पानीपत १७६१ (मराठा साम्राज्य एवं पानीपत महायुद्ध इतिहास)

on such a day $^{16}$ Shamlu's account of Ahmad Shah's arrangement of his army also supplies a clue in correctly visualizing the battle array, which seems to differ a little from Kashiraj's account The last important point made clear from Shamlu's account is the fact of Ahmad Shah's apprehension in the first half of the day that "he would not be able to with stand" the impetuous Maratha attack led by Bhau on the Abdali centre, and his despatch of a person "to mount the ladies of his household on fleet steeds and keep them ready for any eventualities That shows that Ahmad Shah was not at all sure of certain victory as made out by later historians and com mentators Incidentally it shows Ahmad Shah's wisdom and precaution against any mishap Shamlu openly says that "by Ahmad Sultan's good for tune one Zamburak ball struck Vishwasrao on the forehead and another hit Bhau on the side," meaning thereby that good fortune and accidents had not a little to do with the Maratha defeat Shamlu also corroborates the fact of the Maratha army's sudden desertion from the battle field and the stampede which followed Shah Pasand Khan received the news of this central struggle through couriers (p 154), which again shows the distance separating the various divisions on the battle field Shah Pasand Khan had not possibly moved much from his original place in the battle array and charged Malharrao and Janakoji only after knowing the defeat of the centre Shamlu only shows that they fled, though Malharrao fled westwards and Janakoji eastwards Sham- lu's account of the Maratha camp after the battle when 30,000 matchlockmen were so struck with terror and consternation that they would not lift their hand to strike anybody who came amidst them for loot, is most illuminative of the psychic effect of defeat We think that the Marathas had exhausted their ammunition and hence were helpless to do anything They were only putting on a bold face to conceal their deficiency Shamlu also notes that a Maratha chief had been stationed in hindmost rank of their army and was later on seen fleeing towards the south side with six or seven thousand horse, and would not meet even "three individuals," but ran away pell-mell "at the mere firing of the guns and took another direction," shows that Bhau had not, as assumed by Sir Jadunath, left his camp unprotected in the last resort He had prop- erly arranged everything, but everything went astray as luck would have it Altogether we do not think of Shamlu as a worthless witness as Sir Jadunath seems to think, and have fully utilised his account for what it is worth As Shamlu was in the latter part of his life living in India, he had ample oppor- tunities of conversing with other survivors from the field and of refreshing his memory of the Panipat battle field That he had not lost interest in the af- fairs of the Marathas is clear from his mention of Shah Alam's return to Delhi in the company of the Marathas, and his anecdotes about Mahadaji Shinde's lameness and the skeletons of the Maratha horses at the caravanserai of Sone pat—incidents which he only relates 31 Sayyid Nuruddin Hasan Khan's Life of Najib-ud-daulah, transla- tion by Sir Jadunath SARKAR in the Islamic Culture, 1933, presents one view of the life of this unscrupulous and mischievous man in Indian history Najib $^{16}$ ELLIOT 8.152.