Before Naldurg

Our earliest known ancestor, as far back as anybody can remember,  is Narayana Rao from Poona (Pune), Maharashtra. We do not know when he was born. What we do know was that he worked for the Peshwas.  His wife Lakshmi Bai, was a cousin of the Peshwa Thorale (The Great) Madhava Rao I (1761-1772).  Cousin is a really generic term in India, and the exact nature of kinship is not known. The Peshwas were Kokanastha (Chitpavan) brahmin priests from Konkan, the western coast of India. They were largely unknown before the 16th Century and became visible as a community when the first Peshwa, Balaji Vishwanath Bhat (1713-1720), came into prominence under Shahu, the grandson of Shivaji. Subsequently they managed to control the Maratha throne and the position of the Peshwa became hereditary.  In 1771, the Peshwas fought and defeated Hyder Ali  (Father of Tipu Sultan, the Tiger of Mysore), the Sultan of Mysore (a neighboring kingdom). The Marathas and Hyder Ali negotiated a peace treaty. Under the provisions, Hyder Ali agreed to allow 150 soldiers, support staff, and officers chosen by the Peshwa to reside permanently in his capital Srirangapatna (Seringapatam) in the Sultanate of Mysore. It was not unusual for Marathi brahmins to join the army at this stage in history, mostly as accountants or record-keepers, and sometimes as real soldiers. Among the people who moved from Poona to Mysore in 1771-1772 were Narayan Rao and Lakshmi Bai. The trail runs cold for a generation here. 

The next link we have in the story are the brothers Srinivasa Rao and Seshagiri Rao. They were grandsons of Narayana Rao.  Srinivasa Rao (the older brother) was employed by the Mysore Government, and Seshagiri Rao, following the family tradition, joined the British East India Company Army (the Marathas were defeated by the British in 1818).  There was no political consciousness in this decision and joining the East India Company Army (also called the John Company colloquially) did not have the treacherous implications it would acquire within the next few decades. 

Srinivas Rao was employed by the Maharaja of Mysore, and his job was to manage a dairy farm named "Amrut Mahal Kavalu" in the 1830s. This job was more prestigious than it sounds, as it required some knowledge of reading and writing, while the vast majority were illiterate. He was posted in Hunsur (where the royal cows that did not give milk were housed), and was paid Rs 5 per month as his salary. Srinivasa Rao's wife was Kamala Bai and belongs to the Gargeshwari family, which traces its descent from the priests of the Chalukyan capital of Badami. They were also Marathi brahmins and had settled in Mysore. Srinivas Rao also had cows of his own. The story goes that one of his cows delivered a stillborn calf,  and Srinivasa Rao was alleged to have stolen a calf belonging to the Maharaja of Mysore. This was reported to the Govt. of Mysore, probably by one of the workers in the farm. An investigation was conducted, Srinivasa Rao was found guilty and dismissed  from service. 

Srinivasa Rao left Mysore and decided to join his brother Seshagiri Rao who was stationed somewhere in what is now North Karnataka. Both brothers had a good knowledge of the English language. Seshagiri Rao had risen to the rank of a Risaldar (a Risaldar-major, the next rank, was the highest an Indian officer could have in the John Company Infantry) by this time. Srinivasa Rao also joined the John Company army. 

Subsequently, the John Company was was involved in a war with Surpur (or Shorapur), a small kingdom near Gulburga city. The ruler of Surpur revolted against the John Company  in 1857. Surpur was defeated and annexed by the British.  Seshagiri Rao died of gun shot wounds in this battle.  The soldiers of the Company were allowed to loot the homes of residence in Surpur. All inhabitants of the fort were asked to vacate their houses. The soldiers entered their homes and took valuables like jewels, coins, gold etc. and all this loot was gathered and collected in one place. The officers then divided the loot among the soldiers and themselves according to their rank. Seshagiri Rao's share was Rs 16,000. 

Here's a description of what happened in Surpur (Shorapur) from http://geography.ou.edu/research/losingasia3.html where the author describes  the life of Meadows Taylor who ruled over Shorapur from the 1840s.

