444 THE INDIAN EMPIRE [CHAP;
of anarchy. While he was moving British forces from all
quarters towards Central India, three of the MarRtha chiefs
broke out, revealing a coalition that had long been suspected.
The PeshwA had always chafed under the subordination to which
the Treaty of Bassein reduced him. With the support of
British protection, he had accumulated large resources, which
he used in levying troops and intriguing with the other chiefs.
In the same month (November, I8r7) the Peshw. at Poona
and the Bhonsla at Nagpur each suddenly attacked with over-
whelming numbers the British Residents at their courts, but
were decisively repulsed alike on the plain of Kirkee and on
the hill of Sitabaldi. Next month the mutinous army of
Holkar, himself a child, was destroyed at Mehidpur. Sindhia
alone remained quiet, being overawed by the large British force
in his neighbourhood. Favourable terms were offered to some
of the Pindari leaders; the remainder were hunted down and
exterminated.
' he peci- The pacification that followed changed the map of Western
fiction. and Central India. The dominions of the Peshwa--in the
Deccan, the Konkan, and GujarAt-were held to be forfeited,
and were presently annexed to the Bombay Presidency, with
the exception of an apanage reserved for the titular RAj& of
SAtAra, the representative of Sivaji. The Bhonsla-or, rather,
his infant son-retained the greater part of his possessions,
though a portion became British under the style of the Saugor
and Nerbudda Territories. Holkar's State of Indore, and the
State of Tonk assigned to his Pindiri general Amir Khan,
form part of the settlement then effected for Central India.
Satara lapsed, through default of issue, in I848; and Nagpur,
for the same reason, in i853. The dethroned PeshwA lived
on till I853, in the receipt of a large pension; his adopted son
was the infamous Nana Sahib of the Mutiny.
Existing There still exist three great Marath. States, but it is significant
Marathi that none of the three lies within Maharishtra. The GaikwAr
States.
of Baroda-who never drew sword against the British-preserves
the territory which his ancestors conquered in Gujarat, and also
the tribute which they exacted from numerous surrounding
chiefs. Sindhia, with his capital at Gwalior on the border of
HindustSn and a second capital at the ancient Ujjain, maintains
the traditions of his race as premier chief in Central India and
Honorary Colonel in the British Army. Holkar of Indore
rules over a choice portion of the fertile valley of the NarbadA,
in Malwi. In the 1Deccan, the line of Sivaji is represented,
through successive adoptions, by the Maharaja of Kolhapur;
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