Panipat - Victory in Defeat

The Third Battle of Panipat was one of the most brutal battles ever fought in India. The battle was won by the Afghans but they didn't stay any longer to consolidate their foothold in India. The North was ripe for the taking but Abdali could no longer stay there. This write-up is an in depth analysis on the Third Battle of Panipat, it's causes and it's consequences.
The Maratha Empire had already expanded into Malwa, Bundelkhand, Gujarat, all the way upto the gates of Delhi under the able guidance of Shrimant Peshwa Bajirao Ballal Bhat - The greatest cavalry general, India has ever seen. Bajirao Peshwa had created a generation of capable Maratha commanders like the Holkars, Gaikwads, Pawars and Shindes (Scindhia). The untimely demise of Peshwa Bajirao in 1740 brought a temporary halt to the expansions.
Bajirao Bhat was succeeded by his son, Nanasaheb (Balaji Bajirao) who did not have the military talents of his father but was not too bad of a leader. To further our story we have to jump to the late 1750s. Nanasaheb had the capable guidance of his cousin, Sadashivrao Bhau - an expert in civil affairs. Nana's younger brother - Raghunathrao, the Military Genius, (also called Dadasaheb) was undertaking the most daring expedition of all times - an invasion of the Northern territories of the Mughal and Afghan empires. Raghobadada was assisted by the Holkars and Shindes and successfully captured the lands all the way upto Attock and Peshawar. He was given the title of "Ragho Bharari", for the use of exceptional speed in his strategies. The Maratha Empire now commanded the largest territory in the whole of Hindustan. During the campaign at Delhi, Raghoba had the opportunity to kill the Rohilla Chief - Najib Khan but was prevented by Malharrao Holkar from doing so. Had Najib been killed over there, maybe Panipat would have never happened.

Map of Maratha Empire in 1759

Ahmed Shah Abdali

Najib Khan, in a bid to seek revenge, invited Ahmed Shah Abdali, the Durrani Emperor of Afghanistan to invade India and defeat the Marathas. He promised the support of the Rohillas and other ethnic Muslim tribes living in the Ganga Yamuna Doab if Abdali would march into India. Abdali, the greedy conqueror, with a lust for wealth and territories, turned his attention towards Hindustan and entered the Northern Punjab in 1759. He defeated the Brave Maratha commander, Dattajirao Shinde at the battle of Buradi ghat near Delhi. It is said that when Dattaji Shinde was dying, he was asked "क्यों पाटिल, और लड़ोगे?" (Patil, will you fight more?). Dattaji bravely replied, "जियेंगे तो और भी लड़ेंगे!" (If I live, I will definitely fight). The Afghans killed him on the spot and took over Delhi once again. His nephew, Jankoji managed to evade the Afghans and escaped to Malharrao Holkar's camp.

Death of Dattaji Shinde

An urgent dispatch was sent to the Peshwa's Darbar at Pune and an emergency meeting was convened at Partud. Prominent generals and commanders assembled there to decide whom to send for the Northern Expedition to drive the invaders out. Almost everyone was expecting it to be Raghunathrao. After all, he was the one who had the most experience out of all generals and had defeated the Afghans in many battles. Raghoba asked for an army of 80000 soldiers and funds equivalent to around 1 crore rupees. This was unacceptable to Peshwa Nanasaheb and Sadashivrao. They did not want to spend so much on a "simple expedition". And Raghoba was not in favour of taking pilgrims or civilians along with the army. Hence, the demands of Raghoba were rejected and he was ordered to stay in Pune. Sadashivrao agreed to take a much smaller army of around 50000 - 60000 soldiers and was willing to take the pilgrims who wanted to tour the holy places of Mathura and Kurukshetra along with the army. These were the greatest mistakes of all. Sadashivrao was not exactly a military person. His only military exploits were in the Deccan where the guerilla tactics could work. Raghoba on the other hand knew the Northern terrain and had years of experience. Moreover, taking civilians is nothing more than extra burden on the supplies. The Peshwa didn't realize that and expected the Northern Hindu kings to support the army. This was another grave miscalculation.
On 14 March, 1760, the Marathas set out from Partud. On the way to Delhi, they were joined by Malharrao Holkar, Jankoji and Mahadji Shinde, Damaji Gaikwad and other generals. Govindpant Bundele had sent an envoy to the Nawab of Awadh, Shuja-ud-Daulah to gain his support. But the Nawab had already been bought by Najib under the pretext of "Jihad". The Marathas fortunately gained Surajmal Jat, the Raja of Bharatpur as an ally.