"None of this had existed when Meadows Taylor had arrived with the title political agent. That would have been in 1841, shortly after the death of the raja of Shorapur, who had left his state and half million subjects deeply in debt to the nizam of Hyderabad. That was the situation that had brought Taylor's predecessor here: an effort by the British to clean up the state's finances so that the debt to the nizam could be paid. The job had been impossible for this Captain Gresley, who found himself enmeshed in a political contest between the Rani Ishwarama, who had been the dead raja's senior wife, and Pid Naik, who was the dead raja's younger brother. The rani had charge of the dead raja's son, one Enkatappa Naik, who at seven years old was eleven years too young for ascending to the throne. Pid Naik, on the other hand, had a son whom he wished to place on the throne at once.

Cliques gathered about both the principals, though it was hard enough to work with either of those individuals alone. The rani, Taylor would write, was "dissolute to a degree-in fact a very Messalina," while Pid Naik regularly "gave himself up to fits of intoxication." Enkatappa Naik, on the other hand, struck Taylor as a good boy, much troubled by his mother's open but unexplained hostility, which seems to have arisen from a prophecy, verified by astrologers all over India, that the boy would die in his twenty-fourth year.

The death of Pid Naik in a paralytic seizure simplified matters, but the rani kept Taylor busy with her own machinations until she died, two years later, in 1847; Taylor wrote that she was only forty but "seemed seventy, haggard and wasted." For a while, things were calm: "No intrigue! no suspicion! no combinations!" Enkatappa Naik came to the throne at last, and Taylor was sent to another posting.

Then the Mutiny broke out in 1857, and Enkatappa Naik chose the losing side. When British forces approached Shorapur he fled, only to be arrested shortly in Hyderabad. In jail there, he told Taylor bitterly how he had been unable to resist his own people, who had called him "a coward and a fool" for not rebelling against the British. He had finally done so, he said, and now he was sentenced to die. Taylor wrote that the sentence was commuted to four years' banishment but that on the first day of his trip to his place of seclusion Enkatappa Naik shot himself in the stomach, fatally, with one of his guards' pistols. Taylor calls it an accident but notes that, accident or suicide, it occurred one day short of Enkatappa Naik's twenty-fifth birthday. The prophecy, he states categorically, had been kept an absolute secret from the boy.

Taylor was sent back to Shorapur as commissioner, while decisions were taken that led, finally, to the state's dissolution and incorporation as part of the dominions of the nizam of Hyderabad, in which the state remained until those dominions were dissolved after 1947."

Naldurg

Many of my toffee nosed relatives, who only have a vague knowledge of our history, firmly believe we are blue-blooded descendants of the royal family of Naldurg. This story, like all family legends has been embellished beyond recognition. After the death of his brother, Srinivasa Rao was installed by the British East India Company as the Dewan (Prime Minister) of Naldurg in 1858 and ruled there until his untimely death in 1862. His post was established there after Naldurg, a strategically important fort on the ancient Poona-Hyderabad road, was "occupied" by the British to punish the Nizam of Hyderabad  who defaulted on some real or imaginary loan payment. The post was granted to Srinivasa Rao in posthumous recognition of his brother Seshagiri Rao's service to the John Company. Subsequently, Naldurg was "returned" to the Nizam, when the British forgave him. During his rule, Srinivas Rao was responsible for collecting taxes on behalf of the British and maintained an army of 100 soldiers who could be called upon by the British to fight other wars in the vicinity. This fact is a source of  some degree of shame, and has lead to a great deal of cover-up, so much so that many of my relatives firmly believe we are descendants of the royal family of Naldurg (which probably never existed).  Srinivasa Rao constructed a Hanuman temple, which still exists in the Naldurg fort, and hosted the swamiji of Uttaradi Mutt for 6 months. 
 
