पानीपत १७६१ (मराठा साम्राज्य एवं पानीपत महायुद्ध इतिहास)

KARTAL, BURADI AND AFTER 25 gent to a long distance. Purushottam Mahadev Hingne¹⁰ who was present in the battle and received a bullet-wound on his thigh, writes that the action was a short and swift one, turning into a rout on account of the general's ac- cidental death in the very first round and the leader receiving a bullet-wound himself. No battle could be fought because the place was unsuitable on ac- count of the thick rushes, and because there was no intention either of offer- ing one till the arrival of Malharrao Holkar. In fact, the main part of the Maratha army was at a distance from the river-bank and not ready for a fight. The division under Dattaji was not sufficient to meet the combined forces of Abdali and Najib with any hope of success. That is why Dattaji had asked Govindpant Bundele with his small brigade to continue with him all along and invited help from Surajmal Jat, who was the only ally left to the Marathas in Northern India. The Wazir's contingent was not more than five thousand strong this time, and was not very helpful or wholeheartedly with the Marathas. The Durranis pursued Janakoji for twenty-five miles and then re- turned. Malharrao who had started on the 1st of January was still at a dis- tance of some one hundred and fifty miles from Delhi! Janakoji followed in the direction of Rewadi towards which place his camp had been despatched with Ruparam Kothari and Ramaji Anant Dabholkar, the Shinde's Diwan. It was impossible for Janakoji to ride a horse with his aching wound which had become worse by the first day's headlong flight. As the whole baggage had been looted by the pursuers or left behind as heavy, there was no palanquin with carriers in the whole army. A char-pai (cot) was taken as a substitute and Janakoji was carried on it by the soldiers themselves acting as carriers, leaving their horses in the charge of others. After covering thirty miles in this manner, with great trouble Janakoji reached his camp with the remnants of his broken army after midnight that day. Bhagirathibai, who seems to be a second wife of Dattaji, was in advanced pregnancy and went with the retreat- ing camp. As soon as Janakoji arrived in the camp, his wife Kashibai and Bhagirathibai came out of their tent to see what had happened. Coming to know of Dattaji's death and the defeat of his army, the whole camp was plunged into grief, and there was a great uproar and wailing. From the dramatic description of the Bakhar, Bhagirathibai who was not more than sixteen in age (having been married to Dattaji in March 1758) seems to have been a woman of exceptional self-composure and precociously wise. Instead of indulging in useless crying, she reprimanded others for not taking courage and acting as was necessary under the circumstances. She ordered a halt till the morning and stopped the march of the army so as to dress Janakoji's wounds and afford him rest after a run of twenty hours; but the camp which was terrified by what they had heard and afraid of being caught by the pursuing Durrani troops, started at once in the small hours of the morning in the direction of Rewadi. Disobeying her orders, the whole civil camp started, and as a consequence it became difficult for the leaders to continue the halt without the help of camp-followers. The officers in the Shinde contingent 10 Ibid. 2.114.