पानीपत १७६१ (मराठा साम्राज्य एवं पानीपत महायुद्ध इतिहास)

78 PANIPAT: 1761 by Sir Jadunath,⁴⁴ but at the end on 30th December,⁴⁵ and ended within three weeks Bhau had expected this raid into Shuja's territory to have the effect of diverting his forces from Panipat, but it could not have had that effect be- cause the campaign began very late, and ended simultaneously with the battle of Panipat In joining Abdali, Shuja had insured against any possible attack by Abdali and his allies, the Ruhelas, but had not neglected the defence of his dominion either Bhau's information on these points seems to be de- fective Miscalculation of enemy forces and over-confidence in his own troops led Bhau astray in the whole Panipat campaign From the dates of the let- ters giving the news of the campaign, it cannot be said that the rout of Barve's army took place after the news of the Panipat disaster had reached him, or was an outcome of it It seems, however, that Barve could not rally his dis- persed troops to another effort because, by that time, the news had definitely reached him

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I PANIPAT LOCALITY The Panipat locality did not prove favourable to the Marathas on ac- count of its being nearer to the home-land of the Ruhelas Panipat itself was —and is—practically a Muslim town and the areas to its east had a larger proportion of Muslim population when compared to the southern tracts of the United Provinces The road from Panipat to Kairana, Shamli and Muzaf- farnagar across the Jamuna farther on, leads to Sukartal, the stronghold of Najib Khan on the Ganges, and crossing the Ganges to the actual home-land of the Ruhelas, in a straight line In fact it looks as if any place south of Delhi would have been a better locality for the Marathas and worse for the Ruhelas Their food supply was assured with the least inconvenience to them Suraj- mal Jat's advice was correct on this point, because he knew the local human environment. Bhau's original plan of crossing over into the Doab in the vicinity of Agra was correct, but, on account of procrastination, it was spoiled, and the campaign was unnecessarily lengthened by the four months of the rainy season This had a disastrous effect from the financial, physical and moral point of view Shuja would not have gone over to Abdali had Bhau placed himself between Abdali and Shuja's dominions The miscarriage of that project was the first set-back in the Panipat campaign Shakir Khan Ansari's description¹ of the sad condition of Panipat under Maratha occupation must be true as far as it goes That the Marathas must have felled all the trees in the vicinity irrespective of any consideration for the fruit-trees in the gardens, appears true when we take into account the neces- sities of the Maratha camp, military as well as personal Many houses in the city were inevitably demolished by cannon-balls and their residents had to shift to other places The wonder is not that such things occurred, but that the Marathas had left the inhabitants comparatively free without imposing any conditions on them. Most of the inhabitants were allowed to remain where 44 Fall 2.313 45 Ait Sankirna Sahitya, Khanda 3, No 263 1 Fall 2.309