 

Naldurg Fort, Osmanabad District, Maharashtra, India 
 

Naldurg itself is situated in Osmanabad district (named after the Ottomans) in what is now a state called Maharashtra, India. Though its fortifications are impressive and  the fort itself contains some fabulous examples of early Indo-Islamic architecture,  it is practically unheard of, even in Maharashtra, or in the surrounding states, which have no shortage of spectacular forts or forgotten histories.  Originally, it was called Yeral, and belonged to the Bahmani Sultans, who established a Turkic-Persian Shia Muslim kingdom in South India in the 14th and 15th centuries, long before the Mughal empire came to being.  It  became a part of the Mughal empire, and was later incorporated into the dominions of the Nizams of Hyderabad. The Nizams were vassals of the Mughals who declared independence at some point.  In the early 20th century, the Nizam was reputed to be the richest man on earth. While the fort is no stranger  to action over its long and complicated history,  its last known strategic use was in 1947 when the Government of India forcibly and controversially occupied the princely state of Hyderabad, using the excuse that overwhelming majority of his subjects were Hindu, when the Nizam refused to accede to the Indian Union or join Pakistan, and declared Independence 

More pictures of Naldurg Fort:

Mysore Days

When Srinivasa Rao died, his wife, Kamala Bai, told the British Officers that she wished to leave Naldurg and return to Mysore, as she had no relatives there to look after her children. The British agreed to send her to Mysore. She was provided with camels and two carts with secret compartments in the wheels for her jewels and other valuables. The British also provided her with 4 Rohilla (Afghan) soldiers to guard the family and the valuables. This story is the source of another of the Naldurg family myths about how these jewels still came in handy when the family car would get a flat tire on frequent trips between Bangalore and Mysore in the 40s. The journey from Naldurg to Mysore took 2 months, and they traveled at night and rested by the day. Kamala Bai cooked for herself and her children, separate from the Rohillas. She eventually reached Mysore and lived with her relatives initially. 

In addition to the money from Naldurg, Kamala Bai also had Seshagiri Rao's share of the loot. She purchased a house in Mysore with this money. She also gave some money to the Rohillas and some more money to one of her cousins Venkoba Rao to purchase some land. Venkoba Rao purchased the land in his own name, but gave her enough produce from the farming to last through each year. She also deposited the jewels and money she had brought from Naldurg with Banker Seshagiri Rao, who used to pay her an interest of Rs 25 per month. With this money, she  educated her children.  She had 6 children. 

Naldurg Srinivasa Rao - Kamala Bai
- Bai (descendants in Hospet) 
- Tulasi (widowed, no children) 
- Krishna Rao (Born 1848, d. 1890) 
- Ganga Bai (widowed, no children) 
- Lakshmi Bai ( 1st wife of Keshav Rao, died at young age) 
- Goji (or Godavari) Bai (2nd w/o Keshav Rao, 1856 - 1945) 

Of all the descendants of Naldurg Srinivasa Rao, Goji Bai lived the longest and had a very strong personality. Krishna Rao was the only male heir to Kamala Bai and Naldurg Srinivasa Rao. Krishna Rao studied in Mission School, Mysore. He passed his FA (highest qualification in Mysore state.) at an early age. He joined the Attara Cutchery in Bangalore as a clerk on a pay scale of Rs 15 a month. The family moved to Bangalore, which was the center of British Administration in Mysore state. His first wife died within a year of their marriage. After his wife's death he decided not to marry again. 

Krishna Rao, my great-great grandfather,  was fluent in Sanskrit and Persian, and had an abiding interest in classical literature and astronomy. His specialty was English literature. He wrote and submitted a thesis on Oliver Goldsmith to Madras University, which was forwarded to London for approval. Krishna Rao's thesis was approved in London and an MA in English was issued to him (1870-72). It is said that N. Krishna Rao was the first man to obtain an MA degree in the old Mysore State. 

