DMPQ Premium- Describe the Holkar state’s relation with British raj.

. Holkar State, was a Maratha princely state in India during the British Raj. Its rulers belonged to the Holkar dynasty & the state was under the Central India Agency. Indore was a 19 Gun Salute (21 locally) princely state (a extraordinary high rank). Indore princely state was located in the present-day Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. The capital of the state was the city of Indore. The state had an area of 24,605 km² & a population of 1,325,089 inhabitants in 1931.

By 1720, the headquarters of the local pargana were transferred from Kampel to Indore, because of the increasing commercial activity in the city. On 18 May 1724, the Nizam accepted the rights of the Maratha Peshwa Baji Rao I to collect chauth (taxes) from the area. In 1733, the Peshwa assumed the full control of Malwa, & appointed his comm&er Malhar Rao Holkar as the Subhedar (Governor) of the province. On 29 July 1732, Bajirao Peshwa-I granted Holkar State by merging 28 & half parganas to Malhar Rao Holkar, the founder ruler of Holkar dynasty. His daughter-in-law Ahilyabai Holkar changed the state’s capital to Maheshwar in 1767, but Indore remained an important commercial & military centre.

After the defeat of the Holkar rulers in the Third Anglo-Maratha War, an agreement was signed on 6 January 1818 with the British & Indore State became a British protectorate. The Holkar dynasty was able to continue to rule Indore as a princely state mainly owing to the efforts of their Dewan Tatya Jog. The capital was moved from Maheshwar to Indore on 3 November 1818 & the Indore Residency, a political residency with a British resident was established in the city. Later Indore would be established as the headquarters of the British Central India Agency.

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