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Mahadaji Shinde

Mahadaji Shinde (23 December 1730-12 February 1794) was the Raja of Gwalior State from 18 January 1768 to 12 February 1794, succeeding Manaji Rao Shinde and preceding Daulat Rao Shinde.

Biography[]

Mahadaji Shinde was born in Ujjain, Gwalior State, Maratha Confederacy in 1730, the fifth and youngest son of Ranoji Rao Shinde. He succeeded his father as Raja of Gwalior in 1768, and he became a trusted lieutenant of the Peshwa of the Maratha Confederacy, Madhavrao I. Alongside Madhavrao and Nana Fadnavis, he was one of the three pillars of the Maratha Resurrection, establishing Gwalior as the leading state of the confederacy and restoring the Mughal Empire in Delhi in 1771; he was named Deputy Regent of the Empire out of gratitude. Shinde also defeated the Jats of Mathura and the Pashtun Rohillas from 1772 to 1773, and, in 1779, he defeated the British at the Battle of Wadgaon, forcing the British to retreat to Bombay. In 1788, Isma'il Beg rebelled in northern India, but Shinde crushed his uprising and executed him. In 1788, Mahadaji Shinde also slew the brutal rebel Ghulam Qadir, who had blinded Shah Alam II and slaughtered thousands in Delhi. In 1792, he made peace with Tipu Sultan of Mysore, and he died in 1794.

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