He showed this MA certificate to one of his relatives working in his office (Attara Cutchery). His relative suggested that if he showed the certificate to the Chief Commissioner he might get an increase in pay. The British Chief Commissioner (Resident) lived in Nandi Hills (about 60 kms from Bangalore). Every day, files related to administration were taken from Bangalore to Nandi Hills in tongas. The horses were changed every 10 miles. N. Krishna Rao went to Nandi Hills in one of these vehicles. He then showed his degree certificate to the CC (probably Col. Meade). The CC was astonished and is  known to have exclaimed " What, I could not pass London Matriculation and you have an M.A. degree from the same University".  He was then promoted to Assistant Commissioner (AC) with a salary of Rs. 250 per month. 

While he was working as the Assistant Commissioner, Bakshi Shiva Rao (from the Badami family) offered his daughter Sannamma to N. Krishna Rao. Though he planned to stay single after the death of his first wife, he was persuaded by elders in the house and got married in 1875 (or 1876). N. Krishna Rao and Sanamma had 4 children. 

N. Krishna Rao - Sannamma 
- N. K. Srinivas Rao (1880-1936) 
- Krishna Bai (1881 - 1948) 
- Kamala Bai (1885 - ?) 
- Venku Bai (1888 - 1961) 

N. Krishna Rao worked as the AC of Bangalore, Chickmagalur, and subsequently as the the deputy Secretary in the Revenue Dept. He was a contender for the post of the Dewan of Mysore, but N. Krishna Rao and his wife Sannamma succumbed to influenza in the epidemic of 1889 - 1990. 

Sannamma's mother Parvathi Bai, demanded the custody of her children, but N. Srinivas Rao's wife Kamala Bai, refused. A suit was filed by Parvathi Bai in court. The judge is reputed to have asked the children if they would like to stay with Kamala Bai or Sanamma, and the children opted to stay with Kamala Bai. The story goes that Kamala Bai promised them karshyamige payasa (vermicelli pudding) if they stayed with her. Venku Bai lived with Parvathi Bai for 7 to 8 years. 

Kamala Bai and Goji Bai educated N K. Srinivas Rao along with G. Narayan Rao (Gargeshwari family). N.K. Srinivasa Rao obtained his  B.A. and then studied Law in Madras. He set up a practice in Mysore. Later, he appeared for the Munsiff exam and stood first in Mysore state. He rose up to the position of additional high court judge of Mysore. He died in 1936 of thrombosis caused by diabetes.  He married Radha Bai who belonged to neither the Naldurg or Gargeshwari family. Radha Bai had a strong personality and was one of the  founders of Mahila Seva Samaj (Women's Service Committee), as well as served on the board of Maharashtra Mahila Vidyalaya (Maharashtra Girls School) in the 1930s in Bangalore.  NKS Rao and Radha Bai had six children and my grandfather NS Govinda Rao was their only male heir. 

N. K. Srinivasa Rao - Radha Bai 
-N.S . Govinda Rao - Saroja Bai 
-Venku Bai 
-Hemavathi 
-Arkavathi 
-Vinoda Bai 
- Rajamma 

NKS Rao had a larger-than-life personality with a loud booming voice, a hearty disposition, and a large variety of interests. His hobbies were photography, mathematics and astrology. He was well versed in Sanskrit and Persian classics, as well as English literature and had a large library of old books. Once, when NKS was coming to Mysore from Hassan, thieves surrounded their bullock carts. NKS had a pistol with him and threatened them, and the thieves ran away.  While he was serving in Chamarajnagar, he was discovered sleeping and snoring loudly. He had covered himself with a tiger skin. The post man who had come to deliver the post thought he heard and the sound of a tiger and ran away without delivering the post.  NKS Rao bought the house we lived in, in Bangalore. 

His son, my grandfather N.S Govinda Rao, studied to become a Civil Engineer (gold medal) from the University of Mysore (but from UVCE Bangalore) and was employed by the Mysore Government as the Chief Engineer of the KRS dam project on the Kaveri River. My grandmother Saroja Bai was from the Gargeshwari/Badami family (again!) and his first cousin. She was ostracized and dominated by Radha Bai for having blue eyes, reddish-blond hair, and a rosy complexion which  was not very common, even among Marathi brahmins. My grandfather later joined the faculty of Civil Engineering and Hydraulics at the Indian Institute of Science as professor and retired as the head of the department eventually. He has written a text book on Fluid Dynamics which was prescribed reading in many Civil Engineering syllabi across India until the late 1980s. 

