Remember, long long back I had asked Was the British Raj good for India?
That post got me an astonishing 64 comments. That makes me feel guilty about leaving that tantalising “January 14th, 1761” remark open ended. Now that the Prime Minister has caught the Advani disease, I suppose this is as good a time as any to examine what happened on January 14, 1761.
Yes, that date refers to the third battle of Panipat, one which the Marathas lost rather ignominously, and some would say, unnecessarily. There are two ways to look at the defeat. One way is the Narlikar way.
I once read a story by Jayant Narlikar (yes, the astrophysicist) in which a man gets literally transported into an alternative universe. The story is set in post independence India, but in that alternative universe, Bombay is still under British rule, while the rest of India never came under them. Bombay has been ruled by the British under a Hong Kong style arrangement which is set to expire in 1999. India is a parliamentary democracy, the Prime Minister stays in Pune and he is called the Peshwa. The Mughal Emperor is the titular head of state, who stays in Delhi.
How did this alternative reality come about? In Narlikar’s story, the non-turning point took place on January 14th, 1761. In the real world, the Marathas lost the battle of Panipat to Ahmed Shah Abdali. It was a shock defeat. No one expected it. Legend has it that the chain of events started when Vishwas Rao, the heir to the Peshwai, fell to a stray bullet.
In the alternative world, the bullet misses him by a whisker. The Marathas go on to win the battle. The Maratha confederacy does not go into a decline. The British do not manage to take over the entire country; the Marathas do. In the 19th century, united India experiences a democratic revolution and the rest is (alternative) history.
How plausible does this scenario look? Many of you seem to experience an “Aha!” moment when I mentioned January 14, 1761. So I am guessing that I don’t need to explain how much of a turning point it was. The Maratha Empire (or confederacy) was at its peak. The Maratha army was supremely confident of winning. So much so that they had taken their women and children along with them – they were on a pilgrimage. It never even occurred to them that there was any danger. But there was. The war was lost, and the inevitable happened -with depressing predictability.
So the Narlikar way is to say that if it weren’t for a minor accident, history would have been utterly different from what actually occurred.
There is another way. That however, involves writing the second part of a post I had written more than a year back. The was about India’s boundaries, Disunity and Institutions. Read it and wait for the second part. If you’ve waited more than a year, what is a day or two more?
Interesting Post – I have always wondered how world can / could change if a particular event did not happen. Something which helps me strenghten my beleif that if it was not for Kaikei Ramayana and the greatness of Lord Ram would not have happen (a theory we explored in of our dramas).
Thus we require evil to highlight the good.
Few lines from Destiny (Jagjit Singh’s Gazhal album):
Gulshan ki Faqat Phoolon se nahin
Kaanoton se bhi jeenat hoti hai
jeene ke liye is duniyaa mein
Gam ki bhi jaroorat hoti hai.
BTW – My thoughts on the admission of utility of the British Raj is similar to that of yours (in a way). If you care, you can visit the same at my blog (perma link) – http://amitnews.blogspot.com/2005/07/admit-it-you-morons.html
We can always think of something good out of any evil. For example, Hitler started the second world war and made western powers like britain and france weak, which resulted in freedoms for many third world nations. So, Hitler’s war has been good to third world countries.
The issue here cost. Millions of lives have been lost due to endless famines in the 190 years of british rule — caused by administrative failures of indifferent british. On a related note, although china is in a better position than india now, it has come at the cost of the life of 60 million chinese during the communist misrule in the past 50 years. I think india is better off than china because the cost paid by chinese to reach the current status is too much.
Supposing a dictator shows up and says he will make india a first world country in the next 50 years but it will come at the cost of lives of 50 million indians, would you accept it?
Amit, reminds me of Ray Bradbury’s story ” Sound of Thunder”, where the character goes back several thousand years in a time machine, accidentally tramples a buttefly, and returns to the present to find that that there is a different President in the White House. Stepping on the butterfly had triggered off a different chain of events.
