Holkar
From Biocrawler, the free encyclopedia.
The Holkar were a prominent Maratha family, who ruled as rajas and later maharajas of Indore in central India as part of the Maratha Confederacy until 1818, and afterwards as a princely state of British India until India's independence, when the Holkars acceded to the Indian government.
Malhar Rao Holkar (born 1694, died 1766) established the family's rule over Indore. He commanded Maratha armies in Malwa in the 1720's, and in 1733 was granted the Indore region as a fief by the Peshwa. By his death he ruled much of Malwa, and was acknowledged as one of the five virtually independent rulers of the confederacy.
He was succeeded by Ahalya Bai Holkar (ruled 1767-1795), his daughter-in-law. She moved the capital to Maheshwar south of Indore on the Narmada River. Rani Ahalya Bai was a great builder and patron of many Hindu temples which embellished Maheshwar and Indore. She also built temples at sacred sites outside her kingdom, from Dwarka in Gujarat east to the Kashi Vishweswar temple at Varanasi on the Ganges.
Tukoji Rao Holkar (ruled 1795-1797) briefly succeded Rani Ahalya Bai upon her death.
His son Jaswant Rao (reigned 1797-1811) succeeded him upon his death. Jaswant Rao Holkar was a gifted military leader, and battled the British in the Second Anglo-Maratha War. After some early victories, he was ultimately forced to make peace with the British. He died in 1811.
In 1818, at the conclusion of the Third Anglo-Maratha War, the Holkars lost much of their territory to the British and were incorporated into the British Raj as a princely state of the Central India Agency. They ruled Indore state until shortly after India's independence in 1947, when they acceded to the Indian Government. Indore became a district of Madhya Bharat state, which was merged into Madhya Pradesh state in 1956.
