पानीपत १७६१ (मराठा साम्राज्य एवं पानीपत महायुद्ध इतिहास)

60 PANIPAT 1761 grain is selling at seven or eight seers a rupee High class people like us had to sell our gold and silver trinkets and live from the proceeds The climate of Delhi has been found unsuitable to the Deccani oxen of the artillery depart ment, and they are dying in hundreds" To escape from this dilemma, the Maratha army had moved to Kunjpura to feed themselves and their horses, with the consequence noted above When Bhau moved toward the north, Abdali also sent a party to ac cost him from the other side of the river, that party could not do anything to save their brethren on the other side and had to see with open eyes the fall of Kunjpura They returned to Abdali who was chafing at the result He at once issued orders to his army and his allies to be ready for the march From Shahdhada he moved to Luni, thence he came to Baghpat, twenty miles north of Delhi, in search of a ford for crossing But he searched in vain He chided his Indian allies for not knowing the fords, but they pleaded their inability to find any After two days' vain search, Ahmad Shah who was a devout Mus lim fasted in his agony and beseeched God to point out a ford and tried all the superstitious and religious methods of search After getting an inspiration from that source he made his horsemen plunge into an unusual and less fre quented part of the river and tried to cross He succeeded in the trial, though a number of horsemen were carried away by the current before the exact line of crossing could be fixed by driving wooden stakes in the river on the two sides of the shallow passage and thus clearly lining the way The place where he actually crossed is not given in histories, though all say that it was near Baghpat A pontoon bridge used to be constructed at Baghpat in the fair season in those days as at present, but in the rainy season the place was not suitable for crossing as the river has a somewhat sharp fall here and con- sequently the stream turns into a torrent Where the river divides itself into several streams and spreads over a wider area, it becomes easily fordable Such a place Ahmad Shah seems to have found five miles to the north of old Bagh- pat near the village of Gauripur This place is mentioned in the Bhau's ballad we have copied down from the bard of Siva ²³ Because Ahmad Shah crossed at this place, he could come straight to Sonepat through Kheora and could elude the Maratha pickets placed at well known crossings such as Baghpat Ahmad Shah could dare attempt this because he was experienced in crossing the rivers and knew all the intricacies connected with such crossings The Marathas seem to have never taken to such daring Big rivers seem to have blocked their way throughout their military career They could never cross the Ganges without the help of local allies A Najib ud daulah could always laugh at Dattaji and keep him waiting at the ford Ahmad Shah, because he could take such a risk with confidence, was able to entrap the Maratha army under Sadashivrao Bhau Bhau, on the other hand, could never perform such a feat, and hence had perforce to entrench himself at Panipat Ahmad Shah must have begun his crossing on the 24th October, as Bhau had received the news the next day at his first halt on the way to Kuru ²³ BDCRI 4 3 stanza 33