Hi,
I have been searching for the story by Dr. Narlikar, but only could find your reference to it. Could you please tell me where I can find the story?
Regards
Ravi Ghooi
Whats the name of the book/compilation containing this story authored by Mr. Narlikar. I’ m greatly interested…can someone please mail me the name at hydroneil@hotmail.com
I agree that this is an interesting post an would like to learn more. Could you post you references for the historical accounts?
I think that the date on 14 jan 1761 is probably given less importance than it should be. The Maratha defeat at panipat apart from the material losses also lead to a permanent split of Maratha confederacy. This paved the way for British domination of India.
A key thing was that despite having superior artillery- the Marathas lost due to lack of discipline among the cavalry who charged pre-maturely at the Afghans.
This also begs the question why a frech trained and equipeed army failed to Match Abdali’s forces. Was it just the personal genius of Abdali or something more. Food for thought ??
read “Panipat 1761” by the late T S Shejwalkar, the most brilliant book on the event by some distance.
Shejwalkar did present a pro maratha view.The point is why the Hindus rajas of the north India did not support marathas.Raja Madho singh of jaipur was secret ally of Abdali.he passed on all information about Maratha army and the fact that each maratha soldier was acoompanied by five pilgrims, women children and old persons. He stopped Marathi harkaras going to Pune near Raghogarh.Raja of raghogarh was his main samant in central Indian area. Abdali himself wrote letters to Madho singh and Vijay singh Maharajas of Jaipur and Jodhpur thanking them for help without which he would have lost at Panipat. Bhau, great general he was, lacked the diplomacy, he threatened the jat King Suraj mal. Suraj Mal stayed aloof, but he was a true Hindu, he helped defeated maratha soldiers and families to reach Narmada.He fed them, gave them money, and provided medical treatment to Shamsher Bahadur , Baji Rao 1st’s son at Kumbher fort.The fact is that a lot of Rajputs, jats, Kumaoni Hindus of their own participated from the side of marathas,see Kashiraj Pandit’s description of panipat translated by Rawlinson.Had Marathas of 1761 were even 10% as diplomatic as Baji Rao 1st , they would have got support of all Hindu potentates of North India.Second and most important fact is the despicable inertia of Nana Sahib, then Peshwa. He knew for more than a year, that Abdali has been caught in the funnel and maratha army was acting as the stop cork and needed reinforcements. He tarried for one year. Maratha historians have been very kind to him, because of the tragic heroic figure he cut and his death at parbatia hill, due to a broken heart.Read Arthur Wellessely’s analysis of Maratha defeat submitted to East India company in 1791.Wellessely is known as Duke of Wellington, the greatest general world ever saw. He defeated Napolean at Waterloo. What he said, Had Bhau been having one more brigade of Gardis he would have whipped Abdali.Who strangulated of additional gardi brigade, obviously the Peshwa who dithered. For information of all concerned when Hyderali surrounded St George in Madras. The army of Bengal marched from Calcutta to Madras in 60 days flat. Peshwa had the grand army in Pune and Bhau was facing Abdali in Panipat the ratio in armies was 1:2 in favour of Abdali.One’s heart goes out to Bhau, a great soldier in the mould of Porus,Maharana Pratap and Shivaji, who knew the odds but almost carried the day but a chance bullet hitting Vishwas Rao.Abdali had a charmed life, he carried wound on his face inflicted by Gardi infantry and died of that cancer. Generals must be lucky, Abdali had the numbers and was lucky to escape Gardi bullet.But every Indian feels proud of the body guards of Bhau who carried his unconscious body all the way to Kurukshetra to parvatibai his wife. Bhau died on 18th January 1761 and was cremated in Kurukshetra. Abdali could never lay his hands on his body. The three heroes of Panipat were Bhau who charged Afghans, and almost routed them, Ibrahim Khan Gardi who single handedly held at bay more than 120,000 muslim soldiers, and the maratha soldiers who did not had any food for number of days but fought like tigers.Gardi’s torture and subsequent murder by Afghans show the mean streak Abdali had. Panipat 1761 was not failure of Maratha arms and valour, it was the failure of maratha diplomacy and inertia of Peshwa’s court. Bhau, Gardi , and the flower of Maratha soldiery won at Panipat.Read Kashiraj pandit the mist and the charge of maratha cavalary which almost carried the day. Abdali thanked Allah and said “you gave me victory out of sure defeat”.
