पानीपत १७६१ (मराठा साम्राज्य एवं पानीपत महायुद्ध इतिहास)

fantry through the gaps created by it and forsake him, going back on his promise Anyway, the possibility of saving the main centre with the most important personages on the Maratha side, passed away by one o'clock when the Wazir rallied his troops and began the fight again Now the battle entered its most desperate stage The fight was a close combat with sword, spear, lance, dagger and knife, both sides vehemently charging each other This went on for an hour or so, and then 'by Ahmad Sultan's good fortune" an arrow struck Vishwasrao, killing him outright He fell from his horse The news of Vishwasrao's death spread like wild fire throughout the Maratha camp in a very short time, and it had a very dis- astrous effect on the morale of the fighters thenceforward When Bhau heard of it, he also was very much affected He ordered that the corpse should be placed on an elephant so as to keep it safe from being trodden upon, and then ordered a last charge But by this time the news was beginning to have its effect Timid men, it seems, fell back and began to leave the field, saving them- selves as best as they could, and in a short time Bhau's flanks seem to have completely deserted Kashiraj writes that, all of a sudden, the field became clear, the Maratha army having vanished entirely, and none remained in the field except heaps of corpses here and there Besides the news of Vishwasrao's death, another cause which created panic in the Maratha camp was the behaviour of 2,000 Afghans, employed by the Marathas and working under Vitthal Shivdeo The sentiment and aim of the Marathas in this war under discussion is incidentally well illustrated thereby They were not fighting against the Muslims, not even the foreign Afghan Muslims, but against Ahmad Shah Abdali who wished to interfere in Indian politics and bring foreign pressure on the solution of Indian problems This existence of the Afghan troops serving under the Marathas is not men- tioned by Kashiraj at all But it is found in both the Ka fijat and Bakhar of Bhau in Marathi ⁵ᵃ It is also testified by Bhau's correspondence with Govind- pant Bundele ⁶ It is not clear to which of the Afghan tribes these dissatisfied, renegade troops belonged They may even be Indian Ruhelas Be that as it may, these troops, employed without forethought, became a source of great havoc at this critical juncture To distinguish them from the Afghans on Abdali's side, they had been given a badge of an ochre coloured headdress⁷ after the Maratha fashion They were standing behind Vitthal Shivdeo's troops to the left hand side of Bhau As soon as they heard of Vishwasrao's fall, they treacherously threw away their badges and began to loot the Maratha camp adjoining them, circulating the news of the Maratha defeat with exaggerated accounts The non combatants, consisting of two lakhs of persons, naturally thought that the Afghans had now penetrated the Maratha lines, and they took to their heels Vitthal Shivdeo also began to fall back as a result, in- stead of trying to check these Afghans in their nefarious activities Thus it was that Kashiraj found the Maratha side suddenly deserted and the field ⁵ᵃ Pp 23 and 143 respectively ⁶ RAJ 1.237, 242, 244 ⁷ Bhau Bakhar 143, Bhau Kaifiyat 23