Sindia’s embarrassments – His impolitic conduct – Sequestrates many of the Jagheers – consequent enmity of the Mahomedan chiefs – Mohummud Beg Humadanee – Sindia levies tribute from the Rajpoots – The Rajpoots revolt – Attack and rout Sindia’s troops under Ryajee Paten – Sindia takes the field – difficulties of the crisis – endeavours to negotiate with the Rajpoots without success – Mohummud Beg and his nephew join the Rajpoots – Battle in which Mohummud Beg is killed, but victory declares for the Rajpoots – The emperor’s regular infantry, with eighty pieces of cannon, desert Sindia in a body, and join the Rajpoots – Sindia evinces great fortitude and conduct – retreats unmolested by the Rajpoots – followed by Ismael Beg – continues his retreat to Gwalior – applies to Poona for aid – Views of Nana Furnuwees Sindia’s exertions – Able defence of Agra by his General, Luckwa Dada – Gholam Kawdir – Takes Aligurh – Joins Ismael Beg before Agra – Jhats obstruct the operations of the siege – Sindia reinforces the Jhats – Battle near Bhurtpoor, in which the Mahrattas and Jhats are worsted – Successful diversion planned by Rannay Khan – The battle of Agra in which Ismael Beg is totally defeated – Ismael Beg joins Gholam Kawdir – They repair to Delhi – Barbarities perpetrated by Gholam Kawdir – Mahrattas at last advance – Gholam Kawdir flies – is pursued – taken – suffers mutilation, under which he dies – Shah Alum restored to his throne, and Sindia recovers his ascendancy – His situation – Changes introduced in the constitution of his army – Gosaeens – Himmut Buhadur – Regular infantry – Sindia’s views – Transition to Deccan affairs
The resources of the provinces which Sindia had acquired in Hindoostan were, from their exhausted state, totally inadequate to meet the great additional disbursements which his
late success, more brilliant than lucrative, had entailed. Pressed by pecuniary embarrassments, he was driven to acts equally impolitic and unjust. Against foreign adversaries he might have prevailed, but domestic enemies soon became too strong for his newly established power. The principal cause of discontent arose from his sequestrating the Jagheers of many of the Mahomedan chiefs, and from being suspected of entertaining like designs towards all of them. The most considerable of these chiefs whom he had not yet dispossessed, was Mohummud Beg Humadanee, whom Sindia had recalled from Raghoogurh to Delhi, and endeavoured, without success, to prevail upon him to disband a portion of his troops. Mohummud Beg, suspecting that Sindia intended to enforce compliance, ever after harboured a secret enmity against him, which the course of events soon afforded an opportunity of declaring.
Under the sanction of the emperor’s name, Sindia had not only preferred a claim for tribute on the Rajpoots, but at the head of his army at the gates of Jeypoor, had fixed the first payment at sixty lacks of rupees, of which a part was received and the balance promised in a given time. When the period expired, Sindia sent Ryajee Patell to recover the remainder; but the Rajpoots having prepared for resistance, and being secretly assured of support from Mohummud Beg And the disaffected Mahomedan nobles, refused to pay the amount, derided the authority of Ryajee Patell, attacked his troops and routed them. The faction at Delhi opposed to Sindia was much
strengthened by this revolt; even the imbecile monarch, whose stipend was irregularly paid, and who readily became the tool of any new party, joined in the increasing murmurs: complained of the invaded rights of imperial dignity, and of the arbitrary acts, and uncourteous manner of the Mahratta chiefs. Sindia, though sensible of these discontents, though his fluids were exhausted, his own and the imperial troops in arrears, and his fortunes depending on the issue of a very doubtful campaign, was obliged to take the field against the Rajpoots. He ordered the troops under Appa Khunde Rao, with the two battalions of De Boigne, lately returned from Bundelcund, to join him; but, to add to his difficulties, he was obliged to detach two separate bodies of troops to the northward of Delhi, under two of his own officers, Hybut Rao Phalkay and Ambajee Inglia, to repel an incursion of the Seiks.
On approaching Jeypoor, Sindia endeavoured to negotiate, but his overtures were disregarded. The Raja of Joudpoor, with several Rajpoot chiefs of less note, united with Pertaub Sing, the Raja of Jeypoor, who had succeeded his father Jey Sing, and their army was already very formidable. The greater part of Sindia’s troops being very different from those of an army wholly Mahratta, the Rajpoots by acting on the supplies, and cutting off the foragers, soon rendered their situation critical. Both Mahrattas and Moghuls, irritated by privation, became dissatisfied; and Mohummud Beg Humadanee, together with his nephew, Ismael Beg, chose this
moment for deserting Sindia, and joining the Rajpoots. Lest the disaffection should spread to the whole of the emperor’s troops, Sindia took the earliest opportunity of leading them into action. An obstinate battle took place – Mohummud Beg fell by a cannon shot, and his troops were on the point of flying, when they were rallied by Ismael Beg, who retrieved the day, and forced the Mahrattas to retire. Sindia was preparing to renew the contest, when, on the third day after the battle, the whole of the emperor’s regular infantry, with eighty pieces of cannon, went off in a body to join Ismael Beg16.
