The Mughal army was routed and Giridhar Bahadur killed; Malwa lay open to the Marathas.
01Malwa between two powers
Malwa, the plateau of Ujjain, Dhar and Mandu, was the road from the Deccan to Hindustan. Maratha horse under Udaji Pawar and Malhar Rao Holkar had been raiding it for years, and many of its Rajput landholders were tired of Mughal rule. The subahdar, Giridhar Bahadur, a Nagar Brahmin long in Mughal service, fought back hard. In the autumn of 1728, the same year as Palkhed, Peshwa Bajirao sent his brother Chimaji Appa across the Narmada with a strong army.
02The day at Amjhera
Chimaji moved fast and caught Giridhar Bahadur near Amjhera, west of Dhar, on 29 November 1728. The Maratha cavalry closed in from several sides before the Mughal army could form, and in the hard fighting that followed Giridhar Bahadur was killed. His army broke and its camp and guns were taken. G. S. Sardesai, writing from the Peshwa records, counts it among the decisive days of Maratha expansion. The Marathas went on to collect chauth across Malwa, and within a few years the Mughal emperor recognised the Peshwa’s rights there.
Amjhera broke Mughal power in Malwa and gave the Marathas the base from which the Holkars, Scindias and Pawars would build their states at Indore, Gwalior and Dhar.