Battle of Mahidpur

The Battle of Mahidpur was fought during the Third Anglo-Maratha War between the Marathas and the British led by Sir Thomas Hislop at Mahidpur, a town in the Malwa region, on 20 December 1817.

One of the sardars of Holkar army, Gaffur Khan Pindari, secretly signed a treaty with the British on 9 November 1817 and accordingly killed Tulsibai on 19 December 1817.

The British, led by Sir Thomas Hislop, attacked on 20 December 1817 and defeated the army led by 11-year-old Maharaja Malharrao Holkar (III), 20-year-old Harirao Holkar and 20-year-old Bhimabai Holkar in the Battle of Mahidpur. Holkars had nearly won the war but at the deciding moment Nawab Abdul Gaffur Khan betrayed and left the battlefield along with his army. The British gave the Jahagir of Jaora to Gaffur Khan for this betrayal. The treaty was signed on 6 January 1818 at Mandsaur (Treaty of Mandsaur).

Bhimabai Holkar didn't accept the treaty, and kept attacking the British by guerrilla method. Maharani Laxmibai of Jhanshi took inspiration from Bhimabai Holkar and fought against the British. At the conclusion of this 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.

This battle led to the final destruction of Maratha power. Baji Rao II, who was trying to consolidate Marathas, finally surrendered in June 1818. British abolished the position of Peshwa, and Marathas were limited to the small kingdom of Satara until its annexation to Bombay state in 1848.