At no period of his life did Sindia evince greater fortitude and conduct, than at this alarming crisis17. He immediately sent off his heavy baggage and many of his followers, to Gwalior, by the route of Kooshalgurh; he then made a rapid retreat to Deeg, recalled his detachments, and restored Deeg, with several other places, to the Jhats, in order to preserve an interest with that people. He also deposited his heavy guns in their fort of Bhurtpoor, and strengthened his garrisons in Aligurh and Agra18.
To effect these, and other contingent arrangements, required some time, and had the Rajpoots pressed the war with vigour, they might probably have confined the Mahrattas to the southern bank of the Chumbul; but they only sought to suppress
the ambitious pretensions of Sindia, not to annihilate the Mahratta ascendancy in Hindoostan. They therefore returned to their respective capitals when Sindia retreated, and left Ismael Beg to recover the imperial districts19. Ismael first, proceeded towards Agra; in the neighbourhood of which Sindia was still hovering, but he was determined to avoid another general action. At that time, however, skirmishes took place for eight successive days, and one village was repeatedly taken and retaken; but it being reported that Gholam Kawdir, the son of Zabita Khan Rohilla, was on his march to assist Ismael Beg, Sindia made a rapid retreat towards Gwalior, on which occasion many of his men perished, by losing themselves in the ravines contiguous to the Jumna20. Sindia had made repeated applications to the Peishwa for troops, and now wrote to Nana Furnuwees, representing, that although he by no means considered his own affairs desperate, yet as he had reason to believe the English were about to form an alliance with the emperor and the Rajpoots, he submitted to his consideration the danger that must ensue to the whole Mahratta empire, by allowing the English to establish their sway over the provinces of Hindoostan, and to gain such an influence as they must acquire, if assisted by the weight of the imperial name. He strongly disavowed every feeling of jealousy, and called on Nana, if such did exist towards himself, to erase it from his mind; to ask Holkar,
Hurry Punt, and Pureshram Bhow, if he, (Sindia,) had ever interfered with their views, and if they had not seen that all his endeavours tended to the aggrandizement of the empire: “we serve,” continued Sindia, “a common master; let our exertions be directed to the common cause: if you personally entertain jealousy of me, ask yourself who supported you against the faction of Moraba, and put your rival Sukaram Bappoo into your power; who suppressed the insurrection of the pretended Sewdasheo Rao Bhow; beat the English at Tullygaom, maintained a great share of the war against them, and concluded an advantageous peace? – Think of these services, banish suspicion, and silence calumniators, who are our mutual enemies – let the cause of the Mahratta nation be upheld in Hindoostan, and prevent our empire from being disunited and overthrown21.”
These observations, though incorrect with regard to any alliance then meditated by the English, carried much of truth in them; but the grand aim of Nana Furnuwees was to cement the Mahratta confederacy, under the authority of the Peishwa, and the whole conduct of Sindia, had so fully proved, that his views were directed to independence if not to supremacy in the empire, that Nana, however unwilling to relinquish Mahratta claims in Hindoostan, hesitated as to the extent and mode of reinforcing Sindia’s army.
A body of troops had been held in readiness,
under All Buhadur22, even prior to Sindia’s retreat; but Nana wished to employ them in making a distinct settlement with the Rajpoot states, in the name of the Peishwa, for the purpose of, extending the Mahratta influence, without confirming the power of a rival of such inordinate ambition. It is supposed by some of his countrymen, that Nana had some communications with the Raja of Jeypoor for the purpose of preserving the Hindoo power, but with a view also of controlling Sindia; the moderation shewn by the Rajpoots in not molesting Sindia’s retreat is adduced as a proof of this conjecture, but without an absolute rupture with Sindia, which was justly considered ruinous to the empire, Nana saw no means of attaining the ascendancy he desired. Besides the difficulties arising from these considerations, some fresh acts of hostility on the part of Tippoo rendered him averse to detach troops from the Deccan. Sindia, however, whilst he urged these applications at Poona, was using every exertion to retrieve his affairs by his own resources. His most active enemy was Ismael Beg, who, after the retreat of the Mahratta army, invested Agra, which was vigorously defended by Luckwa Dada-a Mahratta Bramin of the Shenwee tribe. At this time appeared Gholam Kawdir, who on the death of his father Zabita, Khan, which happened in January 1785, succeeded to the Jagheer. His disposition, equally cruel and turbulent, was kept in check whilst the power of Sindia, his hereditary enemy, was predominant;
but no sooner did he see a field open to his view, by the reverses which befel that chief, than he collected troops, and rushed on a scene which promised ample gratification to his inclinations. Instead of proceeding to join Ismael Beg, as was reported to be his intention, he, in the first instance, drove the Mahratta garrison from the city of Delhi, where he placed his own troops, but left the emperor unmolested in the citadel. He next besieged Aligurh which he reduced, and then proceeded to assist Ismael Beg, who was still engaged in the siege of Agra.
