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{{Short description|Maharaja of Gwalior (1779–1827)}}
{{morefootnotes|date=September 2018}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2018}}
{{Use Indian English|date=September 2018}}
{{Infobox royalty
| name = Daulat Rao Shinde (Sindhia)
| image = Daulat Rao Scindia.jpg
| image_size = 250px
| reign = 12 February 1794 — 21 March 1827
| caption = Shrimant Daulat Rao Shinde
| succession = [[File:Flag of the Maratha Empire.svg|border|33x30px]] 7th [[Maratha Empire|Maratha]] ruler of [[Gwalior State|Gwalior]]
| predecessor = [[Mahadaji Shinde]]
| successor = [[Jankoji Rao Scindia II]]
| birth_date = 1779
| birth_place =
| death_date = 21 March 1827 (aged 48)
| death_place =
| religion = [[Hinduism]]
| title = [[Maharaja]] (ruler) of [[Gwalior state|Gwalior]], Naib Vakil-i-Mutlaq (Deputy Regent of the Empire), Amir-al-Umara (Head of the amirs)
| spouse =
| father = Anand Rao Scindia
| mother =
| issue =
}}

'''Shrimant Daulat Rao Shinde (Sindhia)''' (1779 – 21 March 1827) was the [[Maharaja]] (ruler) of [[Gwalior state]] in central [[India]] from 1794 until his death in 1827. His reign coincided with struggles for supremacy within the [[Maratha Empire]], and wars with the expanding [[East India Company]]. Daulatrao played a significant role in the [[Second Anglo-Maratha War|Second]] and [[Third Anglo-Maratha war]]s.

==Ascent of Scindias==
[[File:Mahadaji Sindhia.jpg|thumb|left|200px|[[Mahadaji Shinde]]]]
Daulatrao was a member of the [[Sindhia]] dynasty, and succeeded to the Gwalior throne on 12 February 1794 at the age of 15, upon the death of Maharaja [[Mahadji Shinde]] (Mahadji left no heir, and Daulatrao was a grandson of his elder brother [[Tukoji Rao Scindia]], who was killed in the [[Third Battle of Panipat]], 7 January 1761). Daulatrao was recognised and formally installed by the Satara Chhatrapati and Peshwa, 3 March 1794, and conferred the titles of Naib Vakil-i-Mutlaq (Deputy Regent of the Empire), Amir-al-Umara (Head of the Amirs) from Emperor [[Shah Alam II]] on 10 May 1794.{{fact|date=January 2021}}

Gwalior state was part of the Maratha Empire, which was founded by [[Shivaji]] in the 17th century. ''De facto'' control of the empire passed from Shivaji's successors to the hereditary chief ministers of the Empire, entitled ''[[peshwa]]s'' and the empire expanded greatly in the 18th century at the expense of the [[Mughal Empire]]. As the empire expanded, commanders of the Maratha armies were given authority to collect ''[[chauth]]'' (tribute) in the conquered territories on behalf of the Peshwa. Daulatrao's ancestor [[Ranoji Sindhia]] had conquered territories in the [[Malwa]] and [[Gird, India|Gird]] regions from the Mughals, eventually establishing a state which was initially based at [[Ujjain]], but was named after the strategic fortress of [[Gwalior]]. His wife [[Baiza Bai]] was a powerful and an intelligent lady of her time. She played an important role in the affairs of the Gwalior state.{{fact|date=January 2021}}

The Maratha defeat at the [[Third Battle of Panipat]] checked the Maratha expansion towards the Northwest, and hastened the decentralization of power in the empire to a 'pentarchy' made up of the five most powerful Maratha dynasties: the Peshwas of [[Pune]], the Sindhias of Gwalior, the [[Holkar]]s of [[Indore]], the [[Pawar]]s of [[Dhar State|Dhar]] and [[Dewas State|Dewas]], the [[Bhonsle]]s of [[Nagpur]] and the [[Gaekwad]]s of [[Baroda]].{{fact|date=January 2021}}

Daulatrao's predecessor Mahadji Shinde had, in the aftermath of Panipat, turned Gwalior into a chief military power of the empire, developing a well-trained modern army under the command of [[Benoît de Boigne]]. Daulatrao therefore looked upon himself less as a member of the Maratha Empire and more as the chief sovereign in India.{{fact|date=January 2021}}

