पानीपत १७६१ (मराठा साम्राज्य एवं पानीपत महायुद्ध इतिहास)

PANIPAT 85
Peshwa's army been going on after Shivaji's pattern, there would have been
no impediment like this in the camp at all. But Shivaji led few campaigns
lasting more than a few months at a stretch or far away from the homes. The
Peshwa's army was modelled after the Mughal pattern with all its draw-
backs, which proved fatal here as they had proved fatal to Aurangzib in his
campaigns against the Marathas.
IV. IMPERFECT SENSE OF TIME AND DIRECTION
Indians of pre-Panipat days had no maps before them to judge properly
of the directions of places, etc, and so we have to take their descriptions of
events cautiously. Bhau writes "Abdali has come to the south by crossing the
Jamuna at Baghpat." Nana Purandare takes Kunjpura as situated on the
south bank of the Jamuna. "Panipat lies 40 kosa from Delhi towards the west."
With these examples from contemporary documents before us, we have to ac-
cept Kashiraj's directions with correct visualisation. Sir Jadunath has bungled
in his attempt to connect Kashiraj's translation with the Browne's map of the
battle. This is also due to his non-visualisation of the path of the sun during
the days of its highest southern declination. A man from the Maratha camp
talking of Abdali's position or Kashiraj writing from the Abdali's camp about
the Marathas was sure to confuse correct direction during December-January.
Kashiraj has naturally taken the Maratha army as facing eastwards and so de-
scribed the Afghans facing westwards on the day of the battle. Another thing
incorrectly calculated by Sir Jadunath is the hours of the day. The sun rose
at Panipat (latitude 29° 23' 30'' North, longitude 76° 58' 30'' East) on
14-1-1761 at 7 A.M. and set at about 5.20 P.M. (local time). The day thus
consisted of about 10 hours and 20 minutes and the battle has to be described
accordingly. The day was, in lunar calendar, 8th of the bright half of the
month. The moon would set about mid-night on such a day and not at
9.15 P.M. as taken by Sir Jadunath. (Vide Fall 2, pp. 369, 346, etc.)