Page:A Brief History of the Indian Peoples.djvu/207

Rh India. In bands, sometimes of a few hundreds, sometimes of many thousands, they rode out on their forays as far as the opposite coasts of Madras and of Bombay. The most powerful of the Pindárí captains, Amir Khán, had an organized army of many regiments, and several batteries of cannon. Two other leaders, known as Chítu and Karím, at one time paid a ransom to Sindhia of £100,000. To suppress the Pindárí hordes, who were supported by the sympathy, more or less open, of all the Maráthá Chiefs, Lord Hastings (1817) collected the strongest British army which had been seen in India, numbering 120,000 men. One-half operated from the north, the other half from the south. Sindhia was overawed, and remained quiet. Amír Khán disbanded his army, on condition of being guaranteed the possession of what is now the Principality of Tonk. The remaining bodies of Pindárís were attacked in their homes, surrounded, and cut to pieces. Karím threw himself upon the mercy of the conquerors. Chítu fled to the jungles, and was killed by a tiger.

Last Maratha War, 1817-1818.—In the same year (1817), and almost in the same month (November), as that in which the Pindárís were crushed, the three great Maráthá powers at Poona, Nágpur, and Indore rose separately against the British. The Peshwá Bájí Ráo had long been chafing under the terms imposed by the treaty of Bassein (1802). A new treaty of Poona, in June 181 7, now freed the Gáekwár from his control, ceded fresh districts to the British for the pay of the subsidiary force, and submitted all future disputes to the decision of our Government. The Hon. Mountstuart Elphinstone, then our Resident at his court, foresaw a storm, and withdrew to Kirki, whither he had ordered up a European regiment. The Residency was burnt down by the Maráthás, and the Peshwá attacked Kirki with his whole army. The attack was bravely repulsed, and the Peshwá immediately fled from his capital. Almost the same plot was enacted at Nágpur, where the honour of the British name was saved by the sepoys, who defended the hill of Sítábaldi against enormous odds. The Maráthá army of Holkar was defeated in the following month at the pitched battle of Mehidpur.

Results of last Maráthá War.—All open resistance was