Wednesday, January 24, 2018

200 years of Mhow: The Battle of Mahidpur and the Treaty of Mandsaur

Dec 21 2017 was the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Mahidpur (Third Anglo Maratha War) in which the Holkar Army led by their young king Malhar Rao Holkar II lost to the East India Company Army led by Sir Thomas Hislop and Major General John Malcolm.

On 6 January 1818 the Treaty of Mandsaur was signed by Sir John Malcolm on behalf of the East India Company and Minister Tatya Jog on behalf of the ruler Malhar Rao Holkar II. Article 7 of this treaty led to the creation of Mhow Cantonment. This is how it reads: Article 7. In consideration of the cessions made by this Treaty, the British Government binds itself to support a field force to maintain the internal tranquility of the territories of Mulhar Rao Holkar and to defend them from foreign enemies; this force shall be of such strength as shall be judged adequate to the object. It shall be stationed where the British Government determines to be best, and (In; Maharajah Mulhar Rao Holkar agrees to grant some place of security as a depot for its stores. (Source: https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Mandsaur) 

This is how the Wikipedia entry on the same battle reads:

The Battle of Mahidpur was fought during the Third Anglo-Maratha Warbetween the Holkar faction of the Maratha Confederacy and the British East India Company at Mahidpur, a town in the Malwa region, on 21 December 1817.
On 21 December 1817, the British, led by Sir Thomas Hislop, attacked the Holkar army led by 11-year-old Maharaja Malhar Rao Holkar II, 22-year-old Hari Rao Holkar and 20-year-old Bhima Bai Holkar. The Holkar artillery, led by Roshan Beg, attacked them with a long line of 63 cannons. At one point, the British were on the verge of losing the battle. However, they were helped by Gafur Khan, a traitor in the Holkar's camp. Khan deserted the battlefield with the force under his command. After this, the Holkars were decisively defeated.[1]
Malhar Rao II, Tatya Jog and others escaped to Alot.[1] A peace treaty was signed on 6 January 1818 at Mandsaur. Holkars accepted all the terms laid down by Britishers in the Treaty of Mandsaur. At the conclusion of this Third Anglo-Maratha War, the Holkars lost much of their territory to the British and were incorporated into the British Raj as a princely state of the Central India Agency.
This battle led to the final destruction of Maratha power. Baji Rao II, who was trying to consolidate Marathas, finally surrendered in June 1818. British abolished the position of Peshwa, and Marathas were limited to the small kingdom of Satarauntil its annexation to Bombay state in 1848.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Mahidpur

2 comments:

Bald Eagle said...

Just discovered this blog and fascinated by some of the info. I'm a Brit, ex journalist, whose ancestor was among the Telegraph Dept employees who died during an attack on the Indore Residency July 1 1857 int he early stages of the First War of Independence.
Their bodies, I believe, were buried a few days after the incident on the orders of Holkar but it was not for another six months that the British Army arrived at Indore and, as I understand it, the grave was never found.
However the official record states that a burial of some kind was carried out on December 30 1857, possibly at Mhow. I have been trying for some years to establish what actually happened and would greatly appreciate any help from the author/readers of this blog.
My wife and I have visited MP, including Indore, Maheshwar, Mandu etc, many times but never Mhow - we have obviously missed something. Thanks in advance for your help. Colin Evans.

Dev said...

Hi Colin. It is such a treat to read your comment. And it is indeed fascinating to learn about your Indore/Mhow connection. Can you tell me the name of your ancestor who was killed in Indore on July 1, 1857? I may be able to help. Please do let me know your email id too. Mine is dev.kumar.vasudevan@gmail.com