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52 degenerating into an organised banditti, became the terror and the scourge of the country which was submitted to their depredations. Owning no master, they attached themselves as irregular cavalry to the Peshwá's armies; but later they ranged themselves in two parties under Sindhia and Holkar, whom they adopted as patrons, though they continued to preserve their common traditions. They were accustomed to assemble every year about the beginning of November, and, having placed themselves under the bravest leaders, they sallied forth in mounted bands, often several thousand strong, to burn, destroy, and search for plunder. Nor were their raids conducted only in the neighbourhood of their camps, for such was the hardiness of their horses, the lightness of their baggage, and the rapidity of their movements, that they spread their devastations from Mysore northwards sometimes as far as the Jumna, and baffled the attempts of more regular forces to overtake them or keep them in check.

The centre of this formidable association was in the valley of the Narbadá, where the chiefs obtained lands, acquired small principalities, and were frequently honoured with the title of Nawáb. In 1814 they were reckoned at between 25,000 and 30,000 horsemen, of whom about half were well armed; their principal leaders were Chítu, Wasil Muhammad, and Kárím Khán — men who took a prominent part in the complicated and anarchical politics of Central India, now joining one faction and now another, but always