Incidentally Wellessely’s recommendations emanating out of his report on Panipat were used by British army in Crimea and Waterloo. Even after panipat, Nana Fadnawis ,whenever Mahadji scidia wanted help from Peshwa, only asked for accounts of monies already advanced, what a “Ghasiram”
My heart goes for the great Maratha soldiers and the Maratha generals who fought at Panipat.
Wish , Hindus had unity and fought against these Islamic tyrants. Read, pages and pages on the third battle of Panipat and felt bad about the prisoners taken by Ahmed Shah Abdali. Wish Maratha generals had a game plan and implemented it without erring out. They underestimated the unity of Jihadis and Muslim kings.
Can anyone describe how exactly was fought the first and second battle of panipat.
Jayant Naralikar’s book referred here is a marathi book, “Yakshanchi Denagi”. The name of the story is “Gangadharpantanche Panipat”
ravikiran……i need to protest ur use of the word ingnominiously; i hope u know wat tat word means???? coz if u knew and u knew ur history u wud not use tat word. Though the marathas lost, afghans too lost close to 30,000 troops , some of their seasoned n best troops and they were considerably weakened. It was a fighting effort by the GREAT SADASHIV RAO BHAU who faced an army almost twide as large as his ( including afghan reserves). Good diplomacy or bad diplomacy the fact is the marathas wit their base in pune , were fighting the invaders alone in panipat, when others were shitting in their pants. ” CHATTRAPATI SHIVAJI MAHARAJ KI JAI’ HINDUSTAN ZINDABAD. JAIHIND.
Plz tell me the name of book written by Mr. Jayant Narlikar…..my mail id violin_melody7@yahoo.com
Though my question may not be related directly to this battle, I am searching how and when the Rao,s started to exist in Punjab. I have been sarching my family tree, been to Haridwar but still I am unable to get the answer. Is Rao name has any thing to do with Marathas?????
Your answer will help me to find out some answers.
Never say Bhau saheb was not diplomatic, rather bhau was the most wise diplomatic person of that time, even Nabab of Ayodhya Sujauddaula praised Bhau for his diplomatic steps. Surjamal jaat was fired by Bhau that is because, after capturing delhi and red fort, surjamal jaat wanted to sit on badshahi, and bhau’s stand was no one will sit their, even he gave vishwasrao the VAZIRi of delhi, instead of giving badshihi, as he was aware of the fact that mughal shahi is now the indian state, and whole of north people, which were the mixture hindus and muslims were now use to and somewhat were having soft corner for badshahi, so, that bhau will get help from both the communities of north. But surjamal jaat was very greedy, so bhau had to do this. Read ‘PANIPAT’ by Vishwas Patil for this, he has included some old maps, and some old letters in this book.
Secondly this is very wrong to say about NANA PHADANWIS. You are stating very wrong comments about him. GHASHIRAAM KOTWAAL is just a faars created by Vijay tendulkar, and reason is just a anti brahminism. U should read some other books too instead of rlying on single book.
m not denying the fact that he was greedy about women, but for that he never compromised with his duties. Its very wrong saying that he used to ask for money, whenever mahadaji shinde needed help.
The fact was, malhar rao holkar and shind and other jenerals use to ask for any jahagiri or money before hepling peshwa, and they never use to complete or give money, from chauthai, which was the part of maratha central goverment,i.e. peshwa at that time. so, for he had to ask for money for government, otherwise peshwa and phadanis will pay to their soldiers, HUJURAAT. Infact, he was the reason ,british got very irritated after Madhavrao peshwa’s death also, why they couldn win or split maratha empire. He was the one whose diplomacy astonished even british empire, because of which british never got able to win pune and spread outside mumbai. And ofcourse he got really good help from mahadji shinde as well as from other maratha jenerals,like patwardhan, phdke, gokhale, alibahaddar, jadhav , pawar and some more. And he was the one who implemented the BARBHAI government, who administered the maratha empire, as well as he well nurtured sawai madhavrao peshawe, but it was his unfortune that he died at very young age, 20.
