हिंदीOn this day

Battle of Ooscota (Hoskote)

VictorMarathas of Gooty, allied with the CompanyMurari Rao Ghorpade
1768vs
Mysore armyHaidar Ali

The veteran Maratha chief Murari Rao of Gooty, camped beside a Company force near Hoskote, beat off a night attack by Haidar Ali’s horse and elephants.

Date: 1768Where: Hoskote, Bengaluru Rural district, KarnatakaType: Battle
Photo: Unknown author · Public domain
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Cite

MLA

“Battle of Ooscota (Hoskote).” Hindu History, 2026, https://www.hinduhistory.in/battles/battle-of-ooscota-1768/. Accessed .

APA

Hindu History. (2026). Battle of Ooscota (Hoskote). Retrieved , from https://www.hinduhistory.in/battles/battle-of-ooscota-1768/

Result

Haidar’s night attack on the Maratha camp was thrown back, and he drew off when the Company troops nearby came up.

01Camp at Hoskote

In 1768 the Company carried the war onto the Mysore plateau, and Murari Rao Ghorpade, lord of Gooty, joined it with his Maratha horse to win back lands Mysore had taken. Near Hoskote, east of Bangalore, he pitched his own camp a short way from the Company lines rather than inside them. Haidar Ali saw his chance and attacked the Maratha camp by night, with cavalry following his war elephants.

02The night fight

The Mysore horse broke into the camp. Murari Rao ordered his men to fight on foot and cut down anyone on horseback, since in the dark a mounted man could only be the enemy. One of his elephants broke loose and flailed its chain among the attackers, adding to their confusion. The Mysoreans fell back, and when the Company troops came up Haidar gave up the attempt. A British officer who rode into the camp to help was killed by the order to strike horsemen.

Why it matters

Hoskote was one of the few setbacks Haidar met in 1768, the year he otherwise won back the plateau from the Company.

Places near the battlefield 5

ISKCON Sri Radha Krishna Temple, BengaluruStanding
Independent Bharat

ISKCON Sri Radha Krishna Temple, Bengaluru

A large Radha-Krishna temple of the Gaudiya Vaishnava tradition on a hillock in north-west Bengaluru, opened in 1997. The midday-meal programme for schoolchildren that grew from it now feeds lakhs every day.

Dodda Basavana Gudi (Bull Temple), BengaluruStanding
The Mughal era and the resistance

Dodda Basavana Gudi (Bull Temple), Bengaluru

A temple built round a single granite Nandi, about 4.5 metres high, on the Bugle Rock in south Bengaluru, raised by the city’s founder Kempe Gowda. Its groundnut fair has run for centuries.

Gavi Gangadhareshwara Cave Temple, BengaluruStanding
The Mughal era and the resistance

Gavi Gangadhareshwara Cave Temple, Bengaluru

A Shiva shrine in a natural cave in old Bengaluru, built so that on Makara Sankranti the evening sun passes between the horns of the Nandi outside and falls on the linga inside.

Jnanakshi Rajarajeshwari Temple, Bengaluru (claimed Karnat Shakti Peetha)Standing
Independent Bharat

Jnanakshi Rajarajeshwari Temple, Bengaluru (claimed Karnat Shakti Peetha)

The Kailash Ashrama temple that gave Rajarajeshwari Nagar its name. Its tradition holds that this is Karnat, the Shakti Peetha where Sati’s ears fell, a peetha whose true site no list can fix.

Bhoga Nandeeshwara Temple, NandiStanding
The Age of Great Kingdoms

Bhoga Nandeeshwara Temple, Nandi

Twin Shiva temples at the foot of Nandi Hills, begun in the 9th century and added to by five dynasties, with a great stepped tank behind them. Shiva of the hilltop is Yoga Nandeeshwara; Shiva of the plain is Bhoga, the one who enjoys.