'History of the Province of Gohud' [‎1v] (2/72)

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of Hindostan. In 1767, this Ranojee Scindiah invaded the
territory of Gohud, and laid siege to the celebrated Fort of
Gwalior. Failing, after a long delay, to take the fort, Scindiah
made terms with the ruling chief, Maha Rana Chutter Puth,
and agreed to withdraw his army and return to the Deccan,
on the payment of three lakhs One lakh is equal to one hundred thousand rupees of rupees Indian silver coin also widely used in the Persian Gulf. . This sum, however,
did not secure immunity from the rapacity of the Mahrattas
for any lengthened period, for in 1777, Scindiah, for the
second time, entered the Gohud territory with his forces, and
after a severe struggle got possession of the important forts
belonging to the Maha Rana of Gwalior and Lohar. About
this time the increasing power and encroachments of the
Mahrattas caused serious alarm to the British Government
in Calcutta, which was increased by an intimation from
Scindiah, that he was meditating an advance with his
armies into Bengal to levy from the British the " chouth"
which he asserted was due by them to the Mahrattas for
the provinces of Bengal and Behar. At this conjuncture
the Governor-General, Warren Hastings, with his Council,
deemed it expedient, with the view of opposing a barrier
to the further progress of the Mahrattas, to form a league
for mutual defence with the Jat and Rajpoot States of Hin
dostan. With this view the Governor-General made over
tures to the most influential and powerful among the chiefs,
the Maha Rana of Gohud. Maha Rana Chutter Puth
entered with great cordiality into the views of the Governor-
General, and in consequence the following treaty of mutual
defence and alliance was concluded between the parties on
the 2d December 1779.
Teeaty between the Company and Maha Rajah
Luckendar Behauder, Rana of Gohud.
, Articles of Agreement made and concluded at Fort-
William, in Bengal, between the Honourable the Gover-
affairs of the Honourable