पानीपत १७६१ (मराठा साम्राज्य एवं पानीपत महायुद्ध इतिहास)

CRITICAL BIBLIOGRAPHY 135
will be found interspersed in many other volumes also For studying the char-
acters of the main actors in the Panipat drama it is necessary to study most
of the other volumes for the pre Panipat period, and sometimes even the later
volumes The characters of the individuals are the one sure and constant guide
from which we can correctly judge their activities in a proper perspective A
man's life is never compartmental, and it is unjust and unhistorical to judge
events in the lives of these individuals, from the bare data concerning particu
lar events and, therefore, from a partial angle What a man will do under
given circumstances mainly depends on his past, which is reflected in his char-
acter Historians are not the advocates of the historical characters but their
post mortem judges Unfortunately, very few historians correctly understand
their proper role and praise or blame the historical characters in detail We
have tried to study each single character separately, completely and in detail,
and then come to form certain notions about the proper manner of judging
their actions in this study, a procedure we think absolutely essential To at-
tain this end, we had to utilize all the available material in the var ous volumes
of original letters concerning these individuals
12-13-14 Shindeshahi Itihasach n Sadhane Part I (1929), Part II
(1930), and Part III (1937) These contain a few original letters from Panipat
itself Others throw a flood of light on the inner workings of Shinde affairs.
Specially valuable is the correspondence of the diplomats connected with the
Shinde family which is collected for publication in the third volume Ramaji
Anant Dabholkar who was the Diwan of the Shindes from 1750 to 1761, and
died after Panipat, was the chief director of Shinde affairs and his corre-
spondence is the most valuable of all Sir Jadunath has overlooked these
volumes and his description of the battle is deficient on that account.
15 16 17-18 Four Incomplete Manuscript Bakhars about Panipat
were examined by us but they contain no authentic or new material They are
gossipy in their contents and their burthen is all the same Malika Zamani is
given as the ch ef instigator in calling Ahmad Shah Abdali Bhau and Bal-
vantrao Mehendale are depicted as proud and bad Holkar and Shinde were
against the war, but Bhau was adamant and bent on honour Only three per
sons remained fighting to the last, v.z Bhau, Jankoji and Tukoji Shinde A
portion of these Bakhars, especially that containing Malika Zamani's part in it
is found incorporated in Bhausahebanchi Bakhar, the Bakhar published by
Parasnis in his Marathyanche Parakrama (Bundelkhand part) and similar
other attempts The theme was a favourite one with all Maratha clerks of the
Peshwa times and they copied the story from wherever they could
19 A few pages of Bhausahebanchi Ka fijat were supplied to us by
Mr K V PURANDARE These pages contain a few verbal changes but no new
information We note this fact here to show that even the Ka fijat, though it
was over shadowed by the more complete and the enlarged Bakhar, was still
copied by a few in Maharashtra Rao Bahadur SANE was able to get only one
copy of this Ka fijat and had to rely on that one alone He concluded there-
from, that the Kaifijat was a rare brochure But this does not seem to have
been the case