SCINDIA, DAULAT RAO

SCINDIA, DAULAT RAO (1780-1827), Maratha chief of Gwalior, who in the closing decades of the eighteenth century succeeded in becoming viceregent of the shrunken Mughal empire. Pie held in his power the blind titular emperor Shah Alam, whom he had rescued from the clutches of the Ruhilas, and ruled in his name through his deputies Comte de Boigne and Pierre Cuillier Perron, who commanded large Maratha armies. Daulat Rao established Maratha supremacy in Delhi and Agra and in the trans Jamuna region, but, unlike his predecessor Mahadji Scindia, who in 1788 had come to an understanding with the Sikhs, he wanted to curb their power.

In 1801, the cis Sutlej Sikh chiefs of Patiala, Nabha, JInd, Kaithal, Ladva and Thanesar approached his all powerful deputy Perron, to afford them protection against the ravages of George Thomas, the Irish adventurer, who, after a short period of employment under Appa Khande Rao, had carved out the independent kingdom of Hansi. A Maratha force 12,000 strong, marched under Louis Bourquien, expelled Thomas from the Malva region and liquidated his tiny principality, but Perron subjected the Sikh chiefs to heavy exactions and tributes.

Daulat Rao`s influence over the cis Sutlej region was, however, short lived. In September 1803, he was defeated by the English at Delhi and in November at Lasvari. He ceded to the British the districts of Delhi, Gurgaon, Rohtak, Hissar and Agra. The Marathas thus lost their influence in northern India. Daulat Rao Scindia died on 21 March 1827.

References :

1. Griffin, Lepel, The -Rajas of the Punjab [Reprint]. Delhi, 1977
2. Gupta, Hari Ram, A History of the Sikhs, vol. III. Delhi, 1974
3. Gian Singh, Giani, Panth Prakash [Reprint]. Patiala, 1970