew from the town and Holkar’s men reoccupied it. (Mohan S. 97 a. PRC. ix. 33. Gulgulé, letter of 19 Oct. 1801.)

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§ 10. Jaswant Rao Holkar’s movements and aims, Oct. 1801—April 1802

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After Sindhia’s generals had defeated Holkar at Indore (14th October), Daulat Rao himself at last crossed over to the north side of the Narmadā and arrived at Ujjain on 11th November. He could not follow up his victory, because of his utter lack of money and the daily mutiny of his long-unpaid soldiery. In dread of Jaswant Holkar’s military genius, Daulat Rao had recklessly increased his army, enlisting fresh light cavalry by the thousand and recalling his detachments from the districts where they had been feeding themselves. No finance minister could provide for such a bloated host. Moreover, Lakhwā Dādā was still roving in Mewār, and a strong detachment from Sindhia’s army was detained there to oppose him.

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