पानीपत १७६१ (मराठा साम्राज्य एवं पानीपत महायुद्ध इतिहास)

134 PANIPAT 1761
(5) The actual site of the battle
On all these points Kashiraj is proved to be wrong and loose in his
account by the evidence of original letters. Because Sir Jadunath and others
have placed their faith in Kashiraj, they have been completely misled in their
account of the battle. Kashiraj's account should be relied upon only in so far
as the Durrani side is concerned. The Maratha side cannot be understood un-
less we rely upon the evidence of the Marathi chronicles and original letters.
4-5. Purandare Daftar Vols. 1 and 3 (1929 and 1934). These form
a valuable primary source not only for the events after the battle of Panipat,
but also for the events prior to it, because they throw a rare flood of light on
the mental make-up and character of some of the chief characters in the Pani-
pat episode. What Sadashivrao Bhau was really like cannot be understood
without his early personal letters. The characters of Nanasaheb Peshwa, Nana
Purandare, Sakharam Bapu and Raghoba Dada are properly understood in
all their setting by a study of these volumes of intimate personal letters. Sir
Jadunath has missed this point and so cannot properly appraise their part in
the great drama of history.
6-7-8. RAJWADE V. K. Marathyanchya Itihasachin Sadhane Vols. 1,
3 and 6. They are the basic sources containing original letters direct from the
scene of the battle as well as throughout the campaign and for events leading to
it from the very beginning. When RAJWADE published his first volume in 1898
after accidentally getting possession of a number of original letters addressed
to Govindpant Bundele, it was the only, and therefore, partial side of the cam-
paign that was open to him. He should have corrected it when his own third
and sixth volumes were published later on. But RAJWADE, after his own man-
ner, left the scathing criticism of Govindpant in the first volume untouched
throughout his life, though he lived twenty-eight years thereafter. Whatever
excuse he had in his day for obstinately sticking to his own view based on one
source only, we in 1946 have none. After the publication of the Peshwa
Daftar in its forty-five volumes a decade ago, a flood of light has been thrown
on the Maratha activities in the north in all their bearings. It is clear from
evidence adduced in these volumes that Govindpant was not the only, if
culprit he was, who should be made the scapegoat for the whole disaster.
How historical perspective is blurred when only a part of the material is avail-
able and historians try to draw a complete picture out of it, is best exempli-
fied by RAJWADE's classical introduction to his first volume on the Panipat
period. We shall have occasion to point out how far RAJWADE had been car-
ried astray¹⁴ in his attempt. Psychological proof for it is available in that volume
itself though none of his deep students uptil now have either detected it or
have shown the candour to point it out openly.
9-10-11. Selections from The Peshwa Daftar Vols. 2, 21, 27. These
directly deal with the north Indian activities of the Marathas for a period of
almost two decades previous to the battle of Panipat, though cross-references.
¹⁴ RAJ. I. 1-5 and Note, 170. 183. 181. 181. 182. Note 325.

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

136 PANIPAT 1761
20 Raghunath Yadav's Panipat Bakhar Though ostensibly written
by a court clerk and that by order of a member of the Peshwa's family, this is
the most worthless of all the Panipat Bakhars
21 Aitihasik Lekha Samgraha Vol I (1897) by V V KHARE con
tains a few letters on the Panipat Campaign
22 23 Chandrachuda Daftar Vol I (1920), and Vol II (1934) also
contain a few letters dealing with the northern India affairs and bear evidence
to the Maratha advance and rule upto Attock on the Indus
24 25 Holkarachin Kaifiyat (published in the Kavyetihasa Samgraha
by K N SANE (1886), and Holkarachi Thaili (RAJ III, No 172 and
Itihasa Samgraha) These are both explanatory after-thoughts, to justify Mal
harrao Holkar's conduct in the Panipat affair That he ran away at the
previous behest of Bhau in order to escort Parvatibai, the wife of Bhau, is now
proved to be false, on the authority of contemporary letters How an imaginary
turn can be given to historic events is proved by these attempts
26 Aitihasik Patren, Yadi Vagaire Lekha (2nd Ed 1929) This
contains the autobiography of Nana Phadnis which we take to be written some-
time soon after the event when the author was extremely grieved and repentant
and almost on the point of forsaking the world to lead the life of a recluse, and
not after thirty years as assumed by Sir Jadunath There is nothing incorrect
in it when compared with the original letters Other letters in this volume are
also important for the northern Indian affairs of the Marathas
27 Aitihasik Patravyavahara (1930) This volume also contains
valuable correspondence, amongst them being an important letter by Nana
Phadnis from the Panipat camp Sir Jadunath has wrongly understood it, as
his translation of a line in it gives exactly the reverse meaning
28 Persian Akhbars (news letters) in manuscript form existing in the
archives of the Bharat Itihasa Samshodhak Mandal contain valuable material
not found elsewhere about the Panjab campaign of the Marathas, ending in
the far famed carrying of the Maratha banners beyond the Attock to Peshawar
29 Bhau's Ballad (published in BDCRI 4 3) in the Jathi dialect of
Hindusthani copied for us after the dictation of a Muslim ballad singer of Siwa,
five miles to the south of Panipat, contains a more complete version of the
ballad than that published in the Sardesai Commemoration Volume by Dr
KANUNGO and also one given in pieces in the Marathi publication 'Bhaunchya
Virakatha' Our copy which contains both prose and poetry, gives valuable
information in deciding the field of battle, the environment and the actual point
on the river Jamuna where Abdali crossed
30 ELLIOT and DOWSON, History of India (1877), Vol VIII, con
tains selected translations of
(1) Tarikh i Alamgir-Sani, (E & D CII)
(ii) Manazil ul Futuh, by Md Ja'far Shamlu (E & D CIII)