Perhaps it does Malvinder. Check these links
1. Haryana’s Rode community reunites with Marathas today – Anita Katyal
http://www.tribuneindia.com/2005/20051127/haryana.htm#7
2.Descendants of Maratha Prisoners of War (1761)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Descendants_of_Maratha_Prisoners_of_War_(1761)
malvinder rao
May 10, 2009 at 9:38 pm | Permalink
Though my question may not be related directly to this battle, I am searching how and when the Rao,s started to exist in Punjab. I have been sarching my family tree, been to Haridwar but still I am unable to get the answer. Is Rao name has any thing to do with Marathas?????
Your answer will help me to find out some answers.
The lofy goal of establishing Hindu Empire and glory throughout Bharatvarsha as set out by Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj was practiced by Great Bajirao I who ruled from 1720 to1740 (death). Subsequent Peshwas relinquished this goal of Chhatrapati and battled merely to exact Chauthai Vasuli from the captured territory.
Abdali was invited by Najeeb Rohilla who aspired to be Vazir of titular Badshah. Marathas fought Abdali not to displace Badshah & establish their Rule but to strenghten him by serving under Badshah as his Vazir. What a travesty and greed to accumulate wealth ,Peshawas thus fought Abdali for no cause – forgetting Chhatrapati s ideal and they were rightly denied help by hindu Jat and Rajput rulers in the north. Soon after Abdali left making Najeeb Vazir Maratahs captured Delhi in 1771 and enthroaned the then Badshah who was in exile and languishing as British Pensioner 26 Lakhs p a ). Alas !!!
Loved what rajendra asthana wrote. You know, I am so impressed that you guys are writing about what I have so loved and been proud of all my life. So if anyone can point me to a Translation (into English) of Jayant Narlikar’s work, I’d like it. Also, if anyone can point me to a translations of Vishwas Patil’s Panipat and Ranjit Desai’s Swami, I’d so appreciate it.
Thanks,
Manjula
marathas lost the battle due to lack of food. Maratha soldiers were fighting just by driking litres n litres of water.
the story by jayant narlikar is in NCERT 11th english core text book(or supp. reader not sure). Name is The Adventure.
One more thing ‘I WILL LOVE TO LIVE IN THAT WORLD’
History Of Panipat-History Of Panipat:- Panipat historic name is Panduprastha.Panipat city was founded by the Pandava brother during the time of Mahabharata. Panipat is the one historical city in India where three big & historical wares took place. Panipat is situated 85 km from Delhi.Panipat was a part of district Karnal until 31 Oct. 1989.
hello gentlemen,
read al your comments. sympathise with marathas. I wish to make few comments.
1) Many of you have suggested that marathas wanted to establish hindu rule all India. well to establish that, one has to treat their fellow hindu rulers with dignity and statesmanship. If you follow the rise of marathas, which can traced to about 1650. At all times they were abrasive in dealing with their fellow hindu rajas, and maharajas. Arrogance, contempt, and intolerant of other languages.
The notion they fought for hindu india is debatable. Please study how fellow hindu rulers in south india felt about marathas.
2) Marathas were the ones who allowed muslim rule to consolidate in the deccan, they were the ones who rose to high positions in the muslim kingdoms of bijapur, ahmednagar, berar and bidar.
Beginning from the surrender of the cowardly yadav ruler of devagiri raja ramchandra deva AROUND 1295, they served the muslim mastaers rather devoutly and with great enthusiasm. If you would narrow minded insular marathis care to study the history of south after 1300 AD, the last great hindu empire was VIJAYANAGAR EMPIRE, ruled by TELUGUS. THat was truly an hindu rashtra which gave refure to all hindus suffering from islamic onslaught all over india.
