Yashwant Rao Holkar known as Jaswantrao Holkar belonging to the Holkar dynasty of the Maratha Confederacy was the Maharaja of the Indore.
49 Facts About Yashwantrao Holkar
2.
Yashwantrao Holkar was a gifted military leader and educated in accountancy as well as literate in Persian and Marathi and Urdu.
3.
Yashwantrao Holkar was conferred with regal titles by the Mughal Emperor and the British recognized him as a sovereign king.
4.
Kashirao Yashwantrao Holkar was not an able ruler, but Malhar Rao II Yashwantrao Holkar had all the qualities of an able ruler and was a military leader; naturally, the people and the soldiers preferred Malharrao.
5.
Malharrao, Vithojirao, and Yashwantrao opposed Kashirao and demanded that Malharrao should be the heir after Tukoji Rao Holkar.
6.
Yashwantrao Holkar stood till the last soldier fell in the battlefield, and was wounded and fell unconscious there.
7.
Yashwantrao Holkar imprisoned Malharrao's pregnant wife, Jijabai, who gave birth to Khande Rao Holkar, and Bhimabai Holkar, daughter of Yashwantrao Holkar.
8.
The King of Dhar, Anandrao Pawar, requested Yashwantrao Holkar's help in curbing the rebellion of one of his ministers, Rangnath; Holkar successfully helped Anandrao Pawar.
9.
Vithojirao Yashwantrao Holkar declared that he was working for Amrutrao, who was more capable of being the Peshwa than Bajirao II.
10.
When Maharaja Yashwantrao Holkar learned this, he vowed to take revenge.
11.
In 4 July 1801, Maharaja Yashwantrao Holkar attacked Sindhia's capital Ujjain, and after defeating Sindhia's army led by John Hessing, extorted a large sum from its inhabitants, but did not ravage the town.
12.
Yashwantrao Holkar kept on corresponding with the Peshwa, to whom he put forward the following propositions, which, if agreed to, would put an end to hostilities.
13.
Yashwantrao Holkar conquered Sendhwa, Chalisgaon, Dhulia, Malegaon, Parol, Ner, Ahmadnagar, Rahuri, Nashik, Sinnar, Dungargaon, Jamgaon, Pharabagh, Gardond, Pandharpur, Kurkumb, Narayangaon, Baramati, Purandhar, Saswad, Moreshwar, Thalner, and Jejuri.
14.
On Sunday, 25 October 1802, on the festival of Diwali, Yashwantrao Holkar defeated the combined armies of Scindia and Peshwa at Hadapsar, near Pune.
15.
Yashwantrao Holkar had ordered his army not to attack first and wait until 25 cannonballs were fired from other side; when 25 cannonballs were fired, Yashwantrao Holkar ordered his army to attack.
16.
Yashwantrao Holkar then went to Suwarnadurgh, and on 1 December 1802, went to Bassein via a ship named Harkuriyan.
17.
The British Government feared that if they had not adopted measures for the restoration of the Peshwa's authority, Yashwantrao Holkar would have either attacked the company's territories, or those of their ally the Nizam of Hyderabad.
18.
Yashwantrao Holkar agreed to abandon all claims over the Peshwa's office and to remain friendly with the British.
19.
However, the just demands of Yashwantrao Holkar were not fulfilled.
20.
Yashwantrao Holkar wrote letters to different kings to unite and fight against the British.
21.
That the right of Yashwantrao Holkar to collect the tribute, as old, should be recognized.
22.
That the country of Haryana, which formerly belonged to Yashwantrao Holkar, should be surrendered and.
23.
Yashwantrao Holkar defeated the British army, led by Colonel Fawcett, at Konch, in Bundelkhand.
24.
On 8 July 1804, Yashwantrao Holkar defeated the army of Colonel Manson and Leukan at Mukundare and Kota.
25.
In Mathura Maharaja, Yashwantrao Holkar learned that the British had captured some of his territory; he decided to stay in Mathura and work out a strategy to regain his territory.
26.
On 8 October 1804, to gain control over the emperor, Yashwantrao Holkar marched towards Delhi and attacked the army of Colonel Ochterlony and Berne.
27.
On 16 November 1804, Yashwantrao Holkar reached Deeg by defeating the army of Major Frazer in a battle.
28.
Yashwantrao Holkar had become well known throughout India, due to his bravery Amir Khan and Bhawani Shankar Khatri betrayed him.
29.
Daulatrao Scindia decided to help Yashwantrao Holkar, but was prevented from doing so by the ill advice of Kamal Nayan Munshi.
30.
Yashwantrao Holkar sent letters to the rest of the kings of India, appealing to them to fight against the British.
31.
On 25 April 1805, Lord Lake replied to Governor-General Wellesley and stated that he was unable to pursue them and that Yashwantrao Holkar felt great pleasure killing the Europeans; Governor-General Wellesley replied that all disputes with Yashwantrao Holkar be resolved without any war.
32.
Yashwantrao Holkar tried to create an alliance with Raja Bhag Singh of Jindh, Raja Fateh Singh of Kapurthala, and other Sikh rulers against British; but could not succeed.
33.
Afraid of the possibility of Yashwantrao Holkar uniting the Indian Rajas against them, the British decided to make peace with him.
34.
Yashwantrao Holkar was the only king in India whom the British approached with an unconditional peace treaty as per the London policy of withdrawal.
35.
Maharaja Yashwantrao Holkar saw that the rest of the kings were not ready to unite in a common cause and were only interested in personal benefits that they would incur with the British.
36.
Yashwantrao Holkar would be the last to sign a treaty with the British, on 24 December 1805 at a place called Rajpur Ghat on the bank of Beas River.
37.
Yashwantrao Holkar was successful in his endeavour of keeping the British out of his state and started making preparations to drive the British out of India.
38.
Yashwantrao Holkar assembled an army of 100,000 soldiers to attack Calcutta.
39.
Yashwantrao Holkar again tried to unite the Maratha Confederacy and wrote to Daulatrao Scindia about this.
40.
Finally, Yashwantrao Holkar decided to fight with the British singlehandedly and drive them out of India.
41.
Yashwantrao Holkar decided to stay in Bhanpura to gather a large army and manufacture cannons to defeat the British.
42.
Yashwantrao Holkar was successful in keeping the British out of his state, but he wanted them out of India.
43.
Yashwantrao Holkar knew that this was impossible without sufficient cannons, so he built a factory to manufacture cannons in Bhanpura.
44.
Yashwantrao Holkar worked day and night and manufactured 200 short and long-range cannons.
45.
Yashwantrao Holkar gathered an army of 1 lakh soldiers to attack Calcutta.
46.
Yashwantrao Holkar's battles were the significant in the history of Indian wars and the title given to him by the Mughal Emperor gave him a prominent position amongst the rulers of India.
47.
Yashwantrao Holkar was a gifted organizer and he was skilled in arts of warfare.
48.
Yashwantrao Holkar was one of the greatest and most romantic figures on the stage of Indian history.
49.
Yashwant Rao Yashwantrao Holkar rose to power from initial nothingness entirely by dint of his personal valour and spirit of adventure.