Fall of the Mughal Empire v4.c54.s1.20

v4.c54.s1.20

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.)