Fall of the Mughal Empire v4.c54.s1.4

v4.c54.s1.4

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.