Yashwantrao Holkar

Maharaja Yashwant Rao Holkar also known as Jaswantrao Holkar, was an Indian statesman who was the Raja of Indore State and a well-known military officer belonging of the Holkar clan of the Maratha Empire. A gifted military leader, he was educated in accountancy as well as literate in Persian, Marathi and Urdu. An early and vigorous opponent of British schemes and attempts to dominate and colonise India, Holkar soon entered into conflict with the British East India Company, which was expanding into Central India from the coast. He fought the Second Anglo-Maratha War against the British, and though occasionally bested in the field, fought a number of successful battles and was able to compel them to enter into a treaty relationship with him that recognised Holkar as a sovereign and independent ruler, thereby escaping the humiliating subsidiary alliance treaty unlike other Maratha chiefs. His early death, however, led to most of his other strategies to halt British EIC expansion remaining unrealised.