Capture of Gwalior (1780)

01A blow at Scindia

In 1780 Warren Hastings wanted to strike at Mahadji Scindia in his own country to draw him away from the war in the Deccan. He sent a small force under Captain William Popham to help the Jat Rana of Gohad, who was at odds with the Marathas. Popham took Lahar and then turned to Gwalior, the ancient fort on its sandstone ridge, held by a Scindia garrison. Its cliffs had a reputation for being impossible to climb.

02Ladders on the rock

Local men showed Popham a place on the west side where the rock could be climbed. In the early hours of 3 August a storming party under Captain Bruce went up with ladders, followed by sepoys, and got over the wall before the defenders were roused. The garrison fled or gave in. The fort was handed over to the Rana of Gohad under the alliance. Mahadji took it back in 1783, and it stayed with the Scindias, apart from short spells of British occupation, until 1947.

Dynasty · 1731–1948 CEScindias (Shinde) of GwaliorRanoji Shinde rose as a commander under Bajirao I and was given northern Malwa. His son Mahadji, who survived Panipat, became the master of Delhi and the most powerful Indian ruler of the 1780s; the house later ruled Gwalior until 1948.Read →