पानीपत १७६१ (मराठा साम्राज्य एवं पानीपत महायुद्ध इतिहास)

66 PANIPAT: 1761
camp he changed between the 26th and the 30th of November as a result of
Bhau's cannonading as stated above, when he retreated to the riverside, the
centre of the battlefield between the two armies lying along the village of
Chhajpur. The reputed wooden war-pillar¹³ erected by the Marathas and
found described in the Bakhar was somewhere on the plain of Chhajpur, and
here the fight on the 7th of December took place, resulting in the death of
Balvantrao Mehendale. For a month Abdali remained in the second camp
till he moved to Pasina on 30th December, and his line spread across the im-
perial road to Dimana. The main site of the final battle was between Risalu
and Nimbdi This last move on the part of Abdali obliged Bhau to change
his final plan of battle to suit the new disposition by Abdali.
During the first month, or almost for five weeks, the Maratha army was
on the aggressive. Every day they came out with their field guns, supported by
some sardar's contingent, to the front and tried to cut off anyone from the
Afghan side who had come out of his camp for skirmishing, or was loitering
on the plain. The Pendharis on the Maratha side wandered round Abdali's
camp and carried away horses, camels and even elephants which had been let
loose for grazing outside. Still nobody from Abdali's side would come out and
try to protect their animals and men The discipline in Abdali's camp was of
the strictest type and he had issued orders to his army not to stir out of the
camp and offer battle themselves. This seems to be due to the superiority of
the long-range fire on the Maratha side. The big guns placed advantageously
on the mud ramparts surrounding the Maratha camp were able to mow down
anyone coming within their range for some two miles. The Marathas cap-
tured more than a thousand horses, four hundred camels and four elephants
during the first three weeks.¹⁴ The guns on the Afghan side were also not less
effective though somewhat shorter in range, and their shots also could reach
and kill men in the Maratha trenches. Krishna Joshi met his death from one
such shot while he was sitting in his kitchen behind the trenches.¹⁵ But Abdali
had probably taken the decision of not attacking in order to economise his
powder and shot, which he thought could be used more effectively in an open
battle. On the 22nd November there was a lunar eclipse and the Maratha
camp was rather inactive on account of this. No one had possibly come out
of the camp that day as usual. Abdali's Wazir Shah Wali Khan had come
out to watch the Marathas that day. Seeing no danger nearby, he ventured
to go very near the Maratha lines in the course of his patrol. As he was wait-
ing near a well, the Maratha troops on the opposite side saw him and came
out suddenly to take advantage of his unprotected state. A desperate battle
ensued and the Wazir had great difficulty in holding his ground. But the
Afghans in the rear were also watchful and ran to his rescue. Shinde's men
drove them all back to their lines and inflicted considerable loss on them The
Wazir lost four hundred of his troops and double that number were wounded.¹⁶
The loss on the Maratha side was forty dead and one hundred and fifty.
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13 Bhau Kaifiyat, p. 15; BDCRI 4.179 verse 36
14 SPD 21.197.
15 Ibid.
16 JADUNATH.SARKAR, op. cit., 2.302; Aitihasika Patra Vyavahar p. 97.