Fall of the Mughal Empire v4.c54.s5.33

v4.c54.s5.33

But on the way Kāshi Rao slipped out of the camp with his wife and followers, in the night of 3rd May 1802, and fled to the fort of Shendhwā, because he could not trust his ambitious and over-bearing younger brother. Tutelage under Jaswant Rao would have been a change more humiliating than vassalage under Sindhia; and more dangerous too, because Jaswant's avowed policy of establishing the child Khandé Rao II as the lawful head of the House of Holkar with himself as the regent, would have reduced Kāshi Rao to the impotence of a dependent pensioner, who might be thrown into prison or strangled any day at the regent's political need. Hence, he broke away seeking safety in isolation. After Sindhia's victory at Indore (October 1801) a detachment of his army under Gopāl Bhāu was sent to operate in the country south of the Narmadā. Here it came into collision with the forces that Jaswant Holkar began to send across the river from December onwards. Only skirmishes were fought, with varying results but no decision. Sindhia's position here was further weakened by the rebellious Bāvan Pāgā sardārs making common cause with Holkar, and this running sore did not heal before the fall of the Peshwā.