The finale of the saga: Marathas versus East India Company

Marathas and the British had been at each other throats. There could only be one winner. The Marathas were a 170-year-old powerful empire with a huge army, the British only having a fraction of their manpower but had cunning diplomatic moves up their sleeves. Who would emerge victorious in this Battle of power?

A painting of the battlefield of Khadki, a place near Poona; Image source: Wikipedia

Marathas and the British were archenemies from the very beginning. 60 years after the Battle of Plassey, the British became the supreme power with no one left to challenge them except the Marathas, the 170-year-old power. The Marathas had faced defeat at the two Anglo-Maratha wars.

The Second Anglo-Maratha War ended in 1805. This is the story of the beginning of the third Anglo-Maratha war which completely destroyed the Maratha power in the Indian subcontinent. There are 3 main battles fought in the third Anglo-Maratha war referring to the fight with the three powers of Maratha that were left. Of all the three, the Peshwas of Poona were the strongest. The war started with them and was known as 'The Battle of Khadki'-the beginning of Maratha's denouement.

Let's start with the back story of the Pindari war, which concluded just before the Battle of Khadki's beginning. Who were Pindaris? Pindaris were light horse bandits, simply meaning bandits who looted people riding on their horses. When Mughal power was at the height of its power it had an extremely strong military force. As it declined the army was let off with nowhere to go. Some of these people banded together to form the Pindari forces.

Basically, these people were strong warriors who now looted people. They didn't belong to a single community. Some were Marathas, some were Jats and even Afghans. They didn't have a proper hierarchy and their main job was plundering. Lawlessness was their appeal.

British were fed up with the growing plunder attacks by Pindaris. Sometimes they even looted British areas. Their behaviour was becoming intolerable. The then Governor-General decided enough was enough and it was time to destroy the Pindari forces, however, the British assumed that the Pindaris were supported by the Marathas. It was thought because sometimes Marathas asked the Pindaris to attack a place on behalf of them, they didn't pay them any salary instead let them loot the place they were supposed to attack.

So, in order to completely destroy the Pindari forces, the Maratha empire must be controlled. The British began preparing for a seize but as we know it, the British believed in negotiations before attacking. These negotiations weren't just done with the enemy; the British negotiated well even with the supporters of their enemies to weaken them.

The British targeted the two main supporters of Pindaris. First was Scindia (Gwalior). Gwalior was neutralized by tried by signing the 'Treaty of Gwalior'. Now, Gwalior couldn't support the other Marathas even if they wished to. Next was Amir Khan, one of the supreme leaders of the Pindari sect (the Pindaris had few groups within themselves). They neutralized him by giving him the state of Tonks which was under the Rajputana. By making him the Nawab of Tonks his army was removed as a supporter of the Marathas.

British had successfully neutralized two major supporters of the Marathas. The next thing we know the rest of the Pindari forces were absolutely crushed. It was now the turn of the remaining three Maratha hotspots- Poona, Nagpur and Indore.

Negotiations were in place even in these places in all these three places of Maratha rule however all negotiations failed. Poona was under the control of the Peshwas. The then ruler was Bajirao Peshwa II. He began accumulating his army which consisted of 18,000 Cavalry, 8000 infantry and 14 guns one of the strongest armies of that time.

Colonel Charles Barton Burr, the person in charge of the Poona British residency had been accumulating his army at Khadki, the place near Poona. He didn't have half the power Peshwa did, how could he possibly win? The British residency was burned by the Marathas at the height of emotions during the Dussehra celebratory parade. The burning of the Elphinstone's Residency became the first act of War and thus, On 8th November 1817, began the Battle of Khadki.

Colonel Charles Barton Burr, might not have had the numbers however, the British never believed in winning a war by numbers. On the other side, Peshwa came to know that Col Burr was preparing for battle he assembled his forces and marched towards Khadki. As soon as Burr's army got sight of Peshwa's army they began attacking him. Peshwa's army didn't get a chance to settle by the sudden hailstorm from the opponent. The horses of soldiers began running in chaos by the abrupt rifles. The formation of the Peshwa army broke.

The war kept going on and Col Burr with his small army held his ground. On 17th November, General Smith came with his forces to reimburse the British forces. Now, how many people he actually brought doesn't really matter because as soon as the news of a reimbursing army got to Peshwa's army, many left the battle and ran off. The morale of the Peshwa forces was already broken. They were completely destroyed and defeated at the Battle of Khadki.

A similar case happened with the other two centres of power of Marathas- Nagpur and Indore. Both the spots of Maratha had much more power than the British army. The British's win over them is a testament that war isn't won just by the number factor. An efficient leadership, organisation and strategic planning can make all the difference. In the case of the Third Anglo-Martha War most likely, the Maratha power lacked the above mentioned which led to wiping off of the Maratha power in its entirety. Gwalior was the only Maratha power left in the country which was under a treaty with the British.

In the year 1818, Bajirao Peshwa II surrendered and he was sent off to Bithoor, near Kanpur. He was given a state pension to live off the rest of his life however, he was stripped of all his power. On the throne of Peshwas, an infant was placed by the British as a puppet ruler under them. They said that the child was a descendant of Shivaji (whether he really was or not, isn't proven). They did all this so that Peshwa's dignity could be maintained and doesn't lead to resentment among the people. The British were more diplomatic than one might think!

However, it seems Bajirao's lineage wasn't completely vanished yet. His son was Nana Saheb. Yes, the person who fought in the revolt of 1857, the first war of Independence against the British. Well, that's a story for another day!