Yashwantrao Holkar

Raja of the Maratha empire

Yashwant Rao Holkar (c. 1776-1811) also known as Jaswantrao Holkar belonging to the Holkar dynasty of the Maratha Empire was the Maharaja of the Maratha Empire.

He was a gifted military leader and educated in accountancy as well as literate in Persian and Marathi and Urdu.

On 6 January 1799, Yashwant Rao Holkar was crowned King, as per Hindu Vedic rites and in May, 1799, he captured Ujjain.He was conferred with regal titles by the Mughal Emperor and the British recognized him as a sovereign king.

He started campaigning towards the north to expand his empire in that region.Yashwant Rao rebelled against the policies of the Peshwa Baji Rao II.

However he was loyal towards Maratha Ruler of Satara as Holkars were paying tribute towards Satara Chhatrapati.In May 1802, he marched towards Pune, the seat of the Peshwa.

This gave rise to the Battle of Poona in which the Peshwa Baji Rao II was defeated.After the defeat, the Peshwa fled Pune.

The Conquest of Pune left Holkar in charge of the administration and he took some constructive steps to rebuild the Maratha Empire.

Realising the growing British strength in India, Holkar decided to make a stand against the British.Accompanied by Raghuji Bhonsale and Daulat Scindia, Holkar on 4 June 1803 decided to fight against the British force after their meeting at Bodwad.

However, after a conspiracy against him, he decided not to be a part of the Maratha Confederacy.To curb the power of the British, Yashwant Rao Holkar wrote letters to different Indian rulers and welcomed them to unite with him and fight against the British power and expel the East India Company from the Indian subcontinent permanently.

But, all his plans and appeal went in vain as all the kings had already signed treaties with the British.

Afterwards, Yashwant Rao decided to fight against the British on his own.He defeated the British army, led by Colonel Fawcett, at Kunch, in Bundelkhand and he also attacked the capital Delhi to control over the Mughal Emperor Shah Alam II, who was new restricted monarch by the British like marathas and attacked the army of Colonel Ochterlony and Berne.

The Siege of Delhi (1804) lasted for more than a week, but Holkar could not succeed because Mughal Emperor sent army for siege and defend From maratha with Colonel Ochterlony was supported by Lord Lake.

Yashwant Rao Holkar was bestowed the title of "Maharajadhiraja Raj Rajeshwar Alija Bahadur" as a token of admiration by Mughal Emperor Shah Alam for his bravery.

Afraid of the possibility of Holkar uniting the Indian Rajas against them, the British decided to make peace with him.

Yashwant Rao then proceeded to sign a treaty with the British on 24 December 1805, at Rajghat (then in Punjab, which is now in Delhi).

Yashwant Rao was known to be the only king in India whom the British approached to sign a peace treaty on equal terms.

The British returned all his territory, and accepted his dominion over Jaipur, Udaipur, Kota, Bundi and also affirmed not to interfere in matters relating to the Holkars.

The victorious king reached Indore and started ruling his newly expanded kingdom.Though Holkar again tried to unite the Maratha Confederacy and appealed to Daulatrao Scindia, but Scindia gave the information about this letter to the local British resident, Marsor.

Holkar and Scindia agreed on eleven defensive and offensive strategies on 14 November 1807.To make his plan a success he decided to stay in Bhanpura to form a large army and manufacture cannons.

He was successful in his endeavour of keeping the British out of his state and started making preparations to drive the British out of India.

He assembled an army of 100,000 soldiers to attack Calcutta.However, he died on 27 October 1811, before he could put these plans into effect.