3) Marathas were the ones who supported the muslim overlords actively in their fight with VIJAYANAGARA RAYAS.
4) They selfish marathas refused to overthrow their allegiance to bijapur and ahmednagar sultans.
5) AROUND 1550’S one of the greates hindu warriors ARAVIDU RAMA RAJA DEFEATED AHMEDNAGAR AND BIJAPUR SULTANS MORE THAT A DOZEN TIMES, INFACT IN 1562 RAMA RAJA INVADED AHMEDNAGAR AND OVERTHREW BURHAN NIZAM SHAH, DROVE HIM TO JUNAGADH IN GUJARAT. HE MERCILESSLY DESTROYED THE MOSQUES BUILT OVER TEMPLES AND REBUILT THE TEMPLES, OCCUPIED THE CITY FOR SIX MONTHS. TIME ENOUGH FOR THE MARATHA S TO OVERTHroW THE MUSLIM RULER.
GUESS WHATthe cowardly selfish maratha rajas refused to do so! and rama raja vacated the city, went back to hampi.
6) in the decisive battle at TALIKOTA ON JANUARY 23 1565, DO YOU KNOW WHO WAS THE BULK OF AHMEDNAGAR AND BIJAPUR INFANTRY? THE GREAT MARATHAS (COWARDS)
7) AFTER RAMA RAJA WAS BETRAYED BY HIS ISLAMIC CONTINGENT, AND BEHEADED, HIS HEAD WAS TAKEN TO AHMEDNAGAR AND IT WAS HUNG FOR ALMOST 280 YEARS. DISPLAYED ANNUALLY TO PUBLIC. WHY AS I SAYING THIS WELL, EVEN AFTER AHMEDNAGAR FORT PASSED ONTO THE MARATHAS NOT ONE MARATHI B@@@@@D SHOWED ANY RESPECT TO GREAT WARRIOR . NOT EVEN ENSURED A PROPER BURIAL. IT WAS DONE BY THE BRITISH.
8) MANY MARATHAS ACTIVELY TOOK PART IN THE LOOTING OF VIJAYANAGAR CITIES, INFACT SHIVAJI’S FATHER BHONSLE WAS IN THE SERVICE OF THE MUSLIM RULER OF BIJAPUR, WHO REFUSED TO JOIN HANDS WITH VIJAYANAGAR EMPEROR VENKATA DEVA RAYA WHEN HE RULED FROM CHANDRAGIRI TO ESTABLISH HINDU RULE.
9) THIS IS A BRIEF EXAMPLE OF THE GREAT MARATHA SELFISHNESS, COWARDLYNESS, ARROGANCE AND HAUGHTY PRIDE.
10) HISTORY WAS LAUGHING AT MARATHAS IN 1761 AT PANIPAT.
11) PLEASE STUDY HISTORY IN THOUROUGHLY THEN YOU WILL REALISE THE CAUSES FOR THE FALL OF THE MARATHAS.
i DO NOT THINK MUCH HIGHLY OF MARATHAS BY THE WAY. EVEN IF THEY HAD WON AT PANIPAT THEY STILL WHOULD HAVE BEATEN BY THE BRITISH.
WILL TALK ABOUT MORE LATER ON GENTLEMEN
LONELY MARATHAS
1) MARATHAS HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH GREAT VIJAYNAGAR EMPIRE. IT WENT DOWN BECAUSE OF IT’S OWN BAD POLITICS.
2) ALL FIVE MUSLIMS UNITED TOGETHER TO DEFEAT RAJA RAM MOHAN RAY – THE THEN ONLY HINDU KING.
3) UNITED MUSLIM RULERS OVERPOWERED THE ARMY OF RAJA RAM. IT WAS NOT WISE TO FIGHT FACE TO FACE. HE INSTEAD SHOULD HAVE DONE ” GANIMI KAVA” WHICH RAJA SHIVAJI DID AT THE TIME OF HIS RULE.