Subedar Malharrao Holkar

Sadashivrao Bhau Peshwa

In August, 1760, the Maratha army captured Delhi, thanks to the heavy artillery led by Ibrahim Khan Gardi. The victorious forces marched into the palaces and the courtrooms and started selling the expensive stuff over there to make some money for their food and fodder. The Jats wanted control of Delhi as it was believed to be the capital of their ancestors, the Pandavas. This demand was refused by Sadashivrao Bhau and he placed the young Vishwasrao, son of Nanasaheb on the throne. This was perceived as an insult to the Jats. Raja Surajmal later suggested Bhau to keep the civilians in the safety of Delhi as having them with the army would take a toll on their supplies. Enraged by this, Bhau planned to arrest Surajmal to get more food and money as his ransom but Surajmal got news of this and escaped with his entire army back to Bharatpur. This created major supply problems for the Marathas.
To deal with this problem, Sadashivrao led an attack on Kunjpura, a Northern city which was garrisoned by a large detachment of Afghans. The heavy artillery worked it's magic here and Kunjpura was captured. Abdali was on the other bank of Yamuna when this was happening but couldn't come to support his troops as the Yamuna was flooded and it was impossible to cross it at that time. Qutb Shah, the murderer of Dattaji Shinde was killed in the battle of Kunjpura.
On the other side, Abdali bribed the locals and managed to get his army across the Yamuna between 23 and 25 October. The two armies finally came face to face at the plains of Panipat. During this time, the Afghan armies under Atai Khan defeated Govindpant Bundele and killed his troop, thereby ending the supply lines for the Marathas. Even the soldiers sent to deliver money to Sadashivrao Bhau were ambushed and the money was stolen. This created severe shortage of food and the supplies eventually ran out by late December 1760. Minor skirmishes and fights kept on happening almost daily between the two armies. In one such encounter, the Marathas lost Balvantrao Mehendale, a valiant general who led a daring assault on the Afghans. Finally, the Marathas begged Bhau to let them die in a battle rather than out of starvation.
On 14 January, 1761, the two armies arrayed formally for battle. The Marathas were arranged in a defensive circle with cannon batteries on the outside aimed to pulverize the Afghans and soften them for a cavalry charge. The formation was ideal for an open pitched battle. The cavalry under Vitthalrao Vinchurkar, Damaji Gaikwad and Antaji Mankeshwar were positioned to support the artillery and protect it from attacks. Everything would have gone well and the Marathas would have broken through and reached Delhi.
In the beginning, the artillery of the Marathas started bombing. The Afghans were demoralized by  the devastating effect of the French cannons. Their short range zamburaks (camel mounted artillery) could not keep up with the Maratha firepower. 12000 Afghans were killed by this attack alone. Bhau himself led a charge against the centre of Abdali's armies and broke the Afghan lines. But the starved Maratha soldiers didn't have the strength to put up a brave fight. The Shindes were pushing back the Rohillas of Najib effectively. Yashwantrao Pawar killed Atai Khan by climbing on his elephant and cut him into two. It seemed the Marathas would win this battle as well.
