Fall of the Mughal Empire v4.c54.s5.32

v4.c54.s5.32

In the course of this roving career, Jaswant Holkar moved so fast and so far that one almost loses his breath in following his steps on the map. His expulsion from Indore on 14th October was retrieved by the restoration of his rule in that capital early next month. But he himself ranged over the country far and near,—being reported at places as far apart as Navlai (c. 10 Nov.), Hatod (12 m. n. w. of Indore, c. 15 Nov.), Maheshwar (c. 23 Nov.), Indore (c. 2 Dec.), Pratapgarh and Mandesor (c. 6 January 1802), Jhabuā, Nāthdwārā (in Mewār, end of January), back again in Kota (c. 20 Feb.), Manpur (mid-way between Ujjain and the Narmādā, c. 23 March), and again in Maheshwar (end of March). His policy in the end was to induce his eldest brother Kāshi Rao, to remove with him from Malwā to their ancestral dominions in Khāndesh, south of the Narmādā, and there successfully defy Sindhia's forces in concert with the Bāvan Pāgā sardārs, who had risen against the Peshwā and the Peshwā's defender Sindhia. Kāshi Rao had left Punā when he found Daulat Rao's position there very weak and had come to his father's fort of Shendhwā in Khāndesh, near the end of the year 1800. Losing all hopes of being established in his father's position and provided with sufficient money and force by Daulat Rao, the eldest Holkar prince moved from Shendhwā to Ahalyā Bāī's capital Maheshwar on 14th Aug. 1801. He had sent his congratulations to Jaswant on his victory over Sindhia at Ujjain in the previous month, and now after much writing Jaswant Rao came to Maheshwar and persuaded him to leave that city for Khāndesh in his company.