4) AS FAR AS 14 JANUARY 1761- THIRD WAR OF PANIPAT IS CONCERN. MARATHAS WERE BEING LEFT ALONE. NEITHER ANY HINDU RULER OR LOCAL MUSLIM RULER SUPPORTED THEM. AND THIS IS ALSO BECAUSE OF THEIR WRONG TACTICS.
5) MANY THINGS WENT AGAINST THEM JUST BEFORE THE REAL BATTLE.
6) AND FINALY FORTUNE FAVOURS THE BRAVE. AND THAT TIME MOHD. ABDALI WAS THE REAL BRAVE. HE MADE SOME BRAVE MOVES.
7) BUT FINALY WE MUST SAY THE GREAT MARATHAS WERE THE REAL RULERS OF INDIA AND HAVE ACHIEVED WHAT NO OTHER HINDU KINGDOM WAS ACHIEVED.
narayan , you might be right but you cannot say that marathas did not supported hindus, one more thing that we can not forget the muslim people like ibrahim gardi, his brother nd samsher who fought till the last breath ….. about mallhar holkar (didnt like to say rao) who run away withought fighting on battle field…
PREKKSHA .. madam learn to cooke at home … unwanted people like womens , childrens and the old age was the unneccessory burden on the maratha army because of which we lost the war..
narayan , you might be right but you cannot say that marathas did not supported hindus, one more thing that we can not forget the muslim people like ibrahim gardi, his brother nd samsher who fought till the last breath ….. about mallhar holkar (didnt like to say rao) who run away withought fighting on battle field… I think he had some settlement with nazib khan .. so he did not fought with him…
PREKKSHA .. madam learn to cooke at home … unwanted people like womens , childrens and the old age was the unneccessory burden on the maratha army because of which we lost the war..
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Solstice-at-Panipat/156055737780836?sk=wall#!/pages/Solstice-at-Panipat/156055737780836?sk=info
This book gives an authentic account of the campaign of Panipat of 1761.
ABDALI WAS NOT A WAR HERO BECAUSE HE WAS SUPPORTED BY INDIAN MUSLIM RULERS AND HE WAS DEFEATED BUT THE MARATHAS HAVE NO UNITY IN BETWEEN THEM AND HE WAS GOING TO RUN FROM THE WAR BUT THE MARATHAS SURPRISINGLY GIVE HIM VICTORY AT THE WAR.
IF THE MUSLIM RULERS HAVE NOT SUPPORTED HIM HE WAS A SHIT OF PAPER AND WOULD BE DEFEATED
THE WIKIPEDIA ENCYCLOPEDIA HAVE ANY RECOGNITION THAT WHAT WAS HAPPENED THAT TIME WHAT IS THE AUTHENTICITY OF THAT STORY OF 1761 GIVEN IN WIKIPEDIA ENCYCLOPEDIA
IF THE MARATHAS LOST AT THE PANIPAT DUE TO THE SADASHIV BHAU MADE NO FRIENDS WITH THE RAJPUTS JATS SIKHS AND OTHER HINDU RAJAS AND WHY ABDALI HAD NOT ATTACK RAJPUTS OR JATS OR ANY HINDU RULERS HE WAS AFRAID OF BEING HEADED OF .
Yeah,i also read the story.it really gets us thinking………..is it possible????
Dont say Abdali won the battle
A king which wins a battle earns land, money, and rules the place
Abdali suffered huge losses .before panipat he came several times to loot delhi and punjab
after the battle he never turned to india
If he could have really won again india will be under muslim rule
Marathas captured the lost area again after Mahadji scindia established a great army. The next Peshwa Madhav rao was a great administrator. as grant duff has said “..the plains of pamipat were not as fatal as the death of this excellent peshwa in young age”
Its a matter of great pride that when afghans attacked india , The great marathas went 1500 miles from their home land to protect india . with no food for 15 Days fought like a tiger
Abdali gave orders to his sardars to take back his begums to afghanistan.
