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.

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.

BHAVAN'S LIBRARY
This book should be returned within a fortnight from the date
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13 APR 1961
20 FEB 1966
18 OCT 1970