पानीपत १७६१ (मराठा साम्राज्य एवं पानीपत महायुद्ध इतिहास)

90 PANIPAT 1761
the dispersion of his troops from the right flank to the centre As a precau-
tionary measure he asked his zenana to mount on horses and camels so as to
be ready to run away in case of emergency At the same time he took the
stern measure of beating back his run away troops who had now crowded
themselves in the Afghan camp He called in his nasaqchs (military
provosts) and ordered 500 of them to go to his camp and striking with their
axes all the camp followers great and small, drive them back to the battle
field caring for nothing else By this method he brought within an hour 8,000
armed men, mostly foot soldiers to fill in the gap created at the back of the
trans Ganges Ruhelas The remaining 1,500 military provosts were sent to
the battle field with orders to kill every man who ran away from the battle
and refuse to return to the charge This order they executed so effectually
that after killing a few they compelled the rest to stand in battle array again
behind the Grand Wazir's line Ahmad Shah sent some 4,000 fresh troops
to reinforce the Wazir from his retinue Thus, within an hour, by one o'clock,
10,000 horsemen stood ready behind the Wazir to charge again, while on the
right hand side of the Afghan line 8,000 soldiers supported the Par Ruhelas
in their efforts to stop the march of Ibrahim Khan's successful Gardi troops
Let us now take stock of the military position at noon At the very
beginning the Maratha cavalry under Vitthal Shivdeo and Yashwantrao Pawar
had acted impetuously and gone beyond their orders, attacking the Ruhelas
before Ibrahim Khan had created a gap in their ranks by the fire of his
artillery and the attack of his musketry The result was they had to run back
exhausted and stand behind the chained heavy artillery to escape an attack
from the enemy Thus their fighting power was neutralized when it was most
necessary to take advantage of the gap created by Ibrahim Khan Gardi two
hours later Damaji Gaikawad, on the other hand, had succeeded, for the time
being, in warding off the flank attack on Ibrahim Khan's troops by Barkhurdar
Khan and Amir Beg, by supporting the two Gardi corps left by Ibrahim Khan
on his left side In the centre, Shah Wali Khan's quick advance had obliged
Bhau to break the line of the marching square and advance to meet the Wazir,
with what result we have already seen Twelve noon to one o'clock was the most
crucial period of the battle Had the beaten horsemen under Vitthal Shivdeo,
Yashwantrao Pawar and Damaji Gaikawad courageously rushed out and
marched past the chained guns in front of them to support Ibrahim Khan, it
is very likely they would have succeeded in marching past the Ruhela line
with the help of the Gardi troops, and outflanked them But they do not
seem to have done anything of the kind Perhaps there was a distance of one
mile or so intervening by now between the advanced corps of Ibrahim Khan
and the heavy artillery behind which their troops stood, with the result that
no correct news of the condition at the front was available to them For the
time being they stood safe behind the chained guns, Barkhurdar Khan and
Amir Beg finding it impossible to assail them Perhaps these Persian Mughals
did not advance from their flanking position, with a view to cut off the ad-
vancing Marathas if they tried to create a breach on that side Thus it so
happened that the Maratha troops reaped no tactical advantage from the an-