पानीपत १७६१ (मराठा साम्राज्य एवं पानीपत महायुद्ध इतिहास)

on such a day $^{16}$ Shamlu's account of Ahmad Shah's arrangement of his army
also supplies a clue in correctly visualizing the battle array, which
seems to differ a little from Kashiraj's account The last important
point made clear from Shamlu's account is the fact of Ahmad Shah's
apprehension in the first half of the day that "he would not be able to with
stand" the impetuous Maratha attack led by Bhau on the Abdali centre, and
his despatch of a person "to mount the ladies of his household on fleet steeds
and keep them ready for any eventualities That shows that Ahmad Shah was
not at all sure of certain victory as made out by later historians and com
mentators Incidentally it shows Ahmad Shah's wisdom and precaution
against any mishap Shamlu openly says that "by Ahmad Sultan's good for
tune one Zamburak ball struck Vishwasrao on the forehead and another hit
Bhau on the side," meaning thereby that good fortune and accidents had not
a little to do with the Maratha defeat Shamlu also corroborates the fact of
the Maratha army's sudden desertion from the battle field and the stampede
which followed Shah Pasand Khan received the news of this central struggle
through couriers (p 154), which again shows the distance separating the
various divisions on the battle field Shah Pasand Khan had not possibly
moved much from his original place in the battle array and charged Malharrao
and Janakoji only after knowing the defeat of the centre Shamlu only shows
that they fled, though Malharrao fled westwards and Janakoji eastwards Sham-
lu's account of the Maratha camp after the battle when 30,000 matchlockmen
were so struck with terror and consternation that they would not lift their hand
to strike anybody who came amidst them for loot, is most illuminative of the
psychic effect of defeat We think that the Marathas had exhausted their
ammunition and hence were helpless to do anything They were only putting
on a bold face to conceal their deficiency Shamlu also notes that a Maratha
chief had been stationed in hindmost rank of their army and was later on seen
fleeing towards the south side with six or seven thousand horse, and would not
meet even "three individuals," but ran away pell-mell "at the mere firing of
the guns and took another direction," shows that Bhau had not, as assumed
by Sir Jadunath, left his camp unprotected in the last resort He had prop-
erly arranged everything, but everything went astray as luck would have it
Altogether we do not think of Shamlu as a worthless witness as Sir Jadunath
seems to think, and have fully utilised his account for what it is worth As
Shamlu was in the latter part of his life living in India, he had ample oppor-
tunities of conversing with other survivors from the field and of refreshing his
memory of the Panipat battle field That he had not lost interest in the af-
fairs of the Marathas is clear from his mention of Shah Alam's return to Delhi
in the company of the Marathas, and his anecdotes about Mahadaji Shinde's
lameness and the skeletons of the Maratha horses at the caravanserai of Sone
pat—incidents which he only relates
31 Sayyid Nuruddin Hasan Khan's Life of Najib-ud-daulah, transla-
tion by Sir Jadunath SARKAR in the Islamic Culture, 1933, presents one view
of the life of this unscrupulous and mischievous man in Indian history Najib
$^{16}$ ELLIOT 8.152.