And it was then that the disasters started happening. Seeing that the Gardis could not fire in the thick of the battle, the cavalry led by Vinchurkar and Gaikwad, broke out of formation and charged at the Afghans. The zamburaks led by Barkurdarkhan started their volleys and devastated the charge. The defeated generals started fleeing from the battlefield. Seeing the defensive circle broken, Barkurdarkhan and Amirbeg led their charges against the artillery led by Ibrahim Khan Gardi which was largely undefended now. Vishwasrao was killed by a shot to his head. This demoralized the already weary Maratha soldiers. Sadashivrao could not control himself and jumped down from his elephant into the thick of the battle. He fought bravely but soon disappeared in the battle, never to be seen again. This was even more detrimental to the Marathas as they thought their leaders were dead.  The Afghan reserves then entered the battle. There was a total massacre in the Maratha lines now. The Afghan soldiers captured by Marathas at Kunjpura started revolting and attacked the undefended civilians. Malharrao Holkar saw that the battle was lost and escaped from the battlefield with his troops. Parvatibai, the wife of Sadashivrao also escaped with some of the guardsmen and other ladies of the camp. Antaji Mankeshwar, Mahadji Shinde, Nana Fadnavis, Vitthal Vinchurkar and Damaji Gaikwad escaped from the battlefield. Jankoji Shinde and Ibrahim Khan Gardi were captured during the battle but were killed by Abdali's men in the camp. Samsher Bahadur, the son of Bajirao and Mastani was wounded badly and died at the Jat capital of Bharatpur. Mahadji Shinde was also injured but managed to escape.
The glorious Maratha empire, expanded by Bajirao Peshwa and his sons had been demolished in a single day but the cause of this dated back to 1760. The Marathas lacked a strong ally in the North who could supply them with food. The Rajputs had already been alienated. The Nawab of Awadh turned traitor and joined Abdali in the name of Jihad. Moreover, Abdali's superiority in open pitched battles was uncontested. Had the Marathas defended Delhi or launched raids in the pattern of Ganimi Kava (guerilla warfare) from Punjab and the Ganga Yamuna doab, there would have been a better chance of victory. Another cause for defeat was the impulsive nature of some of the Maratha chiefs like Gaikwas and Vinchurkar who deliberately disobeyed the command of Sadashivrao Bhau and broke out of formation. Abdali had superiority in terms of number, discipline and supplies. The Marathas lacked unity.
The Peshwa was supposed to join with Bhau and had set out with an army. But he wasted his time at the Narmada in a marriage procession, thereby sealing the fate of the brave warriors at Panipat. The decision to send Sadashivrao was also a mistake. Sadashivrao was great in his southern expeditions but the Northern terrain and politics were unknown to him. The outcome of the battle might have been different if it was commanded by Raghunathrao Ballal. Raghoba was an expert in open pitched battles and could have defeated Abdali.
The victory belonged to the Afghans but it was a bitter one. Abdali lost a major portion of his armies, a blow from which the Afghans never recovered. Mahadji Shinde was already raising a new army in Gwalior and Nanasaheb was marching with around 100,000 soldiers towards Delhi. Abdali knew he couldn't stand against those forces. He made peace with the Marathas, installed Shah Alam II as the Badshah of Delhi and escaped with Maratha women and children as Prisoners and slaves. The effect of this battle was so disturbing that neither Abdali nor any of his ancestors dared to invade the Maratha lands again.
The shock of the Defeat at Panipat was too much for Nanasaheb to handle. The Peshwa fell ill and died in June, 1761. He was succeeded by his son, Madhavrao. Under Madhavrao's rule, the Marathas gained their lost glory. Mahadji Shinde recaptured Delhi and defeated the Rohillas decisively. The Marathas rose again like a Phoenix from the Ashes, to rule the lands of Hindustan until their final defeat by the British in the Third Anglo-Maratha War.

Mahadji Shinde

The Third Battle of Panipat remains as an example of unflinching patriotism, bravery and sacrifice by the brave Marathas who fought on empty stomachs and yet managed to wreck enough havoc to make Abdali feel defeated even after his victory. My humble homage to the brave sons of Bharat mata who gave their lives for this noble cause.
Jai Bhavani, Jai Shivray 🚩
Har Har Mahadev 🚩
Written by
Sumedhrao Malandkar