A History of the Mahrattas v1.c28.55

Language: English

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Soon after the armies had taken post, Sewdasheo Rao directed Govind Punt Boondelay to cut off the enemy’s supplies, in which he was for a time very successful; but Attaee Khan, sent out for the purpose, having come suddenly upon him when in a mango grove with only about a thousand of his men, the rest being dispersed plundering, attacked and killed him, cut off his head, and presented the acceptable present to the Abdallee king. Before the death of Govind Punt there was a probability that a treaty might be concluded, and the officers in both armies had visited each other; but as Sewdasheo Rao declared that Govind Punt was only in quest of forage for his own army, mutual accusations of treachery inflamed both parties, and negotiation for a time ceased.² The loss of Govind Punt was followed by another misfortune; a party of horse in charge of treasure, each man carrying a bag, were returning with it from Delhi, but having in the night mistaken the Afghan camp for their own, they were cut off with the whole of the treasure.³ Nevertheless, the Rajpoots, although they had deserted, contrived to assist the Mahrattas with money, and Sooruj Mull sent a very large sum⁴ which safely reached their camp; but the distress was soon extreme, and the battalions of Ibrahim Khan became clamorous for arrears.⁵ Holkar proposed that they should attack with their horse and leave the Gardees (such was the name by which the regular infantry were distinguished) to take care of the camp;

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a taunt to which the Bhow showed himself superior by acceding to the proposal.⁶ This attack was made on the 29th November on the left of the Abdallee camp, where Shah Wulee Khan, the Vizier of Ahmed Shah, was posted. The Mahrattas, in number about fifteen thousand, broke in, charged at all they met, and although the Afghans stood, they were broken, and upwards of two thousand of them killed; at last the Vizier having been supported from all parts of the camp, the Mahrattas retired with the loss of one thousand men.¹ Holkar led on that occasion; and although there was constant and daily skirmishing, in which the Mahratta horsemen individually killed their antagonists,² there was no action of importance until the 23rd December, when Sewdasheo Bhow, Wiswas Rao, Holkar, Bulwunt Rao Gunput Mendlee, and several other commanders came out to attack Shah Wulee Khan, who, attended by a body of horse, was proceeding to a mosque in the neighbourhood,³ and was surrounded by this host of Mahrattas. Nujeeb-ud-dowlah and many other officers came out to support him, and a very desperate conflict ensued. Nujeeb-ud-dowlah having advanced beyond the others towards the entrenchment, Bulwunt Rao, then acting as the Dewan of Sewdasheo Rao, an officer of courage and experience, instantly seized the advantage and charged him furiously;

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three thousand Rohillas were killed, and Nujeeb-ud-dowlah for a time in great danger of being taken, but Bulwunt Rao, in a moment of victory, was shot after the close of day by a musket-ball, when the Bhow, greatly afflicted by his loss, thought only of retiring to his entrenchment with the body of his friend.⁴ Actions took place almost daily, and the Rohillas and Shujah-ud-dowlah earnestly tried to bring on a decisive action. But Ahmed Shah steadily refused,⁵ in which he showed himself a good general, acquainted both with the minds of men and the science of war. The irritable impatience in his own camp, where the hardships were trifling compared with the Mahratta distress, told him precisely the state of his enemies, and that every day’s delay in the situation only rendered the prey more certain. The Mahrattas were starving:—the improvident waste to which they had long been accustomed rendered them totally unable to bear privation, and inaction gave them full time to reflect on the state to which they were reduced. Sewdasheo Bhow saw that it was now impossible to avoid a decisive battle: and although he still negotiated, his own judgment told him it was hopeless. A vast body of followers, whom hunger had made careless and daring, issued forth from the entrenchment in the night to procure food for themselves or their famished families, when they were discovered, surrounded, and butchered by the Afghans.

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The Mahrattas called to be led forth to fall by the sword, and not to be left to die in long endurance of useless misery. The chiefs applied to the Bhow, who approved of their resolve, and with his ordinary manner and in perfect composure distributed the usual *pan* and betel at breaking-up of the assembly.¹ Orders to prepare for battle were issued to the troops. All the grain in store was distributed, that they might have one full meal that night, and on the 7th January, an hour before the break of morning, the Mahratta troops were moving out of their entrenchment, left in front; their cannon, swivels, *shuternals* or musquetoons mounted on camels, and their rockets marched first, covered by Ibrahim Khan Gardee; next came Dummajee Gaekwar's horse, followed by those of Wittul Sewdeo, Sewdasheo Bhow, and Wiswas Rao, Jeswunt Rao Powar, Shumsher Buhadur, Mulhar Rao Holkar, and Junkojee Sindia.