पानीपत १७६१ (मराठा साम्राज्य एवं पानीपत महायुद्ध इतिहास)

KUNJPURA 61
kshetra. Abdali took three days to cross the river with all his army, cannon,
elephants and other camp equipage. The place where he crossed was a little
out of the way where there was no proper ghat for landing. The army had
to cross the various streams and shallows over a distance of half a mile. Some-
times the horses would swim, at others they would wade through sands in knee-
deep water. On the other side was the silt deposited by monsoon floods.
Horses and men found themselves bogged in the soft mud. It was difficult, al-
most impossible, to take a step without sinking still deeper. This difficulty they
overcame by cutting down the various water plants and rushes growing on the
river-bank, and spreading them deep over the passage all along the route.
When these had sunk into the mud, a thatchy road was naturally built over
it by the trampling of thousands of horses and men. Had there been a daring and
resourceful guard of a few thousand troops with a few guns of precision, a
crossing would never have been possible. After safely reaching the other
bank, Ahmad Shah at once sent a small party to drive away all the Maratha
pickets on the western bank, and seize any boats they could find bound fast
at the ghats. They seem to have succeeded in collecting some, which were
used in ferrying the baggage on the second day. Ahmad Shah himself crossed
after half the army was on the other side. There were a few casualties, no
doubt, in the tumult and hurry of crossing. But at last the whole army was
safe on the other bank and began their march to Sonepat, which they reached
on the 27th October.
Next day they moved to Gannaur where Ahmad Shah halted for three²⁴
days. Baji Hari's attempt to scout must have happened during this interval.
The number of casualties in this attempt is not correctly reported anywhere,
though Kashiraj gives the figure at two thousand, and the place where they
crossed swords as near the serai of Samalkha. Bhau fell back as a result of it
and encamped at Panipat. Ahmad Shah advanced to Samalkha on 31st
October, and to Pasina the next day. A distance of some three miles was left
between the advanced posts of the two armies. The two armies came face to
face at last after four months of eying each other on the opposite banks of the
swollen Jamuna. It was seven months since Bhau had started to meet Abdali,
and here he was at last.
But for a final decision by arms, two and a half months had still to
pass. From the first of November 1760 to 14th January, 1761 the two sides
in the struggle for power put their faith in strategy and manœuvring, living in
entrenched camps.
²⁴ RAJ. 1.261.