पानीपत १७६१ (मराठा साम्राज्य एवं पानीपत महायुद्ध इतिहास)

118 PANIPAT 1761
book Marathe va Ingraj by N C KELKAR, in 1918 The Marathas in the
18th century had nothing original to contribute for the benefit of the Indian
people They were imitators and not inventors They tried to imitate the
foreign model in war, but never made it their own in all its details The
Maratha Constitution was very loose Their military system was no better
The policy of nurturing strength by consolidation had given place to wayward
wandering on the basis of the line of least resistance The result was as KHARE
has tellingly put it "In peace times the Maratha empire was everywhere, but
during times of turmoil it was nowhere" (Page 15) Sadashivrao Bhau and
the Peshwa were depending upon the sympathy and help of the various states
which had paid them tributes, but not one amongst them actually helped the
Marathas during the critical Panipat campaign, exemplifying the truth of
KHARE'S indictment The Marathas tried to imitate the European war-
machine by engaging Bussy's pupils Ibrahim Khan and Muzaffar Khan, but
the danger to the Maratha State of this procedure has been clearly exhibited
in history Muzaffar Khan was all along a self-willed, arrogant and treacherous
person Once he left the Peshwa's service and joined the Nawab of Savnur
and was, after his defeat there, on the point of joining the Portuguese at Goa
or any one else who would engage him In 1759 he tried to assassinate Sa
dashivrao Bhau for personal or political reasons and was beheaded for the at-
tempt Ibrahim Khan was personally loyal, faithful and expert, but all along
he remained unassimilated in the Maratha mode of warfare The various
Maratha officers never felt any comradeship with him and treated him as a
foreigner Instead of co operating with him and supporting him in his dif-
ficulties, they would sit on the fence and see his effort wasted, all this because
he was paid punctually in cash after the European manner, because Bhau
treated him with special favour and tried to depend upon him to the heart-
burning of others! Because he was treated only as an adjunct to the Maratha
cavalry, his system was never understood, much less made their own, by the
Maratha Shiledars The result was seen in the battle of Panipat where his
superb effort was wasted because the other Maratha sardars never tried to de-
fend the square formation nor would they reap the harvest by taking the
proper advantage of his initial effort The Marathas did not try to assimilate
the foreign system then, nor have they done it subsequently Their political
effort and initiative were then, just as they are even now, individual and not
collective. The end to be secured was personal rise, prosperity and aggrandise
ment The leader is the sole loser in the effort, his followers having no con
cern with it except temporary loss of employment The Europeans have
perfected their system in such a manner that their united effort does not depend
on individual caprice Even amongst them incompetent and selfish individuals
occasionally come to the top, but they have little power to play mischief in
the perfected system With us the reverse is the case Occasionally good peo-
ple come to the top amongst us, but still they have no power to change the
system or rather the absence of system existing amongst us Amongst us the
individual effort of the best of men is only temporarily and partially effectual
for some time and ultimately wasted, the nation never deriving permanent bene-
fits therefrom Viewed in this philosophical light, it seems idle either to boom