Jankoji Sindhia : Young Son of the Loyal Family

Jankoji Sindhia was the son of Jayappa Sindhia. After the assassination  of Jayappa  Sindhia on 25th July, 1755  Jankoji was proclaimed as the new chief the legal successor of Jayapa and all official letters were issued in his name and under his seal .Jankoji accompanied his uncle Dattaji  in all the wars in  Rajputana , Malwa and Deccan but his role was limited as a nominal head of the Sindhia army and all matters of importance were carried out by his Uncle . Even in the battle of Thaneshar (24th December 1759)  Jankoji was given a position in the rear and in Burari Ghat (10th January 1760) .Jankoji was forbidden to participate in the skirmish . Jankoji too joined the action  in Barari Ghat but received a bullet through the fleshy part of his upper arm and was dragged out of the field by his followers  . Soon after it was known that Dattaji was martyred and it was at once decide to proceed towards south-west in the direction of Rewadi were his camp followers were sent with Ruparam Kothari and Ramaji Anant Dabholkar, the Sindhia's Diwan. The Durranis pursued Janakoji for twenty-five miles and then returned . It was impossible for Janakoji to ride a horse with his aching wound which had become worse by the first day's headlong flight. As the whole baggage had been looted by the pursuers or left behind as heavy, there was no palanquin with carriers in the whole army. A charpai  was taken as a substitute and Janakoji was carried on it by the soldiers themselves acting as carriers, leaving their horses in the charge of others. After covering thirty miles in this manner, with great trouble Janakoji reached his camp with the remnants of his broken army after midnight that day. Where he found Bhagirathibai, the second wife of Dattaji and Kashibai his own wife together  they marched in south west direction .After four days of continuous trouble, the fore-runners of the army came into touch with the advance party of the Holkar's contingent and stopped there. On the 15th January, 1760, Malharrao came and joined the party to the north of Kotputli. Here at Kotputli the funeral ceremonies of Dattaji were performed, and the party moved back to Sabalgad on the Chambal where in February Dattaji's wife Bhagirathibai gave birth to a son. Malharrao Holkar comforted them all as an elderly guardian. They then began measures for recovering their lost position and driving away the invader by employing guerilla tactics forgetting all their personal grudges . Malharrao took the command of the operating force, and began his advance on 24th January. Jankoji was positioned in the rear . He levied a contribution of Rs. 10,000 from Kanaud and  hovered, in the Mewat district, watching for opportunities. Marathas then  descended upon the rich town of Sikandrabad(1st March). Abddali sent Jahan Khan and Najib Khan with 35,000 troops unencumbered with any artillery or camp equipage to attack Marathas near Sikandrabad. Surajmal Jat who in this guerilla war was helping the Marathas, came to know of this sudden move of Abdali , sent information of the same to Gangadhar Chandrachud, the Diwan of Malharrao to warn him in time. The Sindhia contingent under Janakoji as well as Malharrao Holkar had fallen back towards Mathura and Agra after crossing the Jamuna. Rupram, the Jat envoy, accompanied them. Jahan Khan, after a forced marches surprised Malharrao's vanguard, under Gangadhar Chandrachud , eight miles in front of Malhar's camp, at the dawn of 4th March. Marathas were surprised, caught unprepared and massacred with heavy slaughter by Jahan Khan .

When Sadashivrao came to North Malharrao and Jankoji met Bhausaheb  on 22nd June 1760 near Dholpur .Compared to other Sardars of this allied army ,  Jankoji commanded the largest contingent of 10,000 horsemen . After conquering Delhi , Jankoji visited the fort, and sitting down in the Octagonal Tower called for the sons of the ex-Emperor Ahmad Shah and held a whispered conversation with them, giving them robes of honour and jewelled crests. After Delhi Jankoji accompanied the Maratha army to Kunjpura and participated in the battle . Here after the victory the whole Sindhia  army celebrated the execution of Qutub Shah , the slayer of Dattaji Sindhia. Among the spoils of the capture was Javahargaj, the favourite elephant of Jankoji Sindia, which had been taken in the battle at Burari Ghat . Along with the main army Jankoji too remained at the siege at Panipat .On 22nd November a lunar eclipse was to take place and so the Marathas remained within their trenches . Shah Wali , Abdali’s wazir on seeing the Marathas not coming out of their camps came near to the large well near Gaddiwara half a mile south-west of the shrine of Ghaus Ali Khan, immediately in front of the Maratha right wing where Jankoji’s army has encamped . In the evening about the time of sunset , the troops of Sindhia recognized him and made a assault on Shah Wali , many of his men were killed and it seemed as if he would not escape but soon reinforcements came up from the rear and succoured him .Marathas chased him up to the Afghan trenches . Four hundred men of Wazir Shah Wali were killed and around eight hundred wounded and the Martha casualties were one hundred and sixty. The Marathas captured over a hundred horses.

In the finale battle on 14th January, 1760 Jankoji with around 7,000 troops was positioned right of Shamsher Bahadur and was opposed to Najib Khan . As Sadashivrao has clearly ordered his men not to break the marching square Jankoji’s troops remained in their position and did not ventured out to attack Najib Khan . The distance between Najib Khan’s front and the Sindhia line was more than three miles. Najib turned all his troops into infantry, dismounting even his cavalry from their horses. Then with his 15,000 soldiers he slowly advanced on foot . The prudent Najib had masked his advance by a series of breastworks of sand with the help of diggers in his army, which afforded a shelter to the stooping infantry and prepared trenches where the Rohilla infantry advanced and crouched down. Najib had a vast quantity of rockets with him.  He fired a volley of 2,000 rockets all at once from his advanced trenches. As a result Jankoji stayed there at his position somewhere near west of the village Ugarkhedi and south of the town of Panipat and did not advanced further .

When the news spread around that Viswasrao has been shot dead and Shah Pasand vacated his position at the Imperial road from Panipat to Delhi . Half of the troops of Sindhia contingent and troops of Malharrrao left the battlefield . Jankoji and his uncle  Tukoji on seeing the thinning crowd at the Maratha centre rushed to help Bhausaheb .  Jankoji fought with the Afghans who had penetrated into Maratha centre but was taken as prisoner by Barkhurdar Khan secretly . Kashiraj met Jankoji secretly in a tent of Barkhurdar Khan , he was wounded with a ball and with a spear in the arm .Kahiraj was told by Moti Lal, the Diwan of Barkhrdar khan  that Jankoji would be released if a ransom of seven lakhs would be paid . Unfortunately these dealings  became known to Najib Khan who instigated Wazir Shah Wali to take this matter upto Abdali . Abdali then ordered his nasaqchis to search for Jankoji , Barkhurdar fearing some harmful consequences ordered his men to murder Jankoji and bury him privately . Later on few imposters of Jankoji claimed them self as the Sindhia chief but their all claims were proved wrong .