Dhoondia Wao

Dhoondia or Doondia Wao was an Indian opponent of the East India Company.

Life

Imprisoned at Seringapatam by Tipu Sultan on charges of plundering, he escaped during the storming of that town. He set himself up in the Bednore district of north-western Mysore and as early as July 1799 become sufficient threat to Company interests that a Company force was sent against him. However, by spring 1800 he had entitled himself King of the Two Worlds and gathered a new force - estimated by some at 40,000 - around Dharwa. In May 1800 colonel Arthur Wellesley was given his first independent command, and the following month he gathered a force made up of the 25th Light Dragoons, 73rd Foot, 77th Foot and native troops.

Sources

• The story of the Duke of Cambridge's own (Middlesex regiment), 1916 - public domain text