भारतीय इतिहास के ६ स्वर्णिम पृष्ठ (वीर सावरकर - विदेशी आक्रान्ताओं पर विजय गाथा)

Umraos, ‘Nizams and Nawabs’, who had been so far engaged in riotous
actions and ravaging the country to their own sweet will, were so much
overawed and struck dumb by this extraordinary heroism of the Marathas
in recapturing the whole of Punjab and the adjoining territories, that they
began to join the Maratha General Raghunathrao as subordinate allies. The
Sikhs had been recently gaining control over things in Punjab and they
were infuriated by Abdali’s wanton act of demolishing their at Amritsar
and filling up their holy lake round it with filth, mud, stones and bricks
during his retreat to Kabul for fear of the Marathas. They had, therefore,
become inveterate enemies of Abdali, and mighty leader of one of their
powerful ‘Missals’, namely Alasingh Jat (whom the Maratha
correspondence of the times referes to as ‘Ala Jat’) had joined the Marathas
openly in the battle of Sirhind. Hence, as almost all these leaders and
parties who had been then active in the political movements in Punjab were
favourable to such a grand ovation to be given to Raghunathrao, it was
agreed on all hands that the imperial ceremony felicitating the triumphal
entry into Lahore of Raghunathrao at the head of his army should be
celebrated after the Maratha general’s successful campaign towards Sindh.
The Triumphant March of Raghunathrao Peshwa in Punjab
1066. Taimurshah, who fled beyond the frontier, tried to carry with him
the immense treasure the Muslims had plundered in India, and it was to
seize that treasure that Raghunathrao entered Punjab in hot pursuit of the
Pathan army, which ran helter-skelter. Conquering more than half of Punjab
of Abdali, Raghunathrao drove them off to the frontier. Leaving the rest of
the work of regaining the frontier to the other Maratha companies and
brigades, he returned to Lahore, the Capital of Punjab, in order to
consolidate the Maratha gains and settle the affairs there and lay a firm
foundation of the Maratha power in the newly accquired territory. On the
11th of April, 1758, he made his triumphant entry into Lahore with all the
regalia and his victorious army.
1067. A magnificent ovation was given to him in order to glorify this
victorious entry of his, attended with feasting and dancing. Raghunathrao
sojourned in no less a place than the imperial palace itself. The other
prominent Maratha warlords had also put up in big palaces in Lahore or the
camps in the vicinity of the city. Everywhere, hundreds of well-adorned
elephants, horses, camels and fatted bulls paraded through the streets.
Various big Hindu-Muslim from different places, Emirs, Umraos, the so-