CRITICAL BIBLIOGRAPHY 137
(iii) Nigar-nama-i-Hind, of-Saiyid Ghulam Ali (E. & D. CXLIII)
(iv) Ibratnamah by Faqir-ud-din Md. of Allahabad (E. & D. CXIX)
(v) Tarikh-i-Ibrahim Khan (E. & D. CXXI).
Of these Ibratnamah and Tarikh-i-Alamgir-Sani are used for Ghazi-ud-
din's acts, especially the assassinations of the Emperor and others. Tarikh-i-
Ibrahim Khan and Nigar-namah practically copy their accounts of the Panipat
battle from Kashiraj. But Shamlu was present on the battle-field as a servant
of Shah Pasand Khan who commanded the left wing of Abdali's army. His
figures are inflated no doubt but certain casual references of his are helpful
in deciding a few controversial points. Though both Kashiraj and Shamlu
were eye-witnesses, present on the battle-field during the battle, both could see
only a corner of the battle, and that which was least engaged, in the first half
of the day. But Shamlu knew much more of the Abdali side than Kashiraj
from the inside, just as Kashiraj naturally knew more of the Maratha side.
Shamlu's remark that Ahmad Shah drove away the Shindes from the banks of
the river Attock and pursued them as far as Burya and Sarangpur (p. 146) is
helpful in pointing out the farthest line of Maratha advance in the Panjab. It
had not stopped at the Chinab as Sir Jadunath says,¹⁵ but had reached the
Indus itself as can now be proved by other contemporary material. Shamlu
also gives the account of the precarious passage of Abdali's army across the
Jamuna by the Budhia Ghat to Sarangpur, which is also so written in Marathi
papers, while later on it somehow has assumed the form of Saharanpur, which
it retains today. This is one of the instances where bad pronunciation and in-
correct writing has changed a purely Hindu name into a Muslim-looking one.
Shamlu's account of the battle which ensued before crossing, corroborates the
account in Bhau Sahebanchi Bakhar. He also gives the behaviour of the Abdali
troops when they entered Delhi after defeating Dattaji Shinde. They looted
it, notwithstanding the fact that they had come to protect the city from the
Marathas and even the earnest intercession of Malika-i-Zamani who was the
chief instigator of Ahmad Shah in calling him to India was not able to stop it.
Shamlu's account of Ahmad Shah's cantonment at Anupshahar is useful in
visualizing the difficulties in the Doab. His account of the patrol round the
Maratha camp and cutting off of Maratha parties bringing cash from Delhi,
corroborates the Marathi chronicles. But Shamlu is most useful in deciding
the beginning of the battle and falsifying Kashiraj in his palpably untrue state-
ment that just before the battle in the early hours of the morning a Maratha
valet of Bhau came with the last chit. Shamlu states that Ahmad Shah, after
noticing "clouds of dust ascended upto heaven" ordered Shah Pasand Khan
to go forth and ascertain the cause thereof. He rode through the plain between
Abdali's camp and the Maratha camp by an unfrequented path and took
"four hours to advance half a kos." As Shamlu was accompanying Shah
Pasand Khan, there is no cause to suspect his statement as untrue though
written after thirty-five years, because no man would forget such an event
¹⁵ Fall 2.76.

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.