The Jhats, whom Ismael Beg might have conciliated, by confirming the cessions made to them by Sindia, took every opportunity of obstructing his operations and encouraging the besieged in the fort, till at last, Sindia determined to support them. For this purpose he sent forward Rannay Khan23, and Appa Khunde Rao with a body of horse supported by the two regular battalions of De Boigne, and some other infantry. As the junction of Gholam Kawdir with Ismael Beg was known at Gwalior, before the march of these troops, it was deemed an imprudent measure on the part of Sindia. Rannay
Khan, however, united his forces with those of the Jhats at Bhurtpoor, when the whole marched towards Agra; but they had only proceeded sixteen miles, when they met Ismael Beg and Gholam Kawdir, who had raised the siege in order to give them battle.
The cavalry of the Jhats was commanded by Sew Sing Foujdar, their infantry; chiefly regulars, was under M. Listeneaux, a Frenchman, and two Mahomedan officers, each commanding separate bodies; but one of these Mahomedan officers named Jehanjeer Khan, with his three battalions, deserted to Ismael Beg, without firing a shot.
The action commenced by a cannonade from the guns of Ismael Beg. The Jhats were on the right, the Mahrattas on the left: Gholam Kawdir made a furious attack upon the infantry of the right wing, which soon put them all to the route, excepting those under M. Listeneaux, who for some time maintained his ground. Ismael Beg opposed to the infantry on the left, advanced with all the energy of his character, but found himself received with remarkable steadiness and intrepidity by the infantry of De Boigne. All parties admitted, that had De Boigne and Listeneaux been properly supported by the cavalry, the issue of the day might have been very different; but, after a heavy loss, the regular troops at last gave way, and the whole favoured by the night, effected their retreat to Bhurtpoor. Ismael Beg and Gholam Kawdir, called upon Runjeet Sing, the Jhat chief, to renounce his connexion with the Mahrattas, otherwise they would, after the reduction
of Agra, besiege him in his capital. But their triumph was of short duration; Luckwa Dada, the Killidar of the fort of Agra, persevered in his gallant and successful defence; the Mahomedan chiefs soon evinced a distrust of each other, and Rannay Khan, hearing of an incursion of the Seiks, sent a body of Mahrattas and Jhats to join and encourage them to fall on the Jagheer of Gholam Kawdir. This diversion had the desired effect: Gholam Kawdir immediately set off to repel the invaders, and Sindia, having reinforced the division of Rannay Khan, the Mahrattas and Jhats once more advanced towards Agra, at which place an obstinate battle was fought, in which De Boigne and his battalions greatly signalized themselves.
The army of Ismael Beg was defeated and dispersed; that chief himself; after receiving two severe wounds, escaped from the field by the swiftness of his horse, plunged into the Jumna, gained the opposite bank, and with a few followers reached the camp of Gholam Kawdir, by whom he was courteously received. His dispersed army flocked to Delhi, whither, in hopes of again collecting them, he immediately repaired. Gholam Kawdir followed him to the capital. The emperor refused to admit either the one or the other into the citadel; but Gholam Kawdir, having corrupted one of the confidential servants, not only gained admittance, but seized the gates, occupied every part of the palace and citadel with his own troops, and commenced a systematic train of violence, rapine, and barbarity, almost without example in the annals of the world. These enormities
continued for two months; at the end of that time, when the unhappy monarch had been plundered, insulted, and dethroned, his eyes destroyed in their sockets, by the point of a dagger in the hand of the merciless Gholam Kawdir; when his wives, daughters, sons, and relatives had been exposed, dishonored, degraded, and some of them starved to death, the Mahratta army at last marched to his relief. Ismael Beg, who at first had so far concurred in the views of Gholam Kawdir, as to agree to plunder the imperial palace, for the purpose of procuring the means of subsistence to their troops, turned with abhorrence from the commission of the cruelties exercised by his colleague; and on the promise of a Jagheer from Sindia, joined with the Mahrattas against him. Gholam Kawdir retired from Delhi upon their approach, carrying with him Bedar Bukht, the son of Ahmed Shah, whom, on the dethronement of Shah Alum, he had proclaimed emperor of the Moghuls.
