पानीपत १७६१ (मराठा साम्राज्य एवं पानीपत महायुद्ध इतिहास)

KARTAL, BURADI AND AFTER 25
gent to a long distance. Purushottam Mahadev Hingne¹⁰ who was present in
the battle and received a bullet-wound on his thigh, writes that the action was
a short and swift one, turning into a rout on account of the general's ac-
cidental death in the very first round and the leader receiving a bullet-wound
himself. No battle could be fought because the place was unsuitable on ac-
count of the thick rushes, and because there was no intention either of offer-
ing one till the arrival of Malharrao Holkar. In fact, the main part of the
Maratha army was at a distance from the river-bank and not ready for a
fight. The division under Dattaji was not sufficient to meet the combined
forces of Abdali and Najib with any hope of success. That is why Dattaji had
asked Govindpant Bundele with his small brigade to continue with him all
along and invited help from Surajmal Jat, who was the only ally left to the
Marathas in Northern India. The Wazir's contingent was not more than five
thousand strong this time, and was not very helpful or wholeheartedly with
the Marathas.
The Durranis pursued Janakoji for twenty-five miles and then re-
turned. Malharrao who had started on the 1st of January was still at a dis-
tance of some one hundred and fifty miles from Delhi! Janakoji followed
in the direction of Rewadi towards which place his camp had been despatched
with Ruparam Kothari and Ramaji Anant Dabholkar, the Shinde's Diwan.
It was impossible for Janakoji to ride a horse with his aching wound which
had become worse by the first day's headlong flight. As the whole baggage had
been looted by the pursuers or left behind as heavy, there was no palanquin
with carriers in the whole army. A char-pai (cot) was taken as a substitute
and Janakoji was carried on it by the soldiers themselves acting as carriers,
leaving their horses in the charge of others. After covering thirty miles in this
manner, with great trouble Janakoji reached his camp with the remnants of
his broken army after midnight that day. Bhagirathibai, who seems to be a
second wife of Dattaji, was in advanced pregnancy and went with the retreat-
ing camp. As soon as Janakoji arrived in the camp, his wife Kashibai and
Bhagirathibai came out of their tent to see what had happened. Coming to
know of Dattaji's death and the defeat of his army, the whole camp was
plunged into grief, and there was a great uproar and wailing. From the
dramatic description of the Bakhar, Bhagirathibai who was not more than
sixteen in age (having been married to Dattaji in March 1758) seems to have
been a woman of exceptional self-composure and precociously wise. Instead
of indulging in useless crying, she reprimanded others for not taking courage
and acting as was necessary under the circumstances. She ordered a halt till
the morning and stopped the march of the army so as to dress Janakoji's
wounds and afford him rest after a run of twenty hours; but the camp which
was terrified by what they had heard and afraid of being caught by the
pursuing Durrani troops, started at once in the small hours of the morning in
the direction of Rewadi. Disobeying her orders, the whole civil camp started,
and as a consequence it became difficult for the leaders to continue the halt
without the help of camp-followers. The officers in the Shinde contingent
10 Ibid. 2.114.