The Pindari bands appear to have come into existence during the wars
of the late Muhammadan dynasties in the Deccan, and in the latter part
of the seventeenth century they attached themselves to the Marathas in
their revolt against Aurangzeb. The first mention of the name occurs
at this time. During and after the Maratha wars many of the Pindari
leaders obtained grants in Central India from Sindhia and Holkar,
and were divided into two parties owing a nominal allegiance to these
princes and designated as the Sindhia Shahi and Holkar Shahi. In the
period of chaos which reigned at this time outside British territories
their raids in all directions attended by the most savage atrocities
became more and more intolerable. These outrages extended from
Bundelkhand to Cuddapah south of Madras and from Orissa to Gujarat.
When attached to the Maratha armies, Malcolm states, the Pindaris
always camped separately and were not permitted to plunder in the
Maratha territories; they were given an allowance averaging four
annas each a day, and further supported themselves by employing
their small horses and bullocks in carrying grain, forage and wood,
for which articles the Pindari bazar was the great mart. When let
loose to pillage, which was always the case some days before the
army entered an enemy's country, all allowances stopped; no restraint
whatever was put upon these freebooters till the campaign was over,
when the Maratha commander, if he had the power, generally seized
the Pindari chiefs or surrounded their camps and forced them to yield
up the greater part of their booty. A knowledge of this practice led
the Pindaris to redouble their excesses, that they might be able to
satisfy without ruin the expected rapacity of their employers.
In 1794, Grant-Duff writes, Sindhia assigned some lands to the
Pindaris near the banks of the Nerbudda, which they soon extended
by conquests from the Grassias or original independent landholders
in their neighbourhood. Their principal leaders at that time were
two brothers named Hiru and Burun, who are said to have been put
to death for their aggressions on the territory of Sindhia and
of Raghuji Bhonsla. The sons of Hiru and Burun became Pindari
chiefs; but Karim Khan, a Pindara who had acquired great booty
at the plunder of the Nizam's troops after the battle of Hurdla,
and was distinguished by superior cunning and enterprise, was the
principal leader of this refuse of the Maratha armies. Karim got the
district of Shujahalpur from Umar Khan which, with some additions,
was afterwards confirmed to him by Sindhia. During the war of 1803
and the subsequent disturbed state of the country Karim contrived to
obtain possession of several districts in Malwa belonging to Sindhia's
jagirdars; and his land revenue at one time is said to have amounted
to fifteen lakhs of rupees a year. He also wrested some territory from
the Nawab of Bhopal on which he built a fort as a place of security
for his family and of deposit for his plunder. Karim was originally a
Sindhia Shahi, but like most of the Pindaris, except about 5000 of the
Holkar Shahis who remained faithful, he changed sides or plundered
his master whenever it suited his convenience, which was as often
as he found an opportunity. Sindhia, jealous of his encroachments,
on pretence of lending him some gems inveigled him to an interview,
made him prisoner, plundered his camp, recovered the usurped districts
and lodged Karim in the fort of Gwalior.
A number of leaders started up after the confinement of Karim,
of whom Chitu, Dost Muhammad, Namdar Khan and Sheikh Dullah became
the most conspicuous. They associated themselves with Amir Khan in
1809 during his expedition to Berar; and in 1810, when Karim Khan
purchased his release from Gwalior, they assembled under that leader
a body of 25,000 horse and some battalions of newly raised infantry
with which they again proposed to invade Berar; but Chitu, always
jealous of Karim's ascendency, was detached by Raghuji Bhonsla from
the alliance, and afterwards co-operated with Sindhia in attacking
him; Karim was in consequence driven to seek an asylum with his old
patron Amir Khan, but by the influence of Sindhia Amir Khan kept him
in a state of confinement until 1816.
When the Marathas ceased to spread themselves over India, the Pindaris
who had attended their armies were obliged to plunder the territories
of their former protectors for subsistence. To the unemployed soldiery
of India, particularly to the Muhammadans, the life of a Pindara had
many allurements; but the Maratha horsemen who possessed hereditary
rights or had any pretensions to respectability did not readily join
them. One of the above leaders, Sheikh Dullah or Abdullah, apparently
became a dacoit after the Pindaris had been dispersed, and he is
still remembered in Hoshangabad and Nimar in the following saying:
Niche zamin aur upar Allah,
Aur bich men phiren Sheikh Dullah,
or 'God is above and the earth beneath, and Sheikh Dullah ranges at
his will between.'