==Scindia-Holkar Confrontation==
[[File:Yashwant Rao Holkar.jpg|thumb|200px|[[Yashwant Rao Holkar]]]]
At this time the death of the young Peshwa, [[Madhavrao II]] (1795), and the troubles which it occasioned, the demise of [[Tukojirao Holkar]] and the rise of the turbulent [[Yashwantrao Holkar]], together with the intrigues of [[Nana Farnavis]], threw the confederacy into confusion and enabled Sindhia to gain the ascendancy. He also came under the influence of Sarjerao Ghatge, a dubious character from Maratha point of view, whose daughter he had married (1798). Urged possibly by this adviser, Daulatrao aimed at increasing his dominions at all costs, and seized territory from the Maratha [[Ponwar]]s of [[Dhar]] and [[Dewas]]. The rising power of [[Yashwantrao Holkar]] of [[Indore]], however, alarmed him. In July 1801, Yashwantrao appeared before Sindhia's capital of Ujjain, and after defeating some battalions under [[John Hessing]], extorted a large sum from its inhabitants, but did not ravage the town. In October, however, Sarjerao Ghatge took revenge by sacking Indore, razing it almost to the ground, and practicing every form of atrocity on its inhabitants.{{fact|date=January 2021}}

Then, in 1802, on the festival of Diwali, [[Yashwantrao Holkar]] defeated the combined armies of [[Scindia]] and Peshwa [[Bajirao II]] at Hadapsar, near Pune. The battle took place at Ghorpadi, Banwadi, and Hadapsar. From this time dates the ''[[gardi-ka-wakt]]'', or 'period of unrest', as it is still called, during which the whole of central India was overrun by the armies of Sindhia and Holkar and their attendant predatory [[Pindari]] bands, under [[Amir Khan (Pindari)|Amir Khan]] and others. [[Benoît de Boigne]] had retired as commander of Gwalior's army in 1796; and his successor, [[Pierre Cuillier-Perron]], was a man of a very different stamp, whose determined favouritism of French officers, in defiance of all claims to promotion, produced discontent in the regular corps.{{fact|date=January 2021}}

==Scindia-British treaty==
[[File:Joppen1907India1805a-21.jpg|thumb|250px|Maratha Empire in 1805 (yellow)]]
Finally, on 31 December 1802, the Peshwa signed the [[Treaty of Bassein (1802)|Treaty of Bassein]], by which the [[East India Company]] was recognized as the paramount power in India. The continual evasion shown by Sindhia in all attempts at negotiation brought him into conflict with the British, and his power in both western and northern India was brought down by major defeats at [[Battle of Ahmednuggur|Ahmadnagar]], [[Battle of Assaye|Assaye]], [[Battle of Argaon|Argaon]], [[Battle of Asirgarh|Asirgarh]] and [[Laswari]]. On 30 December 1803, he signed the [[Treaty of Surji Anjangaon]], by which he was obliged to give up his possessions between the Yamuna and the Ganges, the [[Bharuch District|district of Bharuch]], and other lands in the south of his dominions; and soon after, by the Treaty of Burhanpur, he agreed to maintain a subsidiary force to be paid for out of the revenues of territory ceded by the treaty. By the ninth article of the Treaty of Surji Anjangaon he was deprived of the fortresses of Gwalior and [[Gohad]], The discontent produced by the last condition almost caused a rupture, and did actually result in the plundering of the Resident's camp and detention of the Resident as a prisoner.{{fact|date=January 2021}}

In 1805, under the new policy of [[Cornwallis in India|Lord Cornwallis]], Gohad and Gwalior were restored, and the [[Chambal River]] was made the northern boundary of the state, while certain claims on Rajput states were abolished, the Company administration at the same time binding itself to enter into no treaties with [[Udaipur]], [[Jodhpur]], [[Kotah]], or any chief tributary to Sindhia in [[Malwa]], [[Mewar]], or [[Marwar]].{{fact|date=January 2021}}

In 1811, Shrimant Daulat Rao conquered the neighboring kingdom of [[Chanderi]]. In 1816 Sindhia was called on to assist in the suppression of the Pindaris. For some time it was doubtful what line he would take, but he ultimately signed the Treaty of Gwalior in 1817 by which he promised full cooperation. He did not, however, act up to his professions, and connived at the retention of the fort of [[Asirgarh]], which had been ceded by the treaty. A fresh treaty in 1818 effected a readjustment of boundaries, [[Ajmer]] and other lands being ceded.{{fact|date=January 2021}}

==References==
{{Commons category|Daulat Rao Scindia}}
* Hunter, William Wilson, Sir, et al. (1908). ''Imperial Gazetteer of India'', Volume 12. 1908-1931; Clarendon Press, Oxford.
* Markovits, Claude (ed.) (2004). ''A History of Modern India: 1480-1950''. Anthem Press, London.
<references />
==External links==
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{{s-hou|[[Scindia|Scindia Dynasty]]||1779||21 March 1827}}
{{s-reg|}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Mahadaji Scindia]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Gwalior State|Maharaja of Gwalior]]|years=1794–1827}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Jankoji Rao Scindia II]]}}
{{end}}

{{MarathaEmpire}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Scindia, Daulat}}
[[Category:Scindia dynasty of Gwalior|Daulat]]
[[Category:1779 births]]
[[Category:1827 deaths]]
[[Category:People of the Second Anglo-Maratha War]]

Daulat Rao Sindhia - Revision history

UpdateBot at 08:03, 18 May 2022