At Assaye in 1803, Arthur Wellesley's army defeated the combined forces of which Maratha houses?

The Battle of Assaye was fought during the Second Anglo-Maratha War against forces representing Daulat Rao Scindia and the Bhonsle ruler of Nagpur. Here Scindia and Bhonsle fits the complete historical coordinates supplied by “At Assaye in 1803, Arthur Wellesley's army defeated the combined forces of which Maratha houses?”—the relevant actor, moment and outcome must all agree. This event belongs to the expansion of Company power, when warfare, alliances and revenue rights converted a trading corporation into a territorial authority; Treaties with similar names or battles from the same war should be distinguished by date, belligerents and political consequence, a distinction applied here to Scindia and Bhonsle. A comparison with Holkar and Gaekwad, Peshwa and Holkar and Gaekwad and Peshwa shows why period familiarity alone is insufficient; the exact function or outcome determines the choice. Consulting the cited chapter around this episode clarifies the sequence before and after Scindia and Bhonsle; that surrounding sequence is also the best defence against attractive distractors. On that evidence, the supported choice is Scindia and Bhonsle. The revised item avoids claiming more than the source establishes and distinguishes participation, leadership, foundation, ratification and later reorganisation where those roles differ. The cited source should be consulted with the surrounding chapter because historical facts gain meaning from chronology and causation, not from isolated memorisation.