पानीपत १७६१ (मराठा साम्राज्य एवं पानीपत महायुद्ध इतिहास)

creates a marsh and a bog To the south-east of Panipat such a condition prevails near the village of Goyenla At such places, ferrying by boats is neither possible nor necessary during the fair season, and people ford the river through knee-deep to chest deep water Where the edges are sharp and the river basin narrow—though nowhere would it be less than half a mile in breadth—the waters generally collect in one deep stream wh ch has then to be crossed by boat. This situation must ever be borne in mind when visualising Abdali's movements and changing camps The Maratha army had chosen for its camp the site to the north west and south west of Panipat The imperial road passed directly through the town of Panipat, and the Maratha army had completely taken possession of it on the northern side Though there is no mention of the canal in any original letter on Panipat, we believe that the famous Alı Mardan Khan Canal was still⁹ flowing along or at a short distance to the west of the Maratha camp, thus at once supplying a part of the camp with water, and also acting as a fosse to the Maratha camp on that side The Maratha camp seems to have spread over a long distance to the north of Panipat, if we are to believe in the traditional description supplied by the ballad singer o Siwa It provides the information that the 700 elephants of Bhau were kept at Gharonda, which is ten miles to the north of Panipat. Incidentally, it means that there was a sufficient water supply for these elephants in the vicinity, sug gesting that the place must be along a tank or canal ¹⁰ We have come to this conclusion from the fact that there was no complaint about the dearth of water, though there was a dearth of everything else Abdalı first came dı rectly opposite to Panipat with a view to meeting the Marathas and deciding the contest at one stroke But the Marathas, entrenching themselves strongly foiled Abdalı s plan of taking a quick decision by direct attack From their secure base they were able to defy hım in his camp and even to assume an of fensive Bhau marched out of his moat a little under the cover of his strongly placed guns, built temporary stands for his movable guns and from them opened fire on Abdalı s camp ¹¹ The shots reaching Abdalı s tents and killing his men and anımals, obliged hım to vacate it and pitch again at a distance of some five miles to the south east along the river bank near the villages of Behrampur, Bapaulı, Mırzapur and Goyen'a ¹² In making this retrograde movement, Abdali seems to have cared for the supply of water which was per haps completely stopped by the Marathas using up the canal water higher up above Panipat, as well as for the easy communication with the Doab by merely fording the river, so as to need no boats to fetch his supplies The Marathas had hit upon a well protected site, no doubt, with the canal marshes on the west side, the Panipat hill on the east side and a deep broad, dry moat on the front and facing side But once entrenched, they had no space to move one way or the other, while Abdalı remained free to change his camp as it suited hım At first his line had spread along the Dahad, Siwa, Risalu villages, but in a few days he receded and settled down along the Dimana village This first 9 See Appendix. "Was the Imperial Canal Flowing, etc" at the end of this chapter 10 BDCRI 41 3 11 SPD 2.131 12 Raj 3.224 Bhau Kaifiyat p 14, SPD 2.131, BDCRI 4.1 2-81 P F.-9