पानीपत १७६१ (मराठा साम्राज्य एवं पानीपत महायुद्ध इतिहास)

KUNJPURA 59 took the warning lightly and slept soundly on the plains, allowing their horses to roam in the green fields for grazing, and the unexpected attack came as forewarned. Shah Pasand Khan, one of Abdali's best captains of cavalry, suddenly pounced upon the sleeping party. Shinde's men had kept a picket on a tall tree watching for the danger. As soon as clouds of dust were seen at a distance the picket came down and cried aloud of the danger. Shinde's men who were on guard at once took to their horses and ran away.²²· Baji Hari's party found it impossible to get hold of their horses in the grazing field and it was some time before they could get them. In the meanwhile, men of Shah Pasand Khan came, seized as many horses of the Marathas as they could and • cut down the horsemen. Very few were fortunate enough to escape and carrry back the news to Bhau. This event checked the further march southwards, and Bhau had to fall back on Panipat and begin encampment there. We shall now turn to study Abdali's movements He and his Indian allies were encamping on the opposite bank of the Jamuna near Delhi. Shuja- ud-daulah was the first to move to that place in the beginning of August and encamp to the south of the area near the grain mart of Patpatganj. The Ruhelas and Abdalis followed sometime later, probably at the end of the month. They encamped to Shuja's north, near Shahdhada. When Bhau came to Delhi at the beginning of August, he had encamped to the south of Delhi near the Kalkadevi Temple, just opposite to Shuja on the other bank. In Septem- ber, Bhau moved his camp to the Shalimar gardens, seven miles to the north- west of Delhi amidst pleasant surroundings, and his army encamped to his south, to the west and north of the city. From these encampments the rival armies were eying each other inquisitively. They occasionally discharged their heavy long-range guns and threw some heavy cannon-balls into each other's camps just to create confusion and fear. But the river flowed roaringly be- tween. None dare cross the river in the face of the other, though diplomats were individually going and coming and carrying on peace-talks. As Abdali had the fertile Doab at his back, and as the home lands of the Ruhelas were on the other side of the Ganges, his army was comparatively well supplied with the necessaries of life. To lighten the burden, he had allowed many of the Ruhela soldiers to return to their homes, asking them to keep themselves ready to return at the first call. The Maratha army, on the other hand, was living from hand to mouth. The whole of the surrounding area had been eaten up by the constant movements of the rival armies in the fields during the last seven years. The districts to the west of Delhi had been assigned as jagirs to the Baluch sardars of the Emperor. They were recalcitrant generally, and just then at loggerheads with the Marathas. Tukoji Holkar and Khandoji Kadam²²ᵃ had been sent against them at the beginning of October. For getting the food stuffs from a distance the Marathas had to pay fancy prices to the Banjaras. Nana Phadnis, Bapuji Ballal Phadke,²²ᵇ Balvantrao Mehendale and others, writing from Delhi during September and October, describe the woeful state of the Maratha army: "The horses have forgotten to chew the grain; the

---

²² Bhau Bakhar 0.126. ²²ᵃ Persian MS ²²ᵇ SPD 2.130-1.