a town of Hindustan, and the capital of the possessions of the family of the Mahratta chieftain known under the name of Holkar. It is an ill-built town, containing a few mosques and several Brahminical temples of no architectural pretensions. The houses belonging to the British resident and his assistants are well planned, and surrounded with groves and gardens. Indore was plundered in 1801 by Scindia, who had previously defeated Holkar at the head of above 30,000 men. In 1804 it was occupied by a British force under Colonel Murray, but was restored on the subsequent pacification in 1805. Distant S.W. from Delhi 494 miles. Lat. 22° 42′; Long. 75° 50′.

The territorial possessions of the Holkar family consist of several detached tracts, some of them lying very remote from others. Their total area is returned at 8318 square miles, supporting a population of 815,164. The revenue is estimated at about L222,000. An armed force is maintained by the ruler of the country, amounting to 7000 men. The founder of this family was Mulhar Rao Holkar, who, first a shepherd, and subsequently a soldier, rose to military distinction, and obtained a grant of the territory of Indore from the Peshwa in 1733. He was among the Mahratta leaders at the battle of Paniput in 1761, and died a few years later. His successors brought Indore to a distinguished state of military power; and, at the commencement of the present century, when the British government was engaged in arduous conflict with various enemies, the then ruler of the country, Jeswunt Rao Holkar, seized the opportunity to invade the British dominions. Lord Lake despatched against him 5 battalions of native infantry, and 3000 cavalry, under Colonel Monson, an officer of great bravery, but unfortunately destitute of a corresponding degree of judgment; the expedition consequently terminated disastrously, and the unhappy retreat of this force is characterized as one of the most lamentable events in the history of the British career in India. Jeswunt Rao, following up his success, captured, in 1804, the city of Muttra, and commenced the siege of Delhi, but retreated baffled upon the approach of Lord Lake. From this time the fortunes of the Mahratta chieftain rapidly declined. According to Sir John Malcolm, Holkar entered Northern India with 92,000 men, and left it with a force diminished to 35,000 horse and 7000 infantry. Jeswunt Rao Holkar died insane in 1811, and was succeeded by Mulhar Rao Holkar, in whose reign the intrigues and disturbances fomented by the different factions which distracted the state ripened into hostilities. These, however, were brought to a speedy termination by the decisive victory which, on the 21st December 1817, was gained at Mahidpore by the British army over that of Holkar. On the 18th January 1818 a treaty was concluded at Mundesore with the British government, that power engaging to extend the same protection to the territory of Holkar as to its own, and to maintain a field force for the preservation of internal tranquillity and for defence against foreign aggression; Holkar, on the other hand, ceded various territories, and engaged to reduce his army to the strength of 3000 cavalry. Mulhar Rao died in 1833. He was succeeded by an adopted son named Martund Rao Holkar, who subsequently yielded his throne to the superior claims of Hurree Rao Holkar. By this latter prince the throne was transmitted to an adopted son, Kumdee Rao Holkar, whose career was terminated by an early death, when it appeared that no person possessed any hereditary claim to the succession. At length, however, the choice fell upon a youth named Mukteshwar; whose elevation, it was avowed, was not in virtue of either adoption or hereditary claim, but of the express nomination of the British government. The young chief, educated under the auspices of the British government, displayed at an early age great capacity for public business, and drew forth, by his exemplary conduct, the approbation of the governor-general. In February 1852, upon the attainment of his majority, the young chief assumed the reins of government.

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