पानीपत १७६१ (मराठा साम्राज्य एवं पानीपत महायुद्ध इतिहास)

90 PANIPAT 1761 the dispersion of his troops from the right flank to the centre As a precau- tionary measure he asked his zenana to mount on horses and camels so as to be ready to run away in case of emergency At the same time he took the stern measure of beating back his run away troops who had now crowded themselves in the Afghan camp He called in his nasaqchs (military provosts) and ordered 500 of them to go to his camp and striking with their axes all the camp followers great and small, drive them back to the battle field caring for nothing else By this method he brought within an hour 8,000 armed men, mostly foot soldiers to fill in the gap created at the back of the trans Ganges Ruhelas The remaining 1,500 military provosts were sent to the battle field with orders to kill every man who ran away from the battle and refuse to return to the charge This order they executed so effectually that after killing a few they compelled the rest to stand in battle array again behind the Grand Wazir's line Ahmad Shah sent some 4,000 fresh troops to reinforce the Wazir from his retinue Thus, within an hour, by one o'clock, 10,000 horsemen stood ready behind the Wazir to charge again, while on the right hand side of the Afghan line 8,000 soldiers supported the Par Ruhelas in their efforts to stop the march of Ibrahim Khan's successful Gardi troops Let us now take stock of the military position at noon At the very beginning the Maratha cavalry under Vitthal Shivdeo and Yashwantrao Pawar had acted impetuously and gone beyond their orders, attacking the Ruhelas before Ibrahim Khan had created a gap in their ranks by the fire of his artillery and the attack of his musketry The result was they had to run back exhausted and stand behind the chained heavy artillery to escape an attack from the enemy Thus their fighting power was neutralized when it was most necessary to take advantage of the gap created by Ibrahim Khan Gardi two hours later Damaji Gaikawad, on the other hand, had succeeded, for the time being, in warding off the flank attack on Ibrahim Khan's troops by Barkhurdar Khan and Amir Beg, by supporting the two Gardi corps left by Ibrahim Khan on his left side In the centre, Shah Wali Khan's quick advance had obliged Bhau to break the line of the marching square and advance to meet the Wazir, with what result we have already seen Twelve noon to one o'clock was the most crucial period of the battle Had the beaten horsemen under Vitthal Shivdeo, Yashwantrao Pawar and Damaji Gaikawad courageously rushed out and marched past the chained guns in front of them to support Ibrahim Khan, it is very likely they would have succeeded in marching past the Ruhela line with the help of the Gardi troops, and outflanked them But they do not seem to have done anything of the kind Perhaps there was a distance of one mile or so intervening by now between the advanced corps of Ibrahim Khan and the heavy artillery behind which their troops stood, with the result that no correct news of the condition at the front was available to them For the time being they stood safe behind the chained guns, Barkhurdar Khan and Amir Beg finding it impossible to assail them Perhaps these Persian Mughals did not advance from their flanking position, with a view to cut off the ad- vancing Marathas if they tried to create a breach on that side Thus it so happened that the Maratha troops reaped no tactical advantage from the an-