Page:The People of India — a series of photographic illustrations, with descriptive letterpress, of the races and tribes of Hindustan Vol 7.djvu/212

HIS HIGHNESS THE MAHARAJAH HOLKAR. affairs with such admirable ability and skill, that on her unfortunate son's death, though many intrigues were set afoot to prevent her, she continued to reign over the Holkar state, now a recognised member of the national confederacy. It would be impossible within our limits to follow out the career of this distinguished woman to its close, as Sir John Malcolm has detailed it from authentic sources; but it is a wonderful record of political skill in troubled times, of successful internal administration, and of benevolence and charity, which extended to all parts of India, as well as to all distressed persons in her own dominions. She founded colleges, built and endowed temples, dug wells and tanks, and set a mark upon her times, which the lapse of years has only made brighter and more prominent, and will never be effaced. At the same time her husband's cousin, Tukajee, whom she had placed in command of the army, served her with a singular and unbroken zeal and fidelity, maintaining, both in war and peace, the high reputation of the state. Ahlia Bye was sixty years old when she died, for nearly forty of which she had acted with entire harmony with Tukajee, her cousin, who only survived her two years. Then the family began to break up. Ahlia Bye had no heir, but Tukajee had two legitimate sons, Kasi Rao and Muihar Rao, and two illegitimate, Jeswunt Rao and Etojee. Of these, Muihar Rao was soon after killed in defence of his camp, which was attacked by Sindia. Kasi Rao was of weak intellect, and Jeswunt Rao, after many wild adventures and strange vicissitudes, became leader of the Holkar state; and in 1779 he was at the head of 60,000 men, having recovered all or most of the family lands, and some, if not all, of Ahlia Bye's accumulations. Between Jeswunt Rao and Sindia no peace had ever existed, and in an attack on Indore by Sindia's army, not only was Jeswunt Rao defeated, but lost all his material of war, while the city was cruelly plundered. In revenge, Jeswunt Rao, assisted by Ameer Khan and his Pathans, now betook himself to plunder, ravaging Sindia's and the Peshwah's country indiscriminately, and collecting a vast booty. This brought on a combination on the part of the Peshwah and Sindia to suppress him altogether; but Jeswunt Rao marched to Poona, defeated the combined armies there on the 25th October, 1802, and plundered Poona to supply the arrears due to his troops. He then departed northwards. Sindia., then on the eve of war with the British, strove to induce Jeswunt Rao to join him; but, instead, Jeswunt Rao began to plunder, and in one of his expeditions he obtained from the city of Mundissoor booty to the value of a million sterling. His wild career need not be followed, nor his war with the British, and his unwearying attempts to reform his army. Eventually, from excessive drinking, he became insane, and he died on the 20th October, 1811.

A period of unbridled anarchy ensued. Muihar Rao, Jeswunt Rao's son, was protected by Toolsee Bye, his father's mistress, who, under the support of a faction, became Regent, and was eventually murdered by the partisans of those