Battle of Kora

01Shuja turns to the Marathas

Shuja-ud-Daula had lost at Buxar in October 1764, and the Company’s troops had overrun Awadh, taking Allahabad and Lucknow. He fled to Rohilkhand and then sought Maratha help. Malhar Rao Holkar, the old campaigner of Panipat, came across the Yamuna into the Doab in the spring of 1765. Brigadier Carnac marched to meet him with Company infantry and guns.

02Horse against infantry

On 3 May 1765 the armies met near Kora, between Kanpur and Allahabad. The Maratha horse circled and charged the Company’s lines, but the sepoys held their formation and the guns kept them at a distance. Holkar broke off and fell back across the Yamuna to Kalpi. Shuja, with nowhere left to go, surrendered to the Company, and in August Clive’s Treaty of Allahabad gave him back Awadh as a Company ally.

Dynasty · 1733–1948 CEHolkars of IndoreMalhar Rao Holkar, a shepherd’s son from Hol near Jejuri, rose under Bajirao I to hold western Malwa. His daughter-in-law Ahilyabai ruled from Maheshwar for twenty-eight years and rebuilt temples across Bharat, including the Kashi Vishwanath temple that stands today.Read →