Mahadji Shinde (Scindia)

Maratha general who held Delhi and Hindustan

1730—1794

c. 1730 – 12 Feb 1794

A son of Ranoji Shinde, Mahadji came out of Panipat lamed for life and spent the next thirty years putting Maratha power back in the north. He turned the British back at Wadgaon, brokered the Treaty of Salbai, and from 1784 ran the Mughal empire in the Peshwa’s name with an army trained in the European manner.

01Lamed at Panipat

Ranoji Shinde had risen from a humble post in Peshwa Bajirao’s household to a great command in Malwa, with Ujjain as the family seat. Mahadji, his youngest son, fought at Panipat on 14 January 1761. When the Maratha line broke he was cut down with a wound in the leg and escaped from the field; he limped for the rest of his life. His nephew Jankoji was captured and killed. Of the Shinde brothers, only Mahadji was left to carry the name.

02Wadgaon and Salbai

In 1771–72 he was among the commanders who brought the emperor Shah Alam II back to Delhi under Maratha protection. When the Bombay government marched on Pune in support of Raghunathrao, Mahadji and Nana Phadnavis let the British column climb the ghats, then cut it off near Talegaon. On 16 January 1779 it surrendered at Wadgaon and signed a convention that gave back every gain. The war ended with the Treaty of Salbai on 17 May 1782, which Mahadji negotiated, and which kept the British out of Maratha affairs for twenty years. In 1783 he took Gwalior fort.

Place · Fort since at least the 6th century; Teli ka Mandir 8th–9th c.; Man Mandir 1486–1516Gwalior FortA sandstone ridge 3 km long above Gwalior city, held in turn by the Pratiharas, Kachchhapaghatas, Delhi sultans, Tomars, Mughals, Marathas and British. On its path stands the Chaturbhuj temple, whose inscription of 876 CE has the oldest dated zero in India written as a circle.Read →

03Master of Delhi

In 1784 Shah Alam named the Peshwa Vakil-ul-Mutlaq, regent of the empire, with Mahadji as his deputy, and real power in Delhi passed to him. In August 1788 the Rohilla Ghulam Qadir seized the palace and blinded the old emperor. Mahadji’s troops retook Delhi that autumn, put Shah Alam back on his throne, and Ghulam Qadir was caught and put to death in 1789. Benoît de Boigne trained his infantry and artillery; with them he beat the Rajput armies at Patan and Merta in 1790. He came south to Pune in 1792 and died at Wanawadi on 12 February 1794. The Shinde Chhatri stands there.