पानीपत १७६१ (मराठा साम्राज्य एवं पानीपत महायुद्ध इतिहास)

10 PANIPAT 1761 turned to Delhi after appointing Sadik Beg, a deputy of Adina Beg, as the chief revenue collector in the regions around Sarhind There was an idea of appointing Naro Shankar¹³ in place of Sabaji Shinde, but it never materialized After camping at Bahlulpur and Machhiwada on the south bank of the Satlaj for a month or so, the Shindes returned with Naro Shankar Their return this time was also due like the return of Raghoba in the previous year, to the Peshwas advice cum orders The Peshwa was overburdened with debts He was writing letter after letter to Dattaji Shinde to take up some new venture which would fill the Peshwas treasury and add a new province to the Maratha dominions Lahore Allahabad Benares, Patna and lastly Bengal were to be taken over one after the other This meant dealing with Najib Khan, Shuja- ud daulah Ghazi ud din the Prince Ali Gauhar and last but not least, the English Sitting at ease in his cosy citadel in Poona and ruminating over the thoughts of conquest over the whole of India was all right as a chamber pas time but the Peshwa never seems to have realized the actual difficulties in that path That a man of Ahmad Shah's type would take the ousting of his son from the Panjab lying down was obviously impossible, still, the Peshwa in sisted on the Shindes returning to Delhi instead of proceeding to Attock and holding that line against all attacks The Marathas remained in the Panjab only for a brief period, from April 1758 to October 1759 They were, constitutionally, acting as agents of the Mughal Emperor and were normally trying to make use of the local ma chinery of government in carrying on the administration and collecting the revenues They had to dismiss the Afghan nominees, no doubt, but in their place they generally appointed the Mughals Whether the Marathas had acted wisely in taking upon themselves such a hazardous adventure as trying to conquer the Panjab and hold it out against such an exceptional man as Abdali must be judged by the result, which is history A thoughtful historian will always consider that it was a wrong step for the Peshwas to cross the Narmada without first taking possession of the south up to Rameshvaram After having crossed that river, they should have at least stopped at the Chambal and first secured the overwhelmingly Hindu provinces of Allahabad and Oudh which were just adjoining to the north, instead of touching the hornet's nest at Delhi The Peshwa thought of first grasping the reins of the central govern ment at Delhi and thus getting legal control over the whole empire That it was a wrong step, impossible of fulfilment on account of the selfish, unpatriotic and pusillanimous attitude of the ruling Muslims is proved at the bar of his tory and no amount of casuistry can take away the blame from the Marathas for the fundamental mistake of choosing the wrong path From the military point of view, it was no wise step for the Marathas to lengthen their line of communication by five hundred miles at one stretch Al ready the distance of one thousand miles from Poona to Ambala was long enough for them to defend successfully To step beyond Sarhind was almost a mad man's behaviour The climate of the regions, with its extremes of heat and cold, was not very propitious and was well nigh beyond the endurance ¹³ SPD 2.100