Mahadajee Sindia was severely censured for not immediately proceeding to the capital, but he probably foresaw that Gholam Kawdir and Ismael Beg, if left for a time to themselves, could not remain united, and, as the result proved, that he should soon be able to secure one party in his interests. Besides these reasons, he was assured, that reinforcements under Ali Buhadur, followed by Tookajee Holkar, were on their march from Poona to join him. These troops were granted by Nana Furnuwees, on condition, that all territory acquired north of the Chumbul, should be equally shared by the Peishwa, Sindia, and Holkar.
The Mahratta army which advanced from Agra, was under three principal officers, Rannay Khan, Ali Buhadur, and Appa Khunde Rao, accompanied by the two battalions of De Boigne. Rannay Khan, who was chief in command, on taking possession of Delhi, did everything which humanity dictated for the relief of the unfortunate emperor. The arrival the Mahrattas in the Moghul capital, was, on this occasion, hailed with the greatest joy. A large body immediately pursued Gholam Kawdir, and forced him to take shelter in the fort of Meerut, where he defended himself vigorously; but the place being destitute of provisions, and his capture, if he continued, inevitable, he mounted a swift horse and fled alone. But after he had proceeded some distance, the horse fell, and his rider being completely stunned, lay senseless on the ground. In this situation he was at day-light discovered and recognised by some of the peasantry, and by them carried to the Mahratta camp, where he was closely guarded, and shortly after, by Sindia’s orders, he suffered a dreadful mutilation which he did not survive. The prince Bedar Bukht was retaken at Meerut; and at first, without any harshness, was remanded into confinement, but he was afterwards put to death by order of Shah Alum24.
Mahadajee Sindia arrived in Delhi a short time after the success of Rannay Khan. Shah Alum was re-seated on his throne with much pomp, and the honours of Wukeel-i-Mootluq, formerly conferred on the Peishwa, and those
of his deputy on Sindia, were renewed with formal solemnity.
Meanwhile the Jagheer of Gholam Kawdir was reduced, and the greater part of the Dooab, with the provinces of Delhi and Agra, were annexed to the Mahratta dominions. The situation of Sindia, however, was by no means secure; he for some time dreaded an invasion of the Abdallee, who under their King Timoor Shah, were in the field in great force, and he well knew, although the Moghul faction was broken, and Ismael Beg had received his stipulated Jagheer in the province of Meywat, that in the event of the appearance of the Afghans, the Mahomedans would unite against him. He had also powerful enemies in the Rajpoots; and his coadjutors, Holkar and All Buhadur, were more solicitous to share his acquisitions and obstruct his measures, than to unite in upholding his cause. He at the same time experienced some inquietude from the escape of one of the sons of the emperor, who fled to the court of Nizam Ally at Hyderabad. Little notice being taken of him, he repaired to Poona where he was received with attention, but more to excite Sindia’s jealousy, than with any intention of affording to the fugitive, assistance or relief:
These obstacles did not deter Mahadajee Sindia from pursuing his plans of independence. In detailing his political schemes and the progress of his conquests, we must not omit to notice the changes which he introduced in the constitution of his army. Amongst the minor innovations of Sindia, may be enumerated the great proportion of Rajpoots
and Mahomedans whom he enlisted; the alteration of the dress of his horsemen, who, from the short breeches worn by the Mahrattas, adopted the long trowsers covering the heel25, and lastly, the large bodies of Gosaeens, whom he entertained, and who, until introduced by Sindia, had rarely appeared as soldiers in the Mahratta armies26. The Gosaeens were kept distinct by Sindia from his other troops, and were attached to the division of Ambajee Inglia, principally under a leader named Himmut Buhadur, who was both their military commander and their spiritual director, and whose history merits some digression.