Background History of Peninsular India (18th and 19th centuries)

I.  The Mysore Wars 

In the latter half of the 18th century, Peninsular India or the Deccan was in a state of turmoil. The British and French were fighting each other for control over its boulder-strewn sub-tropical landscape. The Mughal emperors were never able to penetrate as far south as the Carnatic and the strategic region around Madras, which was already under British Rule,  was the scene of the Carnatic Wars between the rival British and French Trading Companies who wanted to establish their foothold on the Indian Peninsula.  In 1760,  the British defeated the French at Wandiwash in the last of the three Carnatic Wars. This gave the British trading company a superior position in India, and control over Madras and the Carnatic. The British East India Company consolidated its power by incorporating these regions into the Madras Presidency and turned their attention to the Deccan. The major players in the Deccan were the Marathas, the Nizam of Hyderabad and the rulers of Mysore.  The Marathas, who controlled a huge swathe of  North-West Deccan were trying to extend their power into Mughal North India. Their ambitions were however curtailed in the Third Battle of Panipat, by the Afghan forces of Ahmed Shah Abdali. After a resounding defeat, they abandoned their ambitions in North India and focused their attention on the South once more. 

After the death of the Hindu Raja of Mysore in 1760, Hyder Ali, a commander-in-chief of Mysore army, became the de facto ruler of Mysore. He extended his territories by conquering Bednore, Sundra, Sera, Canara and Guti and subjugated the poligars of south India. The growing power of Hyder Ali excited jealousy from the Nizam Ali Khan of Hyderabad, and the other major players in the Deccan, the Marathas, and the English.  In 1767, all the three -- the Nizam, the Marathas and the English --got together to form the "Triple alliance" against Hyder Ali.  Hyder Ali, a master strategist, bought the Marathas, and pacified the Nizam with promises of territorial gains and persuaded him to break the alliance. The Nizam and Hyder Ali teamed up to launch an attack on Arcot, under British protection. The fight continued for a year and half and the British suffered heavy losses. The British signed a peace treaty on April 4, 1769, on the basis of restitution of each other's territories. It was also a defensive alliance, as the British promised to help Hyder Ali  if he was attacked by any other power. Thus ended the First Mysore War. 

In 1771, the Marathas attacked Mysore and the British went back on their word and did not help Hyder Ali. Hyder Ali  fought valiantly, and only managed to save his kingdom by making heavy payments and negotiating a "peace treaty" which was mentioned earlier.  The last few decades of the 18th century saw the rise of the British and the weakening of the Sultans of Mysore.  Hyder Ali formed an alliance with the French to fight the British and keep the Marathas at bay. When the British attacked Mahe, a French territory enclosed by the Sultanate of Mysore, Hyder Ali retaliated, and the British declared the Second Mysore War against Hyder Ali. in 1780. In  1782, Hyder Ali inflicted a humiliating defeat on the British, but died in battle. He was replaced by his son Tipu Sultan, who continued the war against the British. Absolute success eluded both the sides. Tired of the war, the two sides concluded the Treaty of Mangalore in 1784. According to the treaty, both the parties decided to restore each other's conquered territories and free all  prisoners. 

Uneasy peace prevailed for 6 years, during which time Tipu Sultan consolidated his power and the Sultanate of Mysore grew in strength with military help from the French (who were not content with their second-class status as imperialists in India).  The British grew increasingly  anxious, and revived the Triple Alliance with the Marathas and the Nizam,  with promises of territorial gains, and attacked Tipu Sultan in 1790. The war lasted for 2 years and Tipu's armies wreaked havoc on the British  and earned himself the title  "The Tiger of Mysore". Eventually, the Mysore army could not sustain their attack and defense against the Triple Alliance and Tipu had to sue for peace in the Treaty of Seringapatam, concluded in March 1792. The treaty resulted in the surrender of nearly half of the Mysore territory to the victorious allies. The British acquired Baramahal, Dindigul and Malabar while the Marathas got all the territory north and west of the Tungabhadra river.  The Nizam acquired the territories from the Krishna river to beyond the Pennar. Tipu also had to pay a war indemnity of over three million pounds, and hand over his two sons as hostages. In spite of this, Tipu managed to consolidate his losses and his decimated kingdom grew from strength to strength. 

