Page:The Imperial Durbar Album of the Indian princes, chiefs and zamindars.djvu/38

20 and was succeeded by his son Mulhar Rao He was both an extravagant and weak ruler, and the State was practically in the hands of Tulsibai, the mistress of Yashawant Rao. There was hardly any system of government worth the name and the populace was so disgusted that Tulsibai was seized and murdered by the soldiery. Mulhar Rao continued on the gadi in not an enviable position. On the breaking out of the war in 1817 A. D. between the British and the Peshwa, the Holkar assumed a hostile attitude. He was defeated by the British at Mehidpur, and had to sign the treaty of Mandesar, which, even to this day, forms the basis of the relations between the Holkar and the British Government. Mulhar Rao died in 1833 A. D. After a series of struggles between claimants and aspirants to the gadi of Indore, Tukoji Rao II was installed on the throne in 1844 A.D. at the recommendation of Kesar Bai, widow of Yashawant Rao, and with the support of the British Government. Tukoji Rao received a thorough practical training and was granted full powers in 1852 A.D. In the Mutiny of 1857 A.D., .Tukoji Rao rendered every possible assistance to the British authorities, and at great risk, protected several Europeans in his own palace, from the fury of the Mutineers. In the year 1877 A.D., 360 square miles of territory was made over to the Holkar to commemorate the assumption, by Her Majesty Queen Victoria, of the title of Empress of India. Several exchanges of territory between the English and the Holkar were effected between the years 1861 and 1868 with a view to make the Indore State more compact.

Tukoji Rao was made a G. C. S. I. in 1861 A. D., and at the Delhi Assemblage in 1877 A.D. he was made a Counsellor of the Empress and a C. I. E. He died in 1886 A.D. and was succeeded by his eldest son Shiwaji Rao. On his accession Shiwaji Rao abolished all transit duties in the State. He visited England in 1887 A.D. on the occasion of the Jubilee of H. M. Queen'Empress Victoria, and also attended the Coronation Durbar at Delhi in 1903 A.D. In the same year, he abdicated in favour of his son Tukoji Rao Balasaheb, the present Maharaja, who is styled as Tukoji Rao III. As he is yet a minor, the management of the State has been in the hands of a Council of Regency, under the ultimate administrative control of the Resident.

The formation of an army on European model was undertaken in 1792 A.D. during the regime of Ahilyabai, when Chevalier Dudrenec, a Frenchman known to the natives as Huzur Beg, was entertained in service to organise regular battalions, and train them on the western style. Mulhar Rao's army consisted of 10,000 infantry, 15,000 horse, and 100 field-guns, but it was largely cut down under the Treaty of Mandesar. The strength of the State army at present is 748 infantry, 800 cavalry, and 210 artillery men with a bullock'train consisting of 18 serviceable guns.

The area of the State is 9,500 square miles with a population of 8,50,700 and a revenue of about 54 lacs of Rupees.

The ruler of Indore, who is one of the Treaty Chiefs of Central India, has the titles: His Highness and Maharaja'dhiraj Raj Rajeshwar Sawai Bahadur, and receives a salute of 19 guns, or 21 guns within the limits of his own dominions.