Himmut Buhadur accompanied Sindia on his first advance to Delhi in 1784: he was left in charge of Muttra when Sindia retreated to Gwalior, and by means of a secret understanding, which he contrived to establish with Ismael Beg and Gholam Kawdir, he continued unmolested. Sindia, who knew that the sole object of Himmut Buhadur was to obtain a Jagheer for himself from either of the contending parties, had, on a former occasion, in consequence of the Gosaeen’s misconduct, resumed, and afterwards, on promised amendment, restored the lands granted for the support of his followers; and although he pretended, on his return, to be highly satisfied with
the Gosaeen, for retaining possession of the Jagheer, he determined to deprive him of it, on the first opportunity. Sindia’s chief causes of displeasure arose from finding that he was engaged in secret intrigues with Holkar and All Buhadur, the partizans of Nana Furnuwees; and that he persisted in an intercourse, he had long kept up, with the Nabob Vizier, in whose dominions he had at a former period sought refuge, when apprehensive of Sindia’s enmity. At length, on pretence that the Gosaeen was employed in magical arts to take away his life, Sindia sent a party of troops who seized Himmut Buhadur at Muttra, and were conveying him to their master; but the camp of Ali Buhadur, being contiguous to the road by which the prisoner was brought, he contrived to elude his guards, and gain the tent of Ali Buhadur, before they could secure him. It was in vain that Sindia remonstrated, Ali Buhadur declared he could not surrender the person of Himmut Buhadur without an order from the Peishwa; and in the meantime, before any answer could be obtained from Poona, he connived at his escape to Lucknow.
The departure of the leader did not affect the great body of Gosaeens, as might have been the case at an earlier period; they remained with Sindia, and being attached to his service by habit, became intermingled with the rest of his irregular infantry.
But the most important of all the changes introduced by Sindia was the well-organized regular force which he about this time raised, by augmenting
the two battalions of De Boigne into a brigade, which was subsequently, at different periods, increased to three brigades. A brigade consisted of eight battalions, of seven hundred men each. Attached to every brigade there were five hundred horse; and to each battalion five pieces of artillery, two six-pounders, two three-pounders, and a howitzer. To provide for the regular payment of these troops, he made over assignments of land, to the charge and management of De Boigne; to whom he allowed two per cent upon the net revenue, independent of his regular pay, which was ten thousand rupees a month. A select body of irregular infantry was attached to De Boigne’s force, to whose efficiency that officer greatly contributed, by adding a bayonet to their matchlocks. The augmentation of De Boigne’s army was gradual, as was his train of artillery, which consisted at last of upwards of two hundred pieces of cannon, of different calibres. Sixty of his best guns were cast by Mr. Sangster, the officer already mentioned, who quitted the service of the Rana of Gohud, and entered that of Sindia, under De Boigne. His officers were Europeans of all nations; many of them British, and men very respectable, by birth, education, and character27.
At the present conjuncture, in the commencement of the year 1790, Sindia had only raised one regular brigade. His immediate views were directed to conciliate Holkar and Ali Buhadur, with the, hope of obtaining their
assistance in checking the incursions of the Seiks; in humbling the Rajpoots, who continued in opposition to his authority; and in securing the dependance of Ismael Beg, who, it was apprehended, had serious intentions of joining the Rajpoots. His reason for contemplating this fresh desertion, are partly ascribable to the artifice of Holkar, who, in order to occasion a rupture between him and Sindia, plundered some of the villages in his new Jagheer, which, though expressly contrary to Sindia’s wishes and injunctions, was attributed by Ismael Beg to some inimical design on the part of that chief28. We shall, for the present, however, leave Mahratta affairs in Hindoostan, and return to those of the Deccan.
16. Mahratta MS. and letters. Bengal Records, &c.
17. From the Oral information of General De Boigne.
18. Sindia’s letters to the Peishwa, confirmed by General De Boigne.
19. Scott’s History. Mahratta MS.; original letters, and English Records.
20. General De Boigne.
21. Original letter from Mahadajee Sindia to Nana Furnuwees.
22. The son of Shumsher Buhadur, and grandson of the great Bajee Rao.
23. Rannay Khan, says Sir John Malcolm, was originally a Bihishtee, or water carrier, who saved Mahadajee Sindia’s life, by carrying him off when wounded at Panniput, and in gratitude for this service, Sindia raised him to high command. – whatever may have been Rannay Khan’s origin, his conduct proved that he was worthy of his master’s confidence. The escape of Mahadajee Sindia, however, is generally attributed with more probability, to Trimbukjee Inglia, one of his Sillidars, who is said to have carried him off behind him on his horse.
24. Bengal Records. Francklin, Scott, and Mahratta MS.
25. This, to the mere European reader, may appear unimportant, but though now quite common among all Mahrattas, it tended, at that time, to make a difference between Sindia’s horse and those of the Deccan; and, as the act of a Hindoo prince, was an important innovation.
26. For some account of the Gosaeens, the reader may revert to Preliminary Observations, Vol. I.
27. Palmer’s despatches. General De Boigne.
28. Sindia’s letters.
This collection transcribed by Chris Gage