The Cambridge History of India, Vol. IV: The Mughul Period v4.c21.190

v4.c21.190

The simultaneous counter-attack was launched all along the line early in the afternoon. It was excellently timed, and its effect upon the exhausted Marāthās was terrible. Men and horses had been starved for weeks, and had had no food at all since dawn.¹ Still, however, they contested the ground, inch by inch. “A furious engage-ment ensued,” says the author of the *Siyar-ul-Mutaākhkhirīn*, “and for full two hours there arose such a cloud of dust that none of the combatants could distinguish the earth from the heavens. From midday to four o'clock, nothing could be heard or seen, but a furious slaughter which was going on at an incredible rate." To the fire of the mounted infantry was added that of the camel-guns (*shutarnāl*), which caused many casualties. About 2.15 p.m., Vishvās Rāo was wounded and had to be taken to his elephant, but the Bhāo still fought on at the head of his men for an hour longer. Then with dramatic suddenness, resistance collapsed. "All at once, as if by enchantment, the whole Marāthā army turned their backs and fled at full speed, leaving the field of battle covered with heaps of dead." In the dramatic words of an eyewitness, the Hindu host suddenly melted away "like camphor". The victors pursued them to their camp, giving no quarter, and the ditch was soon choked with bodies. "The field of battle looked like a tract sown with tulips, and as far as the sight could extend, nothing could be discovered but bodies stretched at the foot of bodies, as if they had been asleep, or marshalled by art." It was a moonlight night, and the slaughter of fugitives went on till dawn. Next morning the camp was stormed, and a further massacre took place. Surrender availed nothing. The unhappy prisoners were paraded in long lines, given a little parched grain and a drink of water, and beheaded. Every Afghān tent had heads piled before its doors. The plunder of the camp was prodigious, and the women and children who survived were driven off as slaves. The body of Vishvās Rāo was brought to the Shāh, and every one gazed in admiration of the beauty of the lad, who seemed to be only sleeping. The Durrānīs cried out: "This is the body of the king of the unbelievers: we will have it dried and stuffed to carry back to Kabul." But Shujā‘-ud-daula, who did all he could to help the vanquished army, arranged to have him cremated according to Hindu rites. He was, however, unable to protect Jānkojī Sindia or Ibrāhīm Khān, who were both taken prisoners and sacrificed to the conqueror's rage. Ibrāhīm Khān was a renegade, who had fought on the side of the infidel against true believers: Jānkojī was hated by the Rohillas. The Bhāo Sāhib, when he saw that all was lost, had mounted his charger, and collecting a few men, galloped into the thick of the battle to find a soldier's death. When last seen, he was surrounded by Afghāns and fighting desperately. A headless corpse, identified as his, was recovered and cremated along with that of his nephew.