पानीपत १७६१ (मराठा साम्राज्य एवं पानीपत महायुद्ध इतिहास)

fantry through the gaps created by it and forsake him, going back on his
promise Anyway, the possibility of saving the main centre with the most
important personages on the Maratha side, passed away by one o'clock when
the Wazir rallied his troops and began the fight again
Now the battle entered its most desperate stage The fight was a close
combat with sword, spear, lance, dagger and knife, both sides vehemently
charging each other This went on for an hour or so, and then 'by Ahmad
Sultan's good fortune" an arrow struck Vishwasrao, killing him outright He
fell from his horse The news of Vishwasrao's death spread like wild fire
throughout the Maratha camp in a very short time, and it had a very dis-
astrous effect on the morale of the fighters thenceforward When Bhau heard
of it, he also was very much affected He ordered that the corpse should be
placed on an elephant so as to keep it safe from being trodden upon, and then
ordered a last charge But by this time the news was beginning to have its
effect Timid men, it seems, fell back and began to leave the field, saving them-
selves as best as they could, and in a short time Bhau's flanks seem to have
completely deserted Kashiraj writes that, all of a sudden, the field became
clear, the Maratha army having vanished entirely, and none remained in the
field except heaps of corpses here and there
Besides the news of Vishwasrao's death, another cause which created
panic in the Maratha camp was the behaviour of 2,000 Afghans, employed
by the Marathas and working under Vitthal Shivdeo The sentiment and aim
of the Marathas in this war under discussion is incidentally well illustrated
thereby They were not fighting against the Muslims, not even the foreign
Afghan Muslims, but against Ahmad Shah Abdali who wished to interfere
in Indian politics and bring foreign pressure on the solution of Indian problems
This existence of the Afghan troops serving under the Marathas is not men-
tioned by Kashiraj at all But it is found in both the Ka fijat and Bakhar of
Bhau in Marathi ⁵ᵃ It is also testified by Bhau's correspondence with Govind-
pant Bundele ⁶ It is not clear to which of the Afghan tribes these dissatisfied,
renegade troops belonged They may even be Indian Ruhelas Be that as
it may, these troops, employed without forethought, became a source of great
havoc at this critical juncture To distinguish them from the Afghans on
Abdali's side, they had been given a badge of an ochre coloured headdress⁷ after
the Maratha fashion They were standing behind Vitthal Shivdeo's troops to
the left hand side of Bhau As soon as they heard of Vishwasrao's fall, they
treacherously threw away their badges and began to loot the Maratha camp
adjoining them, circulating the news of the Maratha defeat with exaggerated
accounts The non combatants, consisting of two lakhs of persons, naturally
thought that the Afghans had now penetrated the Maratha lines, and they
took to their heels Vitthal Shivdeo also began to fall back as a result, in-
stead of trying to check these Afghans in their nefarious activities Thus it
was that Kashiraj found the Maratha side suddenly deserted and the field
⁵ᵃ Pp 23 and 143 respectively
⁶ RAJ 1.237, 242, 244
⁷ Bhau Bakhar 143, Bhau Kaifiyat 23