The bullet that hit vishwas rao and the unneccesary hurry by the troos of damaji gaikwad and vinchurkar changed the course of history
only marathas had the courage to fight when others were shitting in their pants !
Marathas lost panipat because of these reasons:
1. Marathas have taken lot of pilgrims with them which may be around 1 lakh people. It created shortage of food.
2. The generals like Damaji Gaikwad and Vitthal Vinchurkar who did not act according to plan and broken the rules of Golayche ladaye.
3. The harsh winter of the north had bad effect on Marathas who came from west which do not have such weather.
4. The leather jackets which afgans wore becuase of which marathas sword stricks used to slip and inflict very less damage.
5. Running away from battle by Malharrao Holkar.
6. Lack of allies in North.
7. Lack of light cannons as Marathas had heavy cannons and becuase of this Afgans keep changing their positions to escape the cannon strikes.
8. The crossing of Yamuna river by Abdali in 3 days.
9. The killing of Vishwasrao by bullet becuase of which bhau came down from his elephant to see him and soldiers thought that bhau has also died and they are leaderless.
10. The presence of afgans prisoners who were captured from Battle of Kunjpura. They were brainwashed to fight from Maratha side. But once they came to know that Marathas are lossing the battle they attacked and rebelled inside the marathas camps.
11. The phomena called ” Dakshiniswar” becuase of which sun rays directly falls in Marathas eyes and not to mention the fouls smell of carcases.
12. The non-arrival of contingent from Pune send by Nanasaheb to help Marathas.
13. Killing of Govindpant Bundele as he was bringing with him stacks of foodgrains and money to help Marathas. The treasure was looted by Afgans.
From what I have read and thought about the third battle of Panipat,My conclusion is Marathas were too inflexible in their battle plans.It seems they perceived that there was no other way other than to offer battle in that particular manner the battle sequence unfolded.They were too much committed.The large civilian contingent along with the Maratha army itself proves something went wrong in their battle plans.It seems Sadashiv Rao saheb did not have proper control on his commanders on that particular day and there was no alternate plan if plan A failed.May be hunger ate into their strategy.Where as Ahmed sha was more flexible, was non committed and waited with his reserves to strike at the opportune moment.His strategy was better and was more flexible.
But what surprises me the most is the fact that there was only a few lines in the Social Studies text which I studied in my seventh class some 35 years ago regarding this battle.From what I can recollect it went like this.
The whole day the Maratha Cavalry charged against the Afghan forces under Ahmed sha Abdali.but the Afghan forces refused to crack .By evening Marathas were defeated and they started fleeing.Nothing was mentioned of those heroes the pearls, nothing was mentioned about them!
panipat by vishvas patil….awesome novel
thank you, manoj for the information of book
Spot on with this write-up, I seriously believe that this web site
needs far more attention. I’ll probably be back again to read more, thanks for the info!
Those who r judging all Muslims as Abdali…..sorry bt my great great grand father was also a muslim …I am a muslim I love India ….my great great grandfather was Ibrahim Khan Gardi…..and he fought for Marathas til his last breath……I am proud of him……All r not same …..exceptions r for Hindus as well……..
narayan for u……
Its a matter of great pride that when afghans attacked india , The great marathas went 1500 miles from their home land to protect india . with no food for 15 Days fought like a tiger
Abdali gave orders to his sardars to take back his begums to afghanistan.
The bullet that hit vishwas rao and the unneccesary hurry by the troos of damaji gaikwad and vinchurkar changed the course of history
only marathas had the courage to fight when others were shitting in their pants !
jay maharashtra
I feel the most guilty members of Panipat are
1) Malhar holkar who ran away before the start of battle leaving scindia alone(there was rivalry between scindia and holkar).
2) Vinchurkar and Gaikwad thinking the battle wil be single handedly won by IbrahimKhan Gardi and we will be just spectators.
The real salutatuon to Bhau, Ibrahim Khan, Jankoji and Hujurat of Peshwa who faught untill end.