CRITICAL BIBLIOGRAPHY 139
it was who gave a crooked turn to the whole trend of Indian politics in the
middle of the 18th century He fooled all who came into contact with him,
both friend and foe He rose as a servant of Ghazi ud-dın, the Wazir, and
ultimately ruined him, by his treachery He made use of Malharrao Holkar
as a god father and did mortal harm to the Maratha politics in the north He
brought Shuja over to the side of Abdali and sent him empty handed back to
Oudh for fear of being looted by his allies Shuja did not think even of
taking leave of Ahmad Shah Abdali before decamping! Najib had not done
any good to Ahmad Shah either, through whose help he became what he was
He made use of the Shah by the argument of race and religion, and that way
completely ruined the Marathas But what permanent benefit accrued to
Islam from his acts? He had misinformed Ahmad Shah about the relative
strength of the political parties in India as a result of which Ahmad Shah could
not reap any permanent advantage His troops could not get even their salary
from him and the forty lakhs of rupees a year which Najib promised to him
from the Indian lands he had conquered were never paid Not only that
politically at the end of the great battle Ahmad Shah had to bestow the Wazir
ship of the Indian Empire on the hated regicide Ghazi ud din, a creature of
the Marathas, and not on Shuja, his ally in the late war All this is well ex
emplified by this life, written by an admirer though it is
32 Bihari Lal Munshi's Short Life of Najib-ud daulah, translated
by Sir Jadunath SARKAR, in the Islamic Culture, 1936 Though sketchy, it
still adds a few more facts to his life It supplies details in his dealings with
Dattaji Shinde, especially Najib's ruse of instructing the Afghans of Kunjpura
to put on scarlet caps and move like the Persian Qzzlbashas in order to start
the rumour of the coming of Abdali to India This rumour makes it clear
why Sabaji Shinde, the Governor of the Panjab, returned long before the ac
tual coming of Abdali and why Govindpant Bundele is found writing, very
early, letters about the Shah's coming It had the effect of demoralizing the
Maratha side It does not add anything to our knowledge of Panipat, however
33 Samin Shaikh Ghulam Hasan's (pen name Samin) narrative,
translated by W IRVINE in Indian Antiquary, 1907
This narrative gives a vivid picture of Ahmad Shah's camp, army and
political behaviour, in his Indian campaign of 1756 57 The writer is poeti-
cally minded He possesses the journalist's facile pen supplying vivid descrip-
tion He is gossipy too, introducing anecdotes and stories amidst his narrative
In fact, he tries to reproduce from memory things reported to him by others,
such as Imad ul mulk's story He wrote his piece in 1782 at the behest of
Captain Jonathan Scott To judge from the production, this man's memory
seems to be unusually strong, but it is idle to call it a diary as is done by Sir
Jadunath SARKAR (p 293, Fall, Vol 2) The picture of Ahmad Shah's army
on the march, his camp discipline, etc seem exaggerated and are more in the
form of psychic vision than of sober description His introduction of poetry at
intervals exemplifies his mind Sir Jadunath has used Samin's description of
Ahmad Shah's army

140 PANIPAT 1761
army We have no quarrel with the comparison, we only wish that Sir Jadu
nath had also taken into account the methodology of Abdali's iron discipline
and his barbarous methods in his dealings with both friends and foes, Hindus
no less than Muslims, for comparison with the methods followed by "the lesser
breeds beyond the law," (p 291, Fall, Vol, 2) by which epithet he introduces
the Marathas into the comparison Where the Marathas found it impossible
to recover even eighty lakhs proffered for their services in going through a politi
cal revolution for deposing one Emperor and his Wazir and seating others in
their places, after a sojourn of eight months in the Delhi region, Ahmad Shah
gained crores from the city of Delhi alone in less than a month by threatening,
bastonading of a Wazir and torture to his mother, and digging of (floors)
houses, two years later The Marathas suffered historically because they stood
on a different moral plane from their competitors
34 Ichalkaranji State History with its original papers edited by V V
KHARE, 1913 A few letters giving news of the Panipat campaign and after
are found in this collection, which are useful for deciding the point of the
Peshwa's responsibility Abdali was intercepting the letters from Panipat to
the Deccan and making use of the information for his own purpose As the
Peshwa had not received any news from the north for more than a month, his
plans naturally went astray Malharrao Holkar's line of conduct is illustrated
in Govind Hari Patwardhan's letter (No 66)
35 The Earliest Persian Account of Panipat, translated by Sir Jadu
nath SARKAR in the Sardesai Commemoration Volume, 1938
The account is for the most part accurate, and not inaccurate as read
by the learned translator It correctly reports as far as it does and, what is
more, supplies a few facts not noted in other documents, viz Abdali's crossing
between Bagpat and Kheora (wrongly deciphered as Khekra by Sir Jadunath,
which puts him on the wrong track), Bhau's posting of troops on the farther
side of the Jamuna to stop Abdali's supplies (at Bhau Fort near Isapur?),
Chimaji Pandit's raid across the Jamuna, winter rains, famine, Shah's pre
carious position at noon, the panic caused by Bhau's getting down from
elephant, slaughter and running away of the Marathas, women captives *
36 Vad and others—Selections from the Peshwa Diaries—useful for
administrative details with correct dates and the itinerary
37 Itihasa Sangraha A defunct Marathi magazine, Vols I VIII,
edited by Parasnis (1909-1917), contain a few stray but primarily important
letters about the Panipat campaign, events leading to it and the aftermath
They are interspersed under various headings and parts, viz Aitihasika Tipane-
Charcha-Sphuta Lekha Goshti, etc Sir Jadunath has overlooked these letters
for the most part and hence his treatment has turned defective in certain par-
ticular

CRITICAL BIBLIOGRAPHY 141
38. Parasnis—Marathyanche ' Parakrama—Bundelkhand Prakarana
(1895) contains casual information about Govindpant Bundele and his sons,
also a worthless Panipat chronicle.
39. Bharata Itihasa Samshodhaka Mandal Quarterly Vols. I-XXIV,
as well as its Annals and Conference Reports. These also contain valuable in-
formation and discussions on the various topics connected with Panipat, its per-
sonalities and politics.
40. Hingne Daftar Vol. I (1945), is useful for judging the Delhi
politics during the pre-Panipat as well as post-Panipat period. Unfortunately
here, too, no direct evidence bearing on the campaign is forthcoming.

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