Dictionary of Indian Biography/Indore, Jaswant Rao Holkar Maharaja of

by Charles Edward Buckland

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INDORE, JASWANT RAO HOLKAR MAHARAJA OF (1775?–1811)

An illegitimate son of Maharaja Tukaji Rao : on the murder of his half-brother, Kashi Rao, he asserted himself, raised a large army and fought with Sindia, defeating both him and the Peshwa, Baji Rao, in 1802 at Poona, which he took : he declined to join the other Mahratta chiefs against the British, but took his own line, as a freebooter, in Rajputana, and, after compelling Colonel Monson to make a disastrous retreat in July, 1804, was defeated by Lord Lake in 1804–5, and compelled to make peace and surrender territory. He became insane in 1806, and his wife, Tulsi Bai, became regent. He died Oct. 20, 1811.