Unfortunately again, the British were not happy with this status quo in the Deccan. Lord  Wellesley, the Governor-General of British India was determined to either to tame Tipu to submission or wipe out Tipu's independence.  Tipu tried to obtain support from the French, and the British tried to revive the Triple Alliance for the third time. This time around, the Marathas refused to join in. The British and the Nizam declared war against Tipu once again. The Fourth Anglo-Mysore War was of very short duration and decisive. Tipu was defeated by Col. Stuart at Sedaseer on March 5, 1799 and by Gen.Harris at Malvelly on March 27. Tipu then retired to Seringapatam, which was finally captured on May 4, 1799. Tipu was killed fighting bravely. The British annexed Canara, Coimbatore, Wynad, and Dharmapouram besides the entire sea coast of Mysore. The Nizams received some land, which they handed over again to the Company for the support of the British troops.  A decimated Mysore was restored to the puppet regime of the Wodeyars, the hereditary Hindu rulers who ruled Mysore until Indian Independence in 1947. Mysore ceased to be independent in terms of  administration and judiciary, but due to the progressive nature of its rulers, had the highest standard of living and welfare in all of undivided India at Independence in 1947. 

II. The Anglo-Maratha Wars 

The Marathas could not escape the wrath of the British in spite of their neutrality in the Fourth Mysore War.  Earlier on, the Maratha empire of Shivaji had split among the  five rival chieftains the Holkars, the Peshwas, the Sindhias, the Bhosles, and the Gaekwars. The Peshwas were the strongest and the other rulers pledged their allegiance to Poona.  The British inherited Portuguese Bombay as dowry from the marriage of Catherine of Braganca to the English King, but decided to stay away from the Marathas until the  middle of the 18th Century. The Marathi speaking heartland was ruled by the Peshwas, which saw its golden age under Thorale Madhav Rao.  After the death of the great Peshwa, and the end of an era of unprecedented prosperity, in 1772, Poona became a hotbed of politics and intrigue. The son of Peshwa Madhav Rao,  Peshwa Narayan Rao  was assassinated by his Uncle Raghunath Rao, who declared himself the Peshwa.  The  Maratha Cheftains (the Sindhias, Holkars, etc.) under Nana Phadnavis denounced Raghunath Rao and declared their allegiance to  the deceased Peshwa Narayan Rao's son Madhav Rao Narayan.  Raghunath Rao or Raghoba sought help from the British. The British were waiting for an excuse to meddle in the affairs of the Peshwas and sensed this as a chink in the Maratha armour. 

The Peshwa army declared its allegiance to Madhav Rao Narayan and fought the British  in the First Anglo-Maratha War in 1775. On January 9, 1775, the British troops met a large Maratha army at Talegaon and were defeated. This shattered the prestige of the British and they had to enter into the humiliating Treaty of Wadgaon, according to which the British had to surrender all the territories acquired by the Company, previously owned by the Marathas since 1773. However, Warren Hastings sent Col. Goddard to retrieve the prestige of the British, and conquered Ahmedabad and Bassein.  Subsequently, another  force under  Capt. Popham defeated the Sindhia at Sipri in 1782. The Marathas signed the Treaty of Salbai, which recognized Madhavrao Narayan as the Peshwa, with mutual restitution of territories and a promise of Peace for 20 years. Thus ended the first Anglo-Maratha War. 

The twenty years of peace ironically gave the British breathing space to tackle the Nizam, Mysore and Oudh.  In 1795,  Peshwa Madhavrao Narayan "committed suicide" on October 25, 1795, unable to deal with the growing influence of his minister Nana Phadnavis.  Though Nana Phadnavis was a master of intrigue and politics, he successfully managed to keep the chieftains united and the British at bay. After various plots and counter-plots, on December 4, 1796, Baji Rao II (son of Raghoba) became the Peshwa with Nana Phadnavis as his chief minister. Taking advantage of the unstable situation among the Marathas, the Nizam recovered the territories which were taken by the Marathas earlier. 

Lord Wellesley, the Governor General of India engineered a policy called the Subsidiary Alliance and tried to force the Marathas to sign a military dependence on the East India Company and abandon their armies. Nana Phadnavis resisted the Alliance but died on March 13, 1800, and with his death, the strength of of the Maratha empire weakened considerably.  Daulat Rao Sindhia and Jaswant Rao Holkar entered into a fierce struggle with each other over Poona and the Maratha heartland.  The Peshwa favored Sindhia, and Wellesley supported the Holkars. The Peshwas murdered Vithuji Holkar, brother of Jaswant Rao Holkar in April 1801. This made Holkar rise in rebellion with a huge army and on October 23,  and they defeated the combined armies of Sindhias and the Peshwas at Poona and captured the city. Baji Rao fled to Bassein and was forced to accept the Subsidiary Alliance with the East India Company, which was signed as the Treaty of Bassein on December 31, 1802.  The Treaty was humiliating to the Peshwas and  significantly curtailed their power. On May 13, 1803 Baji Rao II was restored to Peshwaship under the "protection" of the East India Company. 

This Treaty of Bassein was an important landmark in the history of British supremacy in India. This led to expansion of the sway and influence of the East India Company over the Indian subcontinent and the downfall of the Maratha Empire.  The humiliated Sindhias teamed up with the Bhosles to attempt and recover Poona from the British. They tried to form an alliance with the Holkars, who refused to have anything to do with the Sindhias, and with the Gaekwars, who chose to be prudent and neutral.  Wellesley, forewarned, attacked the Sindhias and Bhosles on all fronts in August 1803. The Bhosles were completely defeated at Argain on November 29 and the British captured the strong fortress of Gawilgarh on December 15, 1803. In the north, Gen.Lake captured Delhi and Agra. The army of Sindhia was completely destroyed at the battle of Delhi in September and at Laswari in Alwar State in November. The British also won in Gujarat, Bundelkhand and Orissa.  In just five months, Sindhia and Bhosale suffered heavy defeats and agreed to conclude separate Subsidiary Alliance treaties with the English. 

By the Treaty of Deogaon signed on December 17, 1803, Bhosale surrendered to the Company the province of Cuttack and the entire region in the west of the river Wardha.  Similarly, the Sindhia signed the Treaty of Surji-Arjanaon on December 30, 1803 and ceded to the Company all their territories between the Ganga and the Yamuna. He also gave up his claims on the territories in Jaipur, Jodhpur and Gohud. The Company also took over the fort of Ahmednagar and the harbour of Bharuch and the territories lying between the Ajanta Ghat and river Godavari. British forces were stationed in the territories of the Sindhia and Bhosale. Thus the humiliating defeat of the Marathas in the Second Anglo-Maratha War gave the British in India a strong foothold. Forturnately, Lord Wellesley's ambitions were curtailed as he was recalled by the British to fight against Napoleon. 

After Wellesley left, the British East India Company followed a policy of non intervention and there was a considerable lull on the Anglo-Maratha front. The differences between the Maratha chieftains became exaggerated. Holkar assassinated his brother Kasi Rao and his nephew Khande Rao, and died (insane) on October 20, 1811. When Lord Warren-Hastings was made the Governor-General of British India in 1813, the British renewed their war games in the Maratha heartland.  The Peshwa tried to  form an alliance with the Pathan (Afghan) chief Amir Khan and the Pindaris. Sensing the power struggle, the British foisted one humiliating treaty after another on the Maratha chieftains:  the Treaty of Napgur (with Appa Saheb), 1816, The Treaty of Poona, 1817 and the Treaty of Gwalior (with the Sindhias) 1817.