पानीपत १७६१ (मराठा साम्राज्य एवं पानीपत महायुद्ध इतिहास)

30 PANIPAT: 1761
by Jahan Khan. Gangoba, who was personally alert, was able to run away
and save himself; but Anandrao Ram Yadav, Shetyaji Kharade and his son
were killed in the running fight,²³ and the broken remnant of the frightened
army crossed the Jamuna back into the Jat territory, wherever it could. The
experiment of checkmating the Durrani forces by guerilla tactics thus ended
in failure.
The Maratha forces, therefore, retreated to the borders of the Jaipur
territory and encamped in the vicinity of Bayana. The Maratha tactics, how-
ever, had saved not only the Jats but also the Rajput princes. Abdali had to
turn back from Jaipur because the Marathas had swept towards Delhi, and
now his army had to be stationed in the Doab to ward off the Maratha raids
against the Ruhelas. The Marathas now reached a complete understanding
with Surajmal Jat and renewed their former agreements with him. Surajmal
promised to follow the Maratha policy in all respects. His own territories in
the Doab were now directly threatened and he concentrated his strength on
the defence of Ramgad (the modern Aligarh), which, however, surrendered
to Abdali's overwhelming forces within a month. As all the Ruhelas were
not on good terms and in full accord with Najib, the Marathas now tried to
divide them by entering into a separate arrangement with Hafiz Rahmat, the
grand old man amongst the trans-Gangetic Ruhelas. He agreed to join his
forces with the Marathas, send back Abdali after detaching him from Najib and
not to help Najib in his fight against the Marathas. The Marathas agreed, on
the other hand, not to invade the other Ruhelas but to content themselves with
the cis-Gangetic territories. Abdali would have now left for Afghanistan, had
not Najib induced him to remain in India for protecting him against the chafing
wrath of the Marathas. His stay in India gave a new turn to the Maratha
politics in the north